blog

blog http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/ Progress on earthquake insurance http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/progress-on-earthquake-insurance/ 17 May 
Parishes to be considered on a case by case basis
In light of the major increase in the cost of earthquake insurance following the Christchurch earthquakes, and the difficulty of some parishes to cope with such increases, Waiapu Diocesan Standing Committee has discussed a process to enable greater flexibility in the placing of insurance on parish assets. The Committee acknowledges that the cost of earthquake insurance on all parish assets is neither affordable nor desirable considering the precarious state of a number of parishes.
Indeed it has been indicated to Standing Committee that if there were another major earthquake event in New Zealand in the near future the availability of earthquake insurance would disappear entirely. 
The Standing Committee has set up a process to individually consider applications from parishes which do not wish to take earthquake cover on their buildings. Such applications will be individually considered taking into account the nature of the buildings, their location, their necessity or other to the long term goals of the Diocese and the capacity of the parish to pay premiums.
Standing Committee considered that the Diocese is the beneficial owner of all parish property vested in the Board, therefore any final decision on the level of insurance should be made by the Standing Committee of the Diocese, after having received a recommendation from the parish concerned. The Waiapu Board of Diocesan Trustees has been informed of Standing Committee’s position.
It is hoped that the Diocese can quickly move to decide which properties should have full earthquake cover to relieve those other parishes of unnecessary and unaffordable expense.
 
 Thu, 17 May 2012 11:30:12 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/progress-on-earthquake-insurance/ New Youth Advisor to the New Zealand dioceses http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/new-youth-advisor-to-the-new-zealand-dioceses-2/ 16 May
 Making youth proud to be Anglican
<img class="left" src="http://www.waiapu.com/assets/Phil-and-Carol-Trotter-_4.png" width="495" height="338" alt="" title=""/> 
Phil and Carol Trotter
Phil Trotter – under whose leadership Anglican youth ministry in Christchurch has thrived – has now been recruited to lead youth work throughout the New Zealand dioceses, following the appointment of John Hebenton as Vicar to Gate Pa parish..
Phil, who has served in fulltime youth ministry for 27 years, has been named as the new Youth Advisor for the New Zealand Dioceses, succeeding the Rev John Hebenton.
Archbishop David Moxon, who chairs the Tikanga Pakeha Board of Oversight for the Anglican Youth Network, said today that he is “delighted” to announce that Phil has agreed to take up the challenge.
Phil is presently the Youth Advisor in the Diocese of Christchurch – where more than 30 youth groups are now flourishing.
Phil has also put his shoulder behind various support ministries in Christchurch – including setting up and running a youth group with the Child, Youth &amp; Family Service, through to the ground-breaking Society of Salt &amp; Light, which now attracts more than 300 young adults.
“One of the things that amazes me most,” says Phil, “is how God has made ‘being Anglican’ a matter of real pride among young people in our diocese.
“They’re rediscovering the depths and strength of having Anglican faith,” he says, “and their satisfaction about that is showing up in all sorts of ways.
“For instance: young people down here are posting Anglican Pride on their Facebook status, and a number of key youth leaders from outside the Anglican Church have joined us.”
Archbishop David says the Tikanga Pakeha Board of Oversight believes that work among young people throughout the New Zealand dioceses “will be greatly enhanced by Phil’s vocation, energy and experience”.
“Phil knows and loves this church,” he says. “And he’s proved himself in many different situations amongst us over the years.
“We pray for Phil as he prepares to begin this challenging and exciting task.”
Phil will start his new national task on June 25, and he’ll be formally commissioned at the Inter-Diocesan Conference in Nadi in July.
Prayers will also be shared at ‘Invigorate’, the Tikanga Pakeha National Youth Forum held in early July, at which the Professional Anglican Diocesan Youth Staff (PADYS) will also be present.
Phil’s new employer will be the Inter-driving Diocesan Conference Coordinating Group (IDCCG) and he’ll report directly to the Board of Oversight for ministry under 40s. His new job is a three quarter-stipend one, and Phil will also be able to dial up some extra support from an events manager.
Phil and his wife Carol have four children – and he has asked for the prayers of Anglicans throughout the province that he will serve God faithfully and bear ‘fruit that will last’ in his new role.
He will continue to be based in Christchurch.
Anglican Taonga: <a href="http://www.anglicantaonga.org.nz/News">http://www.anglicantaonga.org.nz/News</a> Wed, 16 May 2012 10:21:21 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/new-youth-advisor-to-the-new-zealand-dioceses-2/ Anglicans and Roman Catholics exploring how to grasp ethical nettles http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/anglicans-and-roman-catholics-exploring-how-to-grasp-ethical-nettles/ 16 May
 Finding way to discuss issues like divorce and remarriage, contraception
 
The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission has completed the second meeting of its new phase (ARCIC III) in Hong Kong.
The Commission, chaired by the Archbishops David Moxon and Bernard Longley (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham) comprises nineteen theologians from a wide range of backgrounds across the world. According to the mandate given to it by the two Communions, the Commission is addressing interrelated issues: the Church as Communion, local and universal, and how in communion the local and universal Church come to discern right ethical teaching. The Commission has also been mandated to present the documents of ARCIC II for reception by the relevant authorities of both communions. Accordingly, the Commission is reviewing responses already received in order to prepare some elucidations, together with commentaries, which will enable the material of ARCIC II to be studied at all levels of the churches’ life.
At this meeting, the Commission built upon the schema it had prepared at its first meeting. The schema seeks to address the interrelated ecclesiological and ethical questions of its mandate under four headings:
<ul><li>the identity and mission of the Church; </li>
<li>the patterning of the Church’s life that undergirds local and universal communion; </li>
<li>shortcomings in the churches which obscure the glory of God; </li>
<li>ethical discernment and teaching. </li>
</ul>Members presented papers in each of these areas which were discussed both in plenary and in small groups.
To assist its own understanding, the Commission is preparing case studies in three ethical areas: matters which historically once seemed settled but which, upon reflection, have come to be viewed quite differently by both traditions (slavery); issues on which Anglican and Roman Catholic teaching is at variance (divorce and remarriage, contraception); and evolving issues (a theology of work and the economy). It is not intended that the Commission will seek to resolve disputed ethical questions. Rather, its purpose is to analyze the means by which our two traditions have arrived at or are currently determining ‘right ethical teaching’.
In due course the Commission plans to share its developing work with joint meetings of bishops and with local and regional dialogues between Anglicans and Roman Catholics (ARCs).
Through the week, the Commission reflected on the First Epistle of John, under the leadership of the co-chairs. Sunday’s Gospel from John 15:1-8 set before the community the beautiful metaphor of Christ as the vine and his disciples as the branches, and members often returned to this theme in their discussions. The debate in Acts 15 (about the admission of the Gentiles to the Church) has both been read in the liturgy and discussed as an example of decision-making in the early Church.
The Commission will prepare further papers, expand the case studies, and continue its work in preparation for its next meeting April -May 2013.
Communiqué from the meeting of ARCIC III in Hong Kong Wed, 16 May 2012 09:23:47 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/anglicans-and-roman-catholics-exploring-how-to-grasp-ethical-nettles/ Dramatic new chapel for Auckland Cathedral http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/dramatic-new-chapel-for-auckland-cathedral/ 16th May 
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The winning design for a dramatic new chapel for Auckland’s Holy Trinity Cathedral has been revealed.
All going well the new chapel, which is to be built at the Newmarket end of the cathedral, will be finished by Christmas Day 2014 – in time to mark the bicentenary of the arrival of the Christian message in this country.
The chapel, which will feature a canopy roof with applied mosaic artwork, and glass walls on four sides, is the brainchild of leading Auckland architects Fearon Hay.
Dean Jo Kelly-Moore has hailed their design, saying the new chapel will be “this generation’s contribution to the cathedral.”
Fearon Hay's scheme emerged from a design competition run through the New Zealand Institute of Architects. The judging panel selected it from a shortlist of designs submitted by four of the country’s best architects: Architectus, Athfield Architects, RTA Studio and Pete Bossley (in collaboration) and Fearon Hay.
The new chapel is, in fact, just one part of a $10 million cathedral project, triggered by the need to do major work on the cathedral organ.
That organ, which is played for public worship and performance more than 350 times a year, has long been scheduled for refurbishment and expansion.
In the process of scoping out their task, the organ builders advised that any work on the building itself should be done while the organ is being rebuilt and before it is re-installed.
That's because experience has taught that structural work on the buildings in which organs are housed often damages the organs.
So: because Holy Trinity Cathedral has never been completed – the south end is clad in corrugated iron, awaiting the chapel – it made sense to do everything in one hit.
To add the final touch, the new chapel, and to link the cathedral to the adjacent St Mary’s, while the organ is under reconstruction.
Fundraising for the whole project will continue this year, construction of the chapel will begin next year – and, if fundraising targets are met, Dean Jo says the whole project will be completed by Christmas Day 2014, to mark the bicentenary of Christianity in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The chair of the chapel design competition judging panel was David Sheppard, the Christchurch-based President-elect of the New Zealand Institute of Architects.
He says the “inherent simplicity and economy of means” of the winning design “ promises to become a perfect complement to the great works of St Mary’s, Architect Charles Towle’s Chancel, Dr Richard Toy’s Nave and forecourt, and Jacky Bowring’s memorial gardens.”
Dean Jo says the cathedral community is “very excited by the vision and possibilities of Fearon Hay’s design.
“Each week literally thousands of people come to the Cathedral precinct, whether for a few quiet moments or as part of a large gathering.”
She says the main purpose of the new chapel is to “enable the Cathedral to better serve the people of Auckland and New Zealand... Fearon Hay understood and interpreted that purpose.”
Dean Jo says the great Cathedrals of Europe show that “these mighty buildings take generations to build.
The new chapel, she says, will be “this generation’s contribution to the Cathedral.”
All the competition designs were put on show and the judging panel took into account public feedback on those designs.
The panel comprised David Sheppard, the president-elect of the NZIA; Dean Jo Kelly-Moore; the Archdeacon of Auckland, The Ven Carole Hughes; and the Chair of the Cathedral Resources Board, David Grove.
 Wed, 16 May 2012 09:17:18 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/dramatic-new-chapel-for-auckland-cathedral/ 350th birthday of the Book of Common Prayer celebrated http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/350th-birthday-of-the-book-of-common-prayer-celebrated/ 7 May
 "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." "All the deceits of the world, the flesh and the devil." "Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest."
Shakespeare? The King James Bible? Close – the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, the liturgical and literary masterpiece that (next to the previous two sources) has helped shape the English language and marks its 350th anniversary this year.
St. Paul's Cathedral in London celebrated the occasion on 2 May with a special service of evensong from the 1662 volume. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams attended, along with members of Prayer Book societies in Australia, Canada and the U.K. that are dedicated to keeping the work alive.
"I hope and pray that people in Britain and around the English-speaking world realize the importance of this great work," Prudence Dailey, Chair of the Prayer Book Society in the U.K., told ENInews.
The service is the flagship of a nationwide series of events that includes an exhibit at Lambeth Palace Library that also acknowledges the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, looking at the relationship between the monarchy and the Prayer Book. It includes a copy of the first Prayer Book, published in 1549, and the copy used at Queen Victoria's wedding.
The anniversary actually refers to the revised edition that still stands as the official doctrinal standard of the Church of England and most other churches in the worldwide Anglican Communion. After Henry VIII's break with the Roman Catholic Church, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer set out to replace the Latin missal with a book of liturgical services and prayers in English that would also incorporate theological changes, such as less prominence for saints.
The Prayer Book now appears in many variants in the 85-million member Anglican Communion and has influenced the liturgical texts of other denominations.
It has proved "very adaptable over the centuries and has been used in many contexts. Many people do prefer the less convoluted language of modern services but the influence of the old Prayer Book permeates the new versions, with many prayers incorporated with minimal changes," the Rev. Gordon Jeanes, a former lecturer in church history at the University of Wales, told ENInews.
The book's language – another phrase is "till death us do part" from the marriage service – resonates even today, said Bishop Stephen Platten of Wakefield (Yorkshire), chair of the Church of England's Liturgical Commission. The cadences of the Prayer Book have become part of a treasury of prayers and reflections that have helped to fashion people's lives," he told ENInews.
But the Prayer Book's language has been subject to revision and various Anglican churches have produced updated versions.
In the U.S., for example, the break with Britain in 1776 left church leaders feeling the need for their own Prayer Book.
"William White, the first Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, spoke of the need for 'a church government that will contain the constituent principles of the Church of England and yet be independent of foreign jurisdiction or influence,'" noted the Rev C.K. (Chuck) Robertson, Canon to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.
Robertson added that, "it should be noted that even in England, though the 1662 book remains the official Prayer Book of the Church of England, most congregations on a regular basis use their own revised texts, including the recently produced Common Worship." 
Trevor Grundy, ENInews
 
 Mon, 07 May 2012 12:40:46 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/350th-birthday-of-the-book-of-common-prayer-celebrated/ Analytical thinkers are less likely to believe in God http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/analytical-thinkers-are-less-likely-to-believe-in-god/ 7 May
 Analytical thinkers are less likely to believe in God than those who are more intuitive, a new study suggests.
In the report, Analytic Thinking Promotes Religious Disbelief, published in the journal Science, researchers report that people are more likely to express weaker faith in God after answering maths or other questions that require analytical thinking.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver set up a series of experiments designed to trigger analytical thinking, such as word puzzles, and looking at Rodin’s sculpture The Thinker. Afterwards, those tested reported weaker religious belief than a control group.
<table style="width: 244px; height: 275px;" border="0" cellpadding="2" align="left"><tbody><tr><td> </td>
<td><img src="http://www.waiapu.com/assets/_resampled/resizedimage246277-thinker_2.gif" width="246" height="277" alt="" title=""/></td>
</tr><tr><td> </td>
<td> </td>
</tr></tbody></table>In another experiment, volunteers were asked to complete a religious questionnaire. Some were given the questionnaire in a hard-to-read fount, which previous studies had shown promoted analytical thinking. Those who had this fount reported weaker religious belief.
The main author of the report, Will Gervais, said: “The results don’t speak directly to it, but it could explain why people who receive extensive training in fields that require deep analytic thinking might tend to be among the least religious.”
<a href="http://www.sciencemag.org">www.sciencemag.org</a> Mon, 07 May 2012 12:29:36 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/analytical-thinkers-are-less-likely-to-believe-in-god/ FUTURE DIRECTION FOR WAIAPU SOCIAL SERVICES CLARIFIED http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/future-direction-for-waiapu-social-services-clarified/ 4th May 2012
At its meeting on 27 April, the Waiapu Anglican Social Services Trust Board (“WASSTB”) took several decisions to clarify the future direction of governance and leadership of social services delivery in the Diocese of Waiapu.
Acting Chair Nicola Roberts said that Trustees had taken these decisions carefully and with a view to ensuring that the important mission of strengthening communities in Waiapu could continue while bringing about change in the way the Trust Board’s significant investment in social services is overseen.
Drawing on a useful report of governance structures undertaken at the end of last year by Grant Thornton, the Trust Board has recommended to the Diocesan Trusts Board a unified governance structure for both WASSTB and its wholly owned subsidiary Anglican Care (Waiapu) Ltd (ACW). The proposed structure envisages a common Board for both entities to reinforce the mission links between the two and deliver a common strategic direction. The proposed structure was fully discussed by representatives of both Trustees and directors at a retreat day on 21 April. These decisions imply no immediate change to the current management structures of both organisations. The Diocesan Trusts Board has decided on appointments to the new Board and on a timetable for the new Board to assume the existing functions of both Boards and further information on these issues will be released in the next few days.
In the meantime WASSTB is taking steps to provide future leadership and direction for its operations. The Trust Board has initiated a search for a new, permanent General Manager to head the organisation and lead the senior management team. A Search Committee has been formed, a revised job description is in preparation and advertisements for appointment to this position will appear in due course. 
The Trust Board is most grateful for the efforts of its Acting Chief Executive, Rev Dr Richard Spence, who departs his temporary position as planned at the end of June. To ensure continuity of leadership the Trust Board is pleased to announce the appointment of Leigh McGahey to the position of General Manager for the interim period. The Trust Board thanks Leigh for her willingness to serve in this way and looks forward to Leigh’s contribution to the life of Waiapu Anglican Social Services.
In making these decisions the Trust Board has been mindful that the organisation has been in a period of transition in recent months. The Trust Board has sought to move forward in a step by step process and is grateful for the support of staff and stakeholders as business as usual has continued during this period. 
Together with the Bishop of Waiapu, Rt Rev David Rice, the Trust Board prays that these proposed changes to governance structures will enhance the success of the mission to which all at WASSTB and ACW are called. The Trust Board commends to God the search for a new General Manager and looks forward to the gifts this person will bring to this important ministry. Fri, 04 May 2012 15:44:46 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/future-direction-for-waiapu-social-services-clarified/ Youth Service at Taradale http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/youth-service-at-taradale/ 
Saacha Kepa, Youth Intern, reports on the April 29th Youth service.
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Regional Youth Service at All Saints Taradale was a pretty spectacular night, with some amazing music and a nice little sermon about desire and temptation kindly written by the one and only Simon HD.
I wrote a couple of songs for the service about desire and temptation and how even though we a truly tempted to do some pretty objectionable things we can overcome that temptation for our faith in God.
The other Intern Hayden didn’t come due to over exhaustion from the GO 4 12 Adventure race however that didn’t stop the youth leaders from organising an exceptional service.
 Thu, 03 May 2012 11:01:06 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/youth-service-at-taradale/ Reflections on the Local Shared Ministry Conference http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/reflections-on-the-local-shared-ministry-conference/ 2 May
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Frank Fillary, LSM priest at St Andrew’s, Westshore, offers his personal response to last Saturday’s LSM conference
There’s nothing to match being in the company of like-minded people – people who are passionate about new ideas - and the not-so-new too. That’s where I found myself last Saturday at the “LSM” Conference. Yes, there are now new models beyond the LSM groups, and that added to the interest and to my personal review about our direction in Westshore.
A new St Andrew’s parishioner said: “He’s clever, that Bishop, isn’t he”. She was referring to Bishop David’s conference-opening address in which he summarized the history of the development of all the non-traditional, non-vicar-led ministries. I don’t want to be sycophantic, but… he did make an awful lot of good sense and gave us a wide-angle perspective that showed where we had come, from and a vision of what we might become.
And in the end it is all about us, as praying communities, living the gospel out in the wider community. Praying communities? Yes, everything must begin with prayer – sometimes prolonged prayer at that. Some in LSM parishes have been anxious about succession, but that is never really the issue to focus on. Wait on the Lord – he may no longer have a need for the position you are so concerned about filling. Yes, very helpful because 12 months ago I was bleating on to Bishop David about succession in LSM parishes. Happily, I went on to call succession, “renewal”, and I have found that a different and more preferable animal to get my spurs into.
The process of calling/discerning needs to take the time it needs, and any haste in this process is to do a disservice to those seeking the Lord’s will for their lives, and for the congregations they will serve.
There was a long discussion about matters of interest, concerns and developments to celebrate. It seemed to me that the scope of the topics identified for in-depth discussion would take at least triple the time we had left. Step up Rev Jenny Dawson. Jenny identified items for group discussion, guided us to look at the questions behind the question behind the question, which took us much closer to the nub of the matters.
Not bad for a new girl on the block!!! We identified quite a number of areas for further discussion – a discussion that goes on beyond the conference. Training was one such area - formative training of newly ordained people, and ongoing training for congregational members. And we have reached a point where we need to use new language about the models we are working within; that requires some careful thought because the words we use shape the way we think about development.
I love the LSM model under which we are working here in Westshore – it frees me to be creatively missional within a team setting. And I love even more that it changes for the better over time. A constructive Conference such as this we have just completed is so important in determining the direction and form of this change. Thanks be to God!
(Rev’d) Frank Fillary, St Andrew’s, Westshore
 Wed, 02 May 2012 10:28:09 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/reflections-on-the-local-shared-ministry-conference/ Colin Baker - Tribute to an outstanding Waiapu lay leader http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/colin-baker-tribute-to-an-outstanding-waiapu-lay-leader/ 2 May
The diocese was represented at Colin's funeral at St Andrew’s Church Taupo on Monday 23 April by Bishops Mills and Atkins, the latter speaking on Waiapu's behalf. Colin’s funeral was a bilingual/ bicultural event, reminding us that the Waiapu experience of families like the Bakers and the Matthews played a big part in preparing us for our three-tikanga constitution.
We were reminded that the clergy of the diocese can thank Colin for the Sustentation Fund he initiated so the clergy's monthly cheque was assured from the diocese, and not left to the parish Treasurer if he/she had enough cash in hand ! (Fatal if the wool cheque hadn't arrived) and for the work he did firstly with Waiapu's Pensions and then in bringing together the NZ Anglican Pension Fund and putting it on the healthy basis it currently is.
Colin was a member of Diocesan Standing Committee 1960-1977; Waiapu Rep on General Synod 1960- 1987; Standing Committee of General Synod 1978-1987; Lay Canon of the Cathedral from 1975 becoming an Honorary Canon from 1982; Diocesan Pension Committee 1975-; Waiapu Social Services Council ; Joint Regional Committee for Gisborne and East Coast; Advisory Council to the Bishop of Aotearoa; Assessor of the Bishop’s Court; Parish nominator for Gisborne and Waiapu’s first lay archdeacon
About 20 years ago he married Pauline Matthews, widow of Bishop Ralph Matthews, and they retired to Acacia Bay, Lake Taupo.
From Bishop Peter Atkins’ address 
I speak first on behalf of the three Primates of our Church and I bring a personal message from Archbishop David Moxon, on behalf of the NZ dioceses. He pays tribute to Colin's leadership as a lay member of General Synod for so many years, and his service on many key Boards and Committees. He records the thanks of the church and notes the highest respect everyone had for Colin's contribution to the decisions and the debates. Colin had close friends in the Pihopatanga o Aotearoa and supported Bishop Manu Bennett in his successful attempts to restore the mana of the Bishopric by having full representation on General Synod. Colin will also be remembered by the minita iwi for his generosity in designing and fabricating the distinctive stoles that the priests and deacons wore after their ordination.
I also convey a message of thankful remembrance from Bishop George Connor. He worked closely with Colin on the East Coast and later in Taupo.
Colin was one of the key lay people in the Diocese of Waiapu from the early 1960s and from this base went on to serve the whole Church as a member of the General Synod and many of its boards and commissions. Arising out of his love and loyalty to God and the church, his key focus was the care of and the provision for the clergy. As a young man in Gisborne he must have been inspired by his Vicar Archdeacon Morris and saddened by the stories on the East Coast that many of the clergy had had to wait for their stipends when their parishes were responsible for direct payments.
Often they had no money in the parish accounts until their Wool cheques came in once or twice a year. Colin felt this was unfair on the clergy and worked hard in the diocese to set up a Sustentation Fund which would pay the clergy regularly every month through the Diocesan Accounts. He also set up an auxiliary pension provision with an insurance firm to top up the meagre sum that was able to be paid out on retirement by a Church Pension Fund for the three northern dioceses.
Out of these local provisions came his dream of a national scheme which would even out the payments throughout the church, thus making it more possible for clergy to move from one diocese to another. Such changes would require Acts of Parliament to transfer some trust funds. All this required much travel from Gisborne to Wellington or Hamilton on tiny aircraft and often through rough weather. I joined Colin on General Synod in 1974 having become Diocesan Registrar the previous year. It was an exciting time with many changes achieved but it was very hard work for us all. Colin gave of his time freely and had a quiet determination to see that the very best terms were achieved for the clergy. In the end a national Pension Fund was established, a Commission met regularly to set out a recommended level of stipend for all clergy, and from Trust Funds from Selwyn's time a Welfare Fund was established to provide grants and loans to all serving and retired clergy and spouses in times of need. Part of this was set aside as a Health Fund to give special grants when Pensioners had to meet unexpected medical expenses.
But Colin did not only contribute to administrative matters within the church. He had a pastoral heart and long experience in supporting the parishes and clergy. He was a lay Canon of Waiapu Cathedral and later when Bishop I appointed him as one of the first lay Archdeacons in our Church. The priests and parishes on the East Coast were delighted, and kept telling me how good he was at this task. Sometimes they preferred a visit from their Archdeacon over one from their Bishop!
Colin and I were able to share our memories of this work when I last saw him in late February - weak in body but strong in spirit. With humility and humour he paid tribute to the others who shared the work, but I was able to express my admiration and thanks to him as a special person for us all. We know that as he cared for us, so God will care for him in the fulfilment of his life in eternity. Strengthened by this Easter Faith in resurrection we can leave Colin in God's care and comfort one another as we continue our pilgrimage.
 Wed, 02 May 2012 10:23:30 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/colin-baker-tribute-to-an-outstanding-waiapu-lay-leader/ Pioneer elected new Bishop of Wellington http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/pioneer-elected-new-bishop-of-wellington/ 30 April
 
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Justin Duckworth has been announced as the next Anglican Bishop of Wellington: 
“I think the Anglican Church is doing amazing stuff, and is a total treasure. But it’s a treasure that needs to be dusted off.”
Justin Duckworth may just be the least likely-looking bishop ever elected in New Zealand. He has dreadlocks, for starters. He’s usually in shorts and bare feet, too.
But the voters in the Diocese of Wellington saw past that. They saw instead that he’s been at the cutting edge of Christian ministry “to the last, the lost and the least” in Wellington for 25 years.
Justin, who is now 44, began Christian work in Wellington as soon as he’d left school. In his early 20s, he and his new wife Jenny began running a home for teenage women in Berhampore. After seven years there, they moved with their young children into Upper Cuba St to live among the street people – with transvestites on the one side of them, and prostitutes on the other.
With other young Christian activists, Justin and Jenny then formed Urban Vision, with each person pledging “to give their best for the least”.
Fifteen years later, there are now some 60-odd ‘Urban Visionaries’ running houses in Wellington neighbourhoods where life can be a struggle. In each of those homes, young Christians are living alongside folk from the margins.
Justin and Jenny also pioneered Ngatiawa, a contemporary monastery in the Reikorangi Valley which provides a welcome to strugglers, to those seeking retreat, and to those seeking a more meaningful lifestyle. Last year, 1100 visitors stayed there.
In the early days, those young Christian radicals who made Urban Vision had all quit the mainstream church. But nowadays, two of Urban Vision’s founding fathers are Anglican priests, while others are on the ordination track – and Justin is now the new Anglican Bishop of Wellington.
He says he feels “humbled, privileged, excited – and terrified,” to have been chosen as Bishop. “But what’s really helpful,” he says, “is that right the way through this journey, we’ve felt God’s presence and encouragement to go forward.
“And there’s been the constant reassurance of people in the diocese, who’ve said to me: ‘We discerned you as our bishop. We believe God is inviting you to be the person you are. We don’t want you to change.”
“My message to our diocese is this: God is wanting his people to go on a journey – and if we have the courage, he’ll be faithful to equip and sustain us on that journey.”
Justin’s election has been welcomed by Archbishop David Moxon. “The Electoral College clearly identified Justin's Christian lifestyle, Christian discipleship and Christian mission as key – and I am confident that his election will challenge, inviigorate and grace the church with a deep sense of the breadth and height and depth of the love of God.”
Some Justin Duckworth quotes
 On realignment
“For me, it’s always about change and transformation. I realise the Anglican Church is struggling – but it has a fine legacy, it has literally thousands of faithful, unrecognised saints, and it has huge potential.
“So it’s about using the skills and passion I possess, and the experiences I’ve had in the last 25 years… and bringing those to bear to help the Anglican Church to realign a little bit. To realign to be a force for transformation in society.”
On faith in society
“I think people underestimate the role of faith in our society.
“We used to foster for CYFS, and we’d go to their training days – and it was hilarious. Because you’d turn up, and you’d realise that everyone in the room was a Christian.
“In my experience, Christians are at the core of the social sector in New Zealand. They’re providing a safety net for our society.”
On the Anglican Church
"I think the Anglican Church is doing amazing stuff, and is a total treasure. But it’s a treasure that needs to be dusted off. At this point in our history, we’re aging, and I think we’re struggling to find our way.
“If I can help us find our way, and help us engage with another generation, then I’ll be happy.”
On cultural obsessions
“We live in a society obsessed with entertainment and greed. “The Government is talking about an Auckland casino getting hundreds more pokie machines. That’s a classic example. Is this really what we want? That in the name of economic efficiency, we increase the cancer of gambling in our society? That just seems absurd to me.
“We need to ask: what do we want in our society? What do we want to base our values on? And I think that as a society we have to re-engage in a dialogue with faith, and to recognise that faith, hope and love are values that society depends upon.”
On judging
"In our last 25 years of ministry, Jenny and I have connected with those who have borne the brunt of our cultural obsession with greed. I feel the need to question the church and society about that. Because the church and society should be judged on how they look after the weakest, and most marginalised people – whether they’re old, young or children.
“We need to remind our church and society that ultimately, it’s fragile and vulnerable people who will be our yardstick.”
On building bridges
“I also feel that for the last 25 years, we’ve been bridge-builders and connectors – so the stories of those who have been marginalised can be heard.
“It’s not about being anti-prosperity, either. Over that time, we’ve met so many great people who, for whatever reason, are really wealthy – but also really generous and caring, and genuinely wanting to know what to do.
“So for me it’s about drawing together people from a fragmented church, and a fragmented society, so they can sit at the same table, and learn from each other, and belong together.
“I think we’ve been able to make that happen. We’ve brought diverse voices together.
“And that’s a good skill to have.”
On being Pakeha
"I’ve done a lot of thinking and work around what it means to be Pakeha in Aotearoa. As Pakeha, we recognise the atrocities of colonisation. But we also recognise that we can’t spend our life operating out of a premise of guilt.
“So it’s about finding a home here in Aotearoa – and recognising that our way of finding a home here must be in relation to tangata whenua.
“But it’s still being Pakeha. Not feeling that Pakeha, by definition, is negative. But actually recognising that it’s beautiful to be Pakeha, it’s beautiful to be in this country – and it’s beautiful to be in relationship to tangata whenua. What a privilege.”
On being church in Aotearoa
“We’ve done a great job in the Anglican Church in building proper relationship between cultures.
“The three tikanga structure was a spot of brilliance. But I think we’ve often stopped there.
“Our local congregations and parishes themselves need to realise what it means to be at home in this country, too. So they’re proud of who they are, and proud of being at home in Aotearoa.”
Lloyd Ashton, Anglican Media Officer Wed, 02 May 2012 10:13:30 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/pioneer-elected-new-bishop-of-wellington/ Why I am an Anglican http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/why-i-am-an-anglican/ 2 May
 Winning essayist, former Roman Catholic: "Faith in the Anglican Communion must be reaffirmed."
Faith in the Anglican Communion needs to be reaffirmed according to the winner of a £1,000 prize essay competition to explain "Why I am an Anglican and believe I shall remain so".
Natacha-Ingrid Tinteroff, a French convert from Roman Catholicism, used her essay to celebrate the best of Anglicanism and the Anglican Communion, which she believes includes its liturgy, its space to discover God’s truth, and its "integral catholicity".
In the essay—composed for a competition run by Anglican charity St Boniface Trust—Tinteroff wrote, “Being an Anglican is much more than what is currently advertised by the media. Anglican global identity is not defined by a positioning in favour or against homosexual clergy and women bishops. The overall depth of our tradition, and particularly its spirituality and liturgy, still nurtures the life of millions of Christians, including some who have formally left.
“At the same time, and although it is highly ignored, despite the so-called desperate situation of the Anglican Communion its churches welcome each year a considerable number of Christians who enjoy the spiritual solace provided by Anglican inclusivity. Faith in the Anglican Communion needs to be reaffirmed."
In the piece that alternated between emotional and cerebral, Tinterhoff wrote about how attending Evensong had changed her life forever. “For the first time in my life, I encountered God during a service...I came ill, hungry and thirsty; I left fed, healed and renewed by the beauty of holiness.”
She explained that the Church of England is the only part of the Christian Church she can grow and consequently hear God. “I am able to do so because the Anglican tradition, which has welcomed me so generously, not only allows me to be a mature believer, but encourages me to be so. I enjoy the liberty that Anglicanism gives me as a scholar, and that I could not find anywhere else.”
An academic and author Tinterhoff’s prize-winning essay was one of 64 entries to the competition from across the Anglican Communion. Submission came from Australia, the USA, the Caribbean, several European countries including the UK and four countries in Africa. The entries were judged by two retired Diocesan Bishops, Rt. Revd Mark Santer and Rt. Revd. Michael Turnbull, who were unanimous in selecting the winner.
St Boniface Trust is a small Anglican charity that ran the competition because its trustees have been increasingly concerned that yet more divisions are being created between the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches. They also believe there is a need for a "clearer understanding of what it means to be an Anglican".
The Trust Chairman Ven. Robin Turner said, “The idea of an essay competition was conceived by Canon John Townroe, former Warden of St Boniface College in Warminster, as a way of obtaining some fresh thinking on the subject”.
The winning essay can be read on the Trust’s website here <a href="http://bit.ly/JM2Ke0">http://bit.ly/JM2Ke0</a> and there are also plans to produce a booklet containing extracts from the other entries.
 Wed, 02 May 2012 10:09:58 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/why-i-am-an-anglican/ May Waiapu News – start of new scheduling http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/may-waiapu-news-start-of-new-scheduling/ 18 April
The May issue of Waiapu News is due in parishes by 26 April. This early delivery will allow parishes to distribute the magazine with their own monthly newsletters. Feedback on this new experimental scheduling would be appreciated to <a href="http://www.waiapu.com/news@waiapu.com">news@waiapu.com</a>
The latest issue includes plenty of photo coverage of Top Parish, and articles on interesting things happening around the diocese – including Havelock North’s hosting of the triple peaks run, and mission in one of our smallest and most isolated parishes. Brian Dawson looks at the controversial issues coming up at General Synod next month, Leo Te Kira asks if the Anglican Maori Mission is living up to its hopes twenty years on and Alex Czerwonka takes a disturbing reality check of the pulse of the diocese. We are also introduced to the Black Dove, to our latest priest and first priest-missioner, and to a 95 year old Anglican living out her faith in the community
<a href="http://www.waiapu.com/assets/2012-May-Waiapu-News-final.pdf">http://www.waiapu.com/assets/2012-May-Waiapu-News-final.pdf</a> Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:36:35 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/may-waiapu-news-start-of-new-scheduling/ Wesley Day – Anniversary of the Anglican-Methodist Covenant http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/wesley-day-anniversary-of-the-anglican-methodist-covenant/ 18 April
Wesley Day (24 May) is an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the Anglican-Methodist Covenant. We encourage local and regional gatherings to bring to life the ethos of the Covenant which is borne out of our common Methodist and Anglican heritage, particularly through the lives of John and Charles Wesley.
This is an opportunity to create a gathering around this date, whether you are a co-operating parish that has both Anglican and Methodist components, or across co-operating, Methodist and Anglican parishes. Or you might decide that there is another time of the year for joint gathering – Waitangi Day, World Communion Sunday, Creation Sunday, Earth Hour, Matariki, Peace Sunday, Faka-Me, White Sunday, or many other possible ideas.
You might like to consider a worship service (and sing with gusto some of the Wesleyan hymn0, traditional and contemporary), a social gathering, youth group event, or a joint study. How about developing a theme for the gathering, such as social justice (whether broadly or on a specific issue), Christian unity and ecumenism, or the Methodist social creed. You might even decide to work together to create or highlight a community presence that reflects the Wesleyan ethos of practical theology and social responsibility.
There are some joint-worship resources on the Methodist website (<a href="http://www.methodist.org.nz/faith_and_order">http://www.methodist.org.nz/faith_and_order</a> ); and we would love to add further resources that you might have found or developed.
And after you have gathered, how about sharing something about it with the Covenant Dialogue Team – we would love to collate and share stories of events through Touchstone and Taonga, or local Anglican and Methodist publications. Send through your stories and/or pics to Tony (<a href="mailto:tony@franklinross.co.nz">tony@franklinross.co.nz</a>).
Grace and peace
Rev Tony Franklin-Ross, Methodist Co-Convenor
Rt Rev David Rice, Anglican Co-Convenor
 
 Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:33:45 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/wesley-day-anniversary-of-the-anglican-methodist-covenant/ Kiwi teens tuning in to God's new beat http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/kiwi-teens-tuning-in-to-god-s-new-beat/ 18 April
 There is evidence of a "religious revival" among youths.
A drummer is flicking his sticks, a man is playing electric guitar and seven singers are centre stage. The music starts thumping through Wellington's Michael Fowler Centre, and a mosh pit of dozens of youths hurl themselves around to the beat. The energy is contagious, as many close their eyes and throw their hands in the air.
"Let praise awaken in this generation. Let praise awaken all around the world," the crowd sings together.
The 1000-strong mass could be fans at a rock concert. But they are not. They gather every Sunday as members of Arise – a Pentecostal church – to worship God.
Arise defies all the surveys and statistics showing religion is losing its relevance in New Zealand, particularly among youths.
A United States study last year listed New Zealand as one of nine countries where religion will all but die, and the latest census figures in 2006 showed the number of people ticking the "no religion" box was increasing.
Half of all Kiwis are Christians, and there has been a growth in Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim communities who now constitute 1/20th of the population. But 1.3 million people, or 34.7 per cent, had no religious affiliation in 2006, up from one million, or 29.6 per cent, in 2001.
Despite the decline, Victoria University religious studies professor Paul Morris says there is evidence of a "religious revival" among youths.
"It's a religious revival which must be seen in the broader context of an increasing secular world. The revival is smaller than the broad culture movement, but significant nonetheless."
Dr Morris conducted a survey of 147 students at the university and found of those who had a religious upbringing, half of them were as committed to their faith as when they were growing up. About 10 per cent continued to practise activities such as praying and meditating, and 18 per cent were more religious than their parents, twice as many as when the first survey was done in 1999.
The findings spanned different faiths, but the students were mainly Christian.
All the Christian churches contacted – Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and Pentecostal – say it is too difficult to measure youth numbers, but all say they have seen a change.
The Catholic Church has witnessed a "small increment" of young members involved, with the 2008 World Youth Day in Sydney a big part of that. Four thousand young Kiwis crossed the ditch for the event, which Pope Benedict XVI attended.
The Presbyterian Church is also selling out events, with its Connect youth leaders' conference fully booked for the first time last year. Of the 1000 youth workers affiliated to the church, 200 went to Christchurch for the event.
National Youth Ministry development leader Carlton Johnstone says it is "encouraging" that Connect sold out. It shows Presbyterian youth are becoming more active, he says. "It's a sign that our profile and what we do is going from strength to strength, but that in itself is no reflection that we've seen a kind of revival amongst young people within our church as a whole."
The Anglican church is seeing the same thing. Youth Commissioner Michael Tamihere says there is "more activity among young people. But it still doesn't say a lot for the overall numbers. We are still dealing with low numbers, lower than we ever have," he says.
A Pentecostal church that has seen a spark in both numbers and youth activity is Arise.
Geoff Troughton, a Victoria University religious studies professor, says Pentecostal groups offer a strong sense of belonging and a warm sense of community – family even. The church tended to take an individual's aspirations seriously, promising to transform divine power that would address the very real concerns and problems people face.
"It has quite a hopeful narrative about what can happen in the world, about the ability of God to change things for good," Dr Troughton says.
Pentecostalism is the fastest growing Christian stream in the world with an estimated half a billion followers – and the wave has also reached New Zealand.
And the majority of members, about 70 per cent, are between the ages of 18 and 35.
Mr Carroll says young people are attracted to his church because of the way it delivers its message.
"We worship God, Jesus is the son of God and God loves people passionately. He wants to have a relationship with them and we genuinely believe that. But when you walk into church you know straight away that it's different." Mr Carroll says people are straight away encouraged to actively engage – "to jump, to clap and to worship God".
Dr Morris believes the "religious revival" is because youths are living in troubled times, feeling anxious about jobs, the economy and the environment.
"In many ways, our young students who committed religiously are very idealistic. They genuinely want the world to be a better place and they want to be involved in that process."
As New Zealanders become tolerant of other people's beliefs, young people also feel more confidence about expressing theirs.
In Catholic schools teenagers are finding it is now "OK to have a relationship with Jesus Christ", Mr Lysaght says. "If they want to dress in black and put make-up on, then that's OK. If those people want to go to Mass on Sunday and worship the Lord, then that's OK too."
Dr Troughton says young people may be turning to religion because to some extent Christianity has become "new and counter-cultural". Young people in New Zealand are increasingly secularised, but some are finding religion interesting and attractive because they know so little about it.
Dr Troughton says churches and religious institutions that re-craft their identities can actually flourish, and there is a lot of scope for them to remain influential. "Are we going to see great spiritual awakening? I mean who knows?" he says.
Read more and see video: <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/6706471/Teens-tuning-in-to-Gods-new-beat">http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/6706471/Teens-tuning-in-to-Gods-new-beat</a>
From Fairfax NZ News (Dominion Post 6 April) Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:29:25 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/kiwi-teens-tuning-in-to-god-s-new-beat/ St Matt’s Auckland does it again http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/st-matt-s-auckland-does-it-again/ 18 April
For Easter St Matthew in the City’s latest provocative billboard showed a picture of a crucified Jesus on a Facebook page, with the image "liked" by Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus.
"We decided to make a joke about the propensity of Christians to lay blame," said the Rev. Glynn Cardy, vicar of St. Matthew's-in-the-City Anglican church in downtown Auckland. "Who was to blame for Jesus' death?" he said in a video interview on the <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/">www.stuff.co.nz</a> media website.
It's not the first time St. Matthew's has tried to get people talking. Last Christmas its billboard featured a shocked Mary holding a positive test from a home pregnancy kit.
Although a sign under the billboard lists the conventional Holy Week and Easter services, some of Glynn Cardy's theological views are as unconventional as the billboard. Regarding Easter, he said Judas and the Jews were originally blamed for Jesus' death, and Christians now blame themselves because of the idea that Jesus died for our sins.
"Jesus was not a cosmic sacrifice for our sins -- I don't go with that at all," he said in an interview. "He died because he peeved a bunch of powerful people off. He lived and preached a message of radical inclusion that threatened the status quo [and] the authorities killed him for it."
Glynn Cardy said he believes "the 'dying for sins' business was a spin the Church applied at a later date."
His Easter Sunday sermon discussed spiritual anarchy and the death of Jesus: "Jesus was out of control and wanted to break the control system. It was a vision that would get him killed. It was a bad Friday on that Golgotha hill."
In previous years, vandals have slashed the St Matthew's billboards.
David Crampton, ENInews, <a href="http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2012/4/6/ACNS5083">http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2012/4/6/ACNS5083</a> Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:26:14 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/st-matt-s-auckland-does-it-again/ Australia’s Anglican Church still divided over women’s ordination http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/australia-s-anglican-church-still-divided-over-women-s-ordination/ 18 April
 Australia’s Anglican Church has its third female bishop, Genieve Blackwell, but her March 31 consecration was boycotted by her archbishop, Sydney’s Peter Jensen, a strong opponent of women clergy.
Blackwell, the first Anglican woman bishop in the state of New South Wales, was appointed regional bishop of Wagga Wagga, located between Sydney and Melbourne, by Bishop Stuart Robinson of the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn. Jensen is archbishop of the region, which also includes Sydney, one of the most conservative dioceses in the Anglican Communion.
Of her new role, Blackwood told ENInews, “It is about promoting Christ’s church in the world, and encouraging parishes in what they are doing now and in the future.” She told the Sydney Morning Herald that she was “a bit nervous but I look on this as meeting a great challenge that faces the rural and regional church … It is a great thing that the gifts of women are being recognized and confirmed as being able to be used in Christ’s service.”
A daughter of a Methodist minister, raised in the Uniting Church, Blackwell joined the Anglican Church while studying at university. She undertook further study at Moore Theological Anglican College from 1989 to 1992 under Jensen, and was ordained as a deacon in Sydney in 1993. (Deacons may not celebrate the Eucharist and have been ordained in Sydney since 1989.)
Jensen, along with all his Sydney bishops, did not attend Blackwell’s ordination service for “reasons of conscience.” Instead, he asked Bishop Brian Farran of Newcastle, New South Wales’ second senior Anglican clergyman, to take his place.
Australia’s second female bishop, Melbourne’s Barbara Darling, was among the 18 bishops who laid hands on Blackwell during the ordination service.
As the Sydney diocese opposes women priests, Blackwell entered the priesthood in 1998 within Canberra-Goulburn, and headed four parishes, the first woman to do so at each. In her new post, she has authority over 15 parishes.
When Robinson became bishop in 2009, he expressed a desire to see more women appointed to higher clerical office.
“Genieve Blackwell is so capable, I hope I can keep her – she is made for the job,” he told ENInews. ”She’s an extremely gifted and able leader, pastor, teacher and administrator. We are delighted to be a part of history.”
Canberra-Goulburn has been a pioneer in women’s ordination for 20 years despite being sued by the Sydney diocese in an attempt to stop ordination of 11 female priests in 1992. Sydney eventually had its action thrown out of court and Kay Goldsworthy was ordained as priest, one of the first ten female Anglican priests worldwide. She was Australia’s first woman Anglican bishop in 2008, followed by Darling nine days later.
Goldsworthy’s 20th anniversary in the priesthood was marked in a February service.
By David Crampton, Ecumenical News International Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:22:33 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/australia-s-anglican-church-still-divided-over-women-s-ordination/ Archbishop of Canterbury’s Easter Sermon http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/archbishop-of-canterbury-s-easter-sermon/ 18 April
Dr Williams detects turning of the tide towards religion
In his final Easter sermon as Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Williams suggested that the tide might be turning towards a more positive view of religion from those outside it.
Sidesmen reported a higher-than-usual attendance at Canterbury Cathedral for the 11 a.m. Eucharist on Easter Day. In his sermon, the Archbishop referred to the way in which various secular commentators “surprisingly float the idea that, without some input from religious thinking, our ludicrous and destructive economic habits are more likely to go unchecked”.
Laughter greeted his mention of “Alain de Botton’s recent book on how to hold on to the best bits of religion without the embarrassing beliefs that go with it”. All this suggested that, from those outside faith, there was a new “sense that there is something here to take seriously”, he said.
There was also evidence that young people shared this positive view, and, “while still statistically deeply unlikely to be churchgoers, don’t have the hostility to faith that one might expect”. This makes it “about the worst possible moment to downgrade the status and professional excellence of religious education in secondary schools”.
Dr Williams went on to preach about the action of God: “Perhaps ‘religion’ is more useful than the passing generation of gurus thought; but is it true. . . ? We are not told that the story of the empty tomb is a beautiful imaginative creation that offers inspiration to all sorts of people; we are not told that the message of Jesus lives on. We are told that God did something.”
Dr Williams emphasised the need to realise the truth of “this compelling vision” rather than only “looking respectfully and wistfully at what it might offer” from the outside: “We learn and assimilate its truth by the risk of living it.”
He took the situation in the Holy Land as one example of the difference religion makes to one of “the most completely intractable problems of our day”. In a determinedly even-handed presentation of the difficulties for both Israeli and Palestinian communities, he urged going beyond diplomatic initiatives: “We have to put immense energy into supporting those on the ground who show that they believe in a God who acts.”
The Archbishop praised networks that fostered “a feeling for the other or the enemy that we’d rather not have to develop — small moments of recognition and kindness”.
He ended by focusing on the need to speak of God: “What matters isn’t our usefulness or niceness or whatever: it’s God, purposive and active.”
Church Times
 Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:18:31 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/archbishop-of-canterbury-s-easter-sermon/ Tribute to Duncan McDonald – Waiapu Anglican Social Services founding father http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/tribute-to-duncan-mcdonald-waiapu-anglican-social-services-founding-father/ 3 March 
<img class="left" src="http://www.waiapu.com/assets/Duncan-Macdonald-small_2.gif" width="588" height="388" alt="" title=""/>
Bishop Murray Mills and Kevin Wearne represented the Diocese at the farewell to Duncan MacDonald on his retirement as Chief Executive Officer of the Selwyn Foundation since 2001.
Duncan played a key role in the development of Social Services in Waiapu from 1978 to 1994, first as Social Service Advisor, then as Director of Anglican Social Services.
At the farewell, Trust members paid tribute to the leadership he has given in making the Selwyn Foundation the best not for profit aged care body that it is.
Both Bishop Murray and Kevin Wearne spoke. Below is from Bishop Murray’s tribute on behalf of Waiapu.
For 19 of Duncan’s years (the vigorous youthful ones) - Duncan was out and about in our East Coast Diocese - all the communities that stretch from Otumoetai north of Tauranga, through all the Bay of Plenty, Rotorua/ Taupo/ Turangi Whakatane, then all round the East Cape, down through Gisborne and Wairoa and all Hawke’s Bay to the Manawatu Gorge south of Woodville. All the wealth of pasture and orchard and vineyard and forestry, and all the struggles of rural and provincial communities, Maori and pakeha, with notable unemployment inequalities and poverty, and all the social issues that they give rise to.
Duncan came to Waiapu after 8 years in parish and social work in the Hutt Valley near the end of Paul Reeves time, initially to resource pastoral care programmes: he served under 3 further bishops, Ralph Matthews, Peter Atkins and myself. To be fair he had to do battle with the Church to have Social Services fully acknowledged. He started on only a half stipend and supplemented it with social work and lecturing on the Community College staff until he became our fulltime Diocesan Director of Anglican Social Services.
Duncan was always a pioneer. And in Holy Week I don’t need to remind you how the prophet attracts contention and rejection as well as praise.
Duncan placed on a competitive modern footing Waiapu’s four Homes for the Elderly – in Havelock North, Tauranga, Te Puke and Gisborne.
And he supported and initiated a plethora of parish based services which to this day are the strength of Waiapu Anglican Social Services. They make up an impressive network of :
<ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>Family Centres, Counselling and Budgeting services:</li>
<li>Home-based care and Community Day care centres for the elderly: </li>
<li>Early Childhood centres and day care facilities, Whanau Aroha - for preschoolers;</li>
<li>Growing through Grief programmes for children: after school centres and youth programmes:</li>
<li>Homemakers and parenting skills:</li>
<li>A very creative residential course for families seriously at risk based at Abbotsford, in Central Hawke’s Bay:</li>
<li>He explored new community mission projects based on Te Amorangi centre out of Rotorua, in Flaxmere, Hastings, in the Napier Urban Maori Mission, </li>
</ul>Above all he persisted with putting all these operations on a sound business and legal footing.
In the last few weeks, as Diocesan Archivist, I just happen to have been working thru the Social Services records. The paper work Duncan produced is prolific and breathtaking: it reflects the constant battle to satisfy all the government departments, building codes, employment red tape: all the funding sources: all the parish enthusiasts and critics: and all the caution of Bishops ,Trust Boards and Standing Committees !: it represents great energy, attending meetings three or four hours in different directions over pretty hairy roads (the equivalent of you Aucklanders being in Kaitaia one minute and Te Kuiti the next!: always arguing new and innovative ideas. .Duncan - it represents a great heritage
And what I always remember is how you always made it clear, Duncan, that you saw your work as Christ’s work: rooted in a priestly, direct faith in the blessings of God and Jesus’ Mission call to Loving Service. That was always a strength in any of your presentations: pointing others to the compassion of Christ.
And Duncan was always, with you Julie, ready to link up with his local parish and play his part in their ministries. Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:14:04 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/tribute-to-duncan-mcdonald-waiapu-anglican-social-services-founding-father/ Anglicans publish their manifesto to fight for environmental justice http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/anglicans-publish-their-manifesto-to-fight-for-environmental-justice/ 3 March
Believing that “creation is in crisis” the Anglican Communion’s Environment Network (ACEN) has published a manifesto committing its members to taking concrete steps in support of Anglican efforts to achieve environmental justice.
At its meeting in Lima, Peru, Provincial representatives from 15 different countries reported accelerating impacts from human-induced climate change and environmental degradation in their regions. Many participants also reported extensive ignorance of the extent of the problem and, in some cases, unwillingness to take action.
In their subsequent publication Crisis and Commitment the group wrote: “Together we discerned an urgent calling to seek environmental justice and to encourage Anglicans everywhere to challenge and transform individuals and systems that spoil the earth, affect local communities adversely, and refuse to imagine a different kind of global community.
“Among those systems most in need of transformation is an economic system that knows no alternative to continual growth. Rather than having an economy that serves the well-being of communities, our communities (human and other-than-human) serve the well-being of the economy.”
To motivate Anglicans, both at the individual and at the structural level of the church, the group committed themselves to a list of actions that include launching a campaign around sustainable corporate behaviour and working with the Anglican Alliance to ensure Anglicans everywhere are fully aware of the relationship of environmental justice with poverty, food security, Indigenous rights, health and women’s empowerment, and are better equipped to respond.
Released this week, Crisis and Commitment: Final Report, Lima Statement and Action Plan contains not only an action plan, but also informative and wide-ranging samples of what Anglicans are already doing to address environmental damage and the issue of climate justice. It also contains reflections on the Sabbath as a theological narrative with the capacity to change the behaviour and life style of people of faith, and on what kinds of eco-justice ministry ACEN should be doing and encouraging within the Anglican Communion. The report includes and commends the message from African Faith Leaders: ‘Climate Justice for Sustainable Peace in Africa – The Nairobi Statement’ (2011).
To download the final report visit <a href="http://bit.ly/H9iRMI%20">http://bit.ly/H9iRMI</a> (NB: file size is 10MB)
 Ken Gray, ACEN Secretary
 Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:19:33 +1200 http://www.waiapu.com/latest-news-2/latest-news-2/anglicans-publish-their-manifesto-to-fight-for-environmental-justice/