Helping People to Meet God • Make Friends • Grow in Faith

Vicar’s Blog (Page 8)

FROM THE WARDENS – 

DrainageThe scheduled drainage work is now underway, so try and avoid parking over by LOOP and the church office in June if you can.  Sunday morning parking nearer the church will be fine as usual. Community Outreach 14th July is the new public holiday Matariki and many are looking for ways to celebrate this event (Māori New Year).…

Working together

Recently I met Ryan Feng, the minister at St Margaret’s Presbyterian Church in Bishopdale. He showed me the new church that was officially opened in early May 2023. As far as a modern church goes, it is probably even nicer than the new Methodist Church in Chapel Street. Even though we come from quite different…

Mission Action Plan

In March 2023 the Parish had a meeting with the Archdeacon for Regeneration and Mission, Mark Chamberlain. He encouraged us to draft a Mission Action Plan for the next three years. At the meeting we determined three priorities: Develop ministry to children and families Building the faith and knowledge of the Parish Improve the promotion of the Parish These priorities have been…

Weeding

In Cambridge I was part of the Cambridge Tree Trust, a group that planted and cared for trees around Cambridge. I still remember the day when I helped to weed in an area that was once a rubbish dump and now was a park planted with quite a few trees. We were pulling out all…

A noticeable church building

Last year one day when I sat in my office preparing the sermon I heard a knock on my door. I opened and there was a couple who handed me a photo. It was the photo of a model of St Paul’s. Their friend Dave Brown had made it. He had asked them to give…

Communion on Good Friday

I have been asked why this past Holy Week we had Communion on Good Friday and not Maundy Thursday. I don’t think either one is right or wrong, but I thought I should lay out my reasoning here. Communion, as it is celebrated today in many churches, is highly stylised and ritualised. That has its…

Hall Complex Project

After the discussions at the AGM about working together with Te Papanui Trust on redeveloping the hall complex, I thought it might be good to set out a timeline of where we’ve come from so far. Diligent readers of vestry minutes might have gleaned the information, but it is better to see it all in…

Hard work

Ever since my father’s accident last year, he relies more on his children helping him keep their land and animals. So when I visited my parents last year, I was swiftly pressed into service to cut up a tree that an arborist had felled. I was given a chain saw and the required safety equipment…