We spent most of our recent holidays in St Arnaud, Nelson Lakes. We decided not to take a holiday from church and went to the local chapel on the Sunday morning. The view through the sanctuary windows to the lake and mountains beyond is probably even more dramatic than the views from the Church of…
The Five Marks of Mission come out of the interpretation of the Bible and God’s role of the Church in Mission. They were first developed as four marks by the Anglican Consultative Council in 1984.A fifth was added in 1990 when, having appreciated the missiological and biblical implications of the creation and environmental crisis. In…
I still remember the Lufthansa Boeing 747 in April 2020 flying a loop over Christchurch evacuating tourists as borders were closed across the world and regular flights cancelled. In the years after that there were hardly any tourists around. Last year more essential travel slowly returned. And now tourists have finally returned in numbers to…
This year is the shortest Advent time possible, just 21 days long. That also squeezes our Advent celebrations here at St Paul’s and at other churches. The only service dedicated to Advent themes is this Sunday, 3rd December. After that we’re hurrying towards the stable of Bethlehem. For someone who comes from a tradition in…
Last week I went to the presentation of the Faith and Belief Study funded by the Wilberforce Foundation, which ran alongside the Church Life Survey that St Paul’s was part of. This study surveyed 1,009 people, which represent New Zealand demographically and geographically, on their attitudes towards faith and belief. From this detailed survey good…
At a parish meeting in February 2021 about the future of the Parish we decided to use the facilities, especially the hall, as a vibrant centre to serve the community. After conversations with several community groups and the city council we agreed that this would be best achievable through partnering with the LOOP Youth Centre.…
Green Party politicians in New Zealand made some controversial statements during protests in favour of Palestine recently. To balance this, I thought I’d point to another speech of a Green Party politician. The Vice-Chancellor of Germany and Green Party co-leader Robert Habeck recently gave a speech on this issue, which takes a different approach: […] It was the generation of my grandparents…
For thousands of years parents have sung lullabies to help their children sleep. I think I started singing songs when tucking up my daughter in bed from the time when she moved into her own bedroom. She was five months old at the time. With that I continued a long family tradition of singing songs…
The Gaza conflict is a terrible tragedy that has flared up again after many years. Having regularly excavated in the southern part of Israel, I know the area bordering Gaza quite well. I also know what to do when the alarm sounds. Rockets have long been shot from Gaza quite regularly, but recent events have…
The results of the Church Life Survey for St Paul’s Papanui are in by now. The wider national survey is not yet complete, but we’ll know more by the end of the year. The people who completed the survey overall seem to especially value the music at St Paul’s, even more so than the preaching.…