Churches have an important role to play in reconciliation initiatives in troubled regions of the world, such as Madagascar, says the Right Rev Dr Graham Redding, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. Over the past few weeks the Christian Council of Churches of Madagascar has attempted to convene a conference of reconciliation after weeks of violence in the country following a change of government, says Graham. “I was very concerned to hear that the president of the largest Protestant Church in the country, Lala Rasendrahasina, was detained briefly on Tuesday...
This Children’s Day, 1 March, an Auckland Presbyterian Church is encouraging parents and caregivers to switch off all electronic gadgets and connect with their children.
The St Heliers Presbyterian Church in Auckland is calling for a Sunday spent listening to and talking with children, instead of a Sunday spent being distracted by e-gadgets.
Jill Kayser, national coach of Kids Friendly, a Presbyterian Church initiative and a member of St Heliers, says that parents and caregivers are being encouraged to interact with their children this Sunday rather than allowing them...
Peace on earth!’ the heavenly host declared as angels announced the birth of the Saviour (Luke 2:14).
Peace? On earth? We hear it every Christmas but, as the rock band U2 remind us in their song Peace On Earth, “hope and history don’t rhyme.” So, “what’s it worth,” they ask, “this peace on earth?”
The problem here is not just one of human failure to bring about the peace for which we so desperately yearn. It is also about Christianity’s complicity in this failure. Throughout history the Christian church rightly...
The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand is to use $2m from the past sale of its Wellington office building to kick-start a fund for growth projects.
The Church’s General Assembly voted to establish a fund to tackle the decline of the Church by providing the money necessary to support growth projects.
General Assembly also encouraged all the Church’s congregations and presbyteries to voluntarily provide a 1 percent return on all investment assets for the use of the Press Go Advisory Group in supporting growth projects.
Church Moderator the Right Rev...
Speaking out against religious intolerance, and the support of freedom of thought and religious expression, is behind the Presbyterian Church’s endorsement of the National Statement on Religious Diversity for Aotearoa New Zealand.
New Presbyterian Church Moderator, the Right Rev Dr Graham Redding says everyone has the right to be treated with respect whatever their belief, “Through the teaching in school of different religious and spiritually traditions, ignorance and bigotry can be dispelled from future generations”.
The national statement, which aims to...
Today in a colourful ceremony involving the laying on of hands by past Moderators, and the transfer of a heavy ceremonial cloak, Te Korowai Tapu, the Right Rev Dr Graham Redding was installed as the new Moderator or elected leader of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.
The ceremony took place in the church that the new Moderator was formerly a minister at, St John’s in the City Presbyterian Church, Wellington.
Graham is principal of the Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, which is the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Dunedin-based...
For the first time the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand is to take action on climate change and the environment at a national level.
The Church has urged its 419 parishes nationwide to take practical action, to audit their environmental footprints, and to study the issues of climate change and the environment. The Church also endorsed a declaration on climate change, developed by the Church’s ecological task group.
The recommendations and declaration were accepted today by Presbyterians at the Church’s biennial General Assembly.
The Church’...
An advocate of education for Indian girls, Mrs Kamla Singh, arrives in New Zealand today for a fortnight visit.
An imbalance of the sexes at Indian schools is of great concern Mrs Singh says. “When I began teaching, more than 40 years ago, there were more boy students than girls. Today, there are still more boys than girls”. She says this is because there has been a reduction in the female population.
“It’s a cultural thing in India where a family wants a male child, not a female child, so the female is aborted. Girls are seen as a problem,...
The Right Rev Dr Graham Redding is the new Moderator or elected leader of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. He begins his two year term from 2 October 2008.
Graham is principal of the Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, which is the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Dunedin-based training centre for ministers and lay leaders. Graham took up this role in 2007. Before that, he served as a very popular parish minister at St John’s in the City in Wellington for six years and Somervell Memorial Presbyterian Church in Auckland for nine years....
28 February 2008
Last year the Government increased funding for out of school care services, the Presbyterian Church responded by seizing this opportunity to reach out and serve communities. The Presbyterian Church would like to encourage churches not currently running community children’s programmes to do the same.
The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand is actively working to increase the number of out of school care programmes it...