Kia ora e te whanau I’m on holiday! Sitting in the peace and tranquillity of Naseby – a beautiful, somewhat rustic, historic village in Central Otago. I’m putting this out, as I awoke early with a ‘caffeine deficit’ headache, and am typing away while the cheap coffee settles in my system. Leadership & Personal Development […]
Update Week Beginning 9 March 2026 Read More »
Kia ora e te whanau We know we’re ‘getting on a bit’ when we’re attending the golden (50th) Wedding Anniversary of a sibling – especially one close in age. I’ll be away next week, so there will be no newsletter. Andrew Howley, UCANZ Executive Officer, wrote an article for the latest edition of the Methodist
Update Week Beginning 2 March 2026 Read More »
Kia ora e te whanau We’re into Lent already, and Easter is coming up very quickly! Rev Hana Popea (our UCANZ chair) has written a Lent Study on the theme ‘Repairing the Broken Bridge’, subtitled ‘A Lenten Journey of Return and Restoration’. Download it by clicking the button below. Leadership & Personal Development Resources 5 simple tips
Kia ora e te whanau Sunday afternoon saw me at the closing service for the New Brighton Union Parish in Christchurch. Since the worship space was too small, we all squeezed into the hall. Ironic really. We fill the church more than a couple of times over for its closing event, but not for a
Update Week Beginning 16 February 2026 Read More »
Kia ora e te whanau Week three, in reflecting on the priority of ministry with seniors. I’ve reflected on the way that seniors are so readily overlooked – that church missional focus is almost invariably directed toward the young, while ministry with seniors is regarded almost exclusively as a chaplaincy service – bordering on palliative
Update Week Beginning 9 February 2026 Read More »
Kia ora e te whanau Last week I shared a personal awakening – a call to prioritise ministry with seniors. Its time has come. Most of our congregations are populated primarily by seniors. And what do we do? We dream of once again having a multi-generational church – a balanced number of children, youth, young
Update week beginning 2 February 2026 Read More »
Kia ora e te whanau I love old people! This wasn’t always true. While children and youth terrified me, the seniors in ‘my’ congregations were so often simply ‘space fillers’ – their job being to volunteer where they could and be the funders of ‘real’ ministry – that directed toward the younger generations. In those
Update Week Beginning 26 January 2026 Read More »
Kia ora e te whanau We seem to have stepped into what promises to be an ‘interesting’ year. The world faces significant challenges: The level of international uncertainty – provoked largely by the current president of the USA; deep concerns around the Middle East and Africa; a cooling of commitments to mitigating the effects of
Update Week Beginning 19 January 2026 Read More »
Kia ora e te whanau The year has started in earnest! Leadership & Personal Development Resources Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in Aotearoa is traditionally set down between Ascension and Pentecost (this year, 18th to 24th of May [which also happens to be ‘Wesley Day’]). Resources are available here: https://www.oikoumene.org/resources/week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity The Art Of Disagreeing Without Damaging Trust –
Update week beginning 12 January 2026 Read More »
Happy New Year! I hope it is. Lynne and I didn’t quite get the holiday we hoped for. Our campervan required more work to earn a w.o.f than the time before Christmas allowed me – so we had a quite time around home taking care of ‘stuff’. While it was fine, I’ve long noticed that
Update Week Beginning 5 January 2026 Read More »
