Dear Friends

I am writing to you as your Moderator-Designate to encourage you to come to Dunedin on 15-19 November for our General Assembly, which is being held at Otago University.

In May we conducted a survey to help us find out what each of our churches thinks about Presbyterian Church communications. Thank you to the 304 people from our 400 Presbyterian and Uniting parishes who filled in the survey – it was very pleasing to get such a big response.

Monday 20 June is World Refugee Day and Sunday 26 June is CWS Refugee Sunday.

The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand has condemned the murder of 49 people earlier this week at Orlando gay nightclub, Pulse.

The Rt Rev Andrew Norton says: “This heinous act that has taken the lives of innocent people and injured many more, and it has been done in the name of a religious and political ideology, which is truly deplorable”.

Rev Norton believes that the shock waves of events like this sweep around the world and are acutely felt within communities in every corner of the globe, including New Zealand.

Love Reaches Out art and writing competition is an initiative of Kids Friendly and Family Works.  Children are invited to creatively explore this year’s theme of "LOVE IN ACTION". 

Open to children & young people with the Presbyterian Church, Family Works or Presbyterian Schools.

Submit painting, drawing, sculpture, poem or story. There are prizes to be won! Entries close 26 August 2016.

See Kids Friendly for more information and entry form

Presbyterian Support New Zealand is inviting applications from parishes for grants from the Tindall Foundation.

Application material may be viewed or downloaded from the Presbyterian Support website, and applications close on Friday, 26 June 2016.

Download the Liturgy of Asia Sunday http://cca.org.hk/…/wp…/uploads/2016/03/Asia-Sunday-2016.pdf. This year the theme is "Korea: Towards Unity in the Bond of Peace" was chosen by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) on the Biblical verse, Ephesians 4:3: “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace”. Asia Sunday is observed every year on the Sunday before Pentecost.

The Presbyterian Church’s Global Mission has contributed financially to a visit to Aotearoa New Zealand by the Rev Socratez Yoman, West Papuan human rights defender.

Read below or download a pdf of the Anzac Day (25 April 2016) message, “Dead Poets Speak“ from the Rt Rev Andrew Norton, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.