Home » News » Spanz Magazine » All Issues » June 2003 » New Buildings, Same Mission

New Buildings, Same Mission

St Ninian's Uniting Parish, Karori was rededicated in February '03 following a major refurbishment and building programme. Leading the parish through this time of major change was Minister Rev Pamela Tankersley, who has since been inducted to St David's, Palmerston North.

Before leaving Karori Pamela said that although it had been a time of great change for the parish, its mission to be 'Christ centred and community facing' remained unchanged.

"The dream for St Ninian's is that the refurbished centre become peopled and active, so with this in mind the space has been designed to be flexible and convenient for the different community user groups. There's plenty of secure storage space so that regular users are able to keep their belongings on-site. Also, the new chapel will be a community-accessible space", said Pamela.

The congregation does not necessarily believe it has the corner on what is good and appropriate community work, so very few of its projects are undertaken solely on its own initiative, but in partnership with other groups and agencies.

These joint community/parish projects include an opportunity shop run as an independent trust, with profits going to schools and food banks. There's the Good Companions Club that holds monthly social events for the elderly, and the Parish employs a community pastoral worker to work with the elderly and housebound.

The St Ninian's Parish is itself a product of cooperation having been formed some nine years ago with the uniting of St Ninian's Presbyterian and Wellington West Methodist parishes into the Karori Northland Uniting Parish, recently renamed St Ninian's Uniting Parish.