Last year we went to the Dominican Republic to visit my wife’s friends and family. The return journey back to New Zealand took us via the United States. In total, we had four flights to catch, making our way from Santiago (Dominican Republic) to Christchurch. The journey turned out to be difficult with several delays…

It is time to give you a progress report on the sale of the tennis court land. We are continuing the process with the Christchurch Methodist Mission on the sale of the land. At the moment we are discussing the exact dimensions of the land that would be retained by CPT on behalf of the…

Just as in many other European countries there are currently many protests in Germany: farmer protests against cessation of subsidies and the increased cost of living; and protests against far-right groups. All these protests are enlarged by online rhetoric, so that it really appears a crisis on many fronts. I recently read an article that…

As part of a questionnaire on Biblical Literacy, I looked at the Biblical books I preached on since I have come to St Paul’s. Among the books that I had not preached on was the book of Lamentations. “Something has to be done about that,” I thought. But when could I preach about Lamentations? The…

Lent has come upon us very early and quickly this year. As in most Anglican Parishes, we normally have a specific Lenten Study during this time. While the Diocese does produce a booklet each year for a Lenten Study, participants have felt that these are not always helpful. Nevertheless, I thought we could comply with…

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…