Church News
February 22 Christchurch Earthquake
In the aftermath of the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that struck New Zealand's largest South Island city of Christchurch just before 1:00 pm on February 22, causing enormous destruction to the city's infrastructure and loss of life, are many stories of heroism amidst the panic, of people rising to the occasion and looking after the pressing needs of others, of students and farmers and tradesmen and ordinary folk, some even coming from distant parts of the country, turning out to do for others what they could not do or were too overwhelmed to do. Neighbour helping neighbour: locally, nationally and internationally. It has been a reminder that when the chips are down, most do care for those worse off than themselves and are prepared to do something to help.
The past few months have seen an amazing effort to stand Christchurch on its feet once more. Again, the city's mayor, Bob Parker, has led and provided a voice to both the rescue effort and to those patching the city's infrastructure together. These are coming on line slowly but will be tentative and sub-par for some time to come, but the signs already are encouraging.
Sadly, this quake has taken the lives of over 200 people, some of these being overseas visitors to the Garden City. And beyond that many have been injured, and all living there continue to be rattled and upset by the continuing aftershocks, scores of them, many of magnitde 3.0 and 4.0 or more. In consequence many have left Christchurch, even if only temporarily, and gone to other cities and towns to escape the incessant ground movement.
Most in the city have suffered loss of some form or other and while members of our own congregation in the city are few in number, all of these suffered damage to houses and belongings. All are safe, however, and all except one able to return to their homes.
The response of our church, apart from ensuring the safety of each member of the congregation there, has primarily been directed through some of the larger relief organisations such as the Red Cross, to which we have made a large donation.
Pentecost services in Palmerston North:
From Dennis Richards (June 13, 2011): “We had a combined group here in Palmerston North with Hawkes Bay driving down and also most of the Wellington group coming up by bus, so it was a lovely day and the weather was good too – which was nice since we met at an establishment called The Chalet which is beside a lake, so the children got to feed the birdlife and run around a little in the sun. All up we had 40 come (5 from HB, 26 from Wlg and 9 locals). The day started with a lovely catered finger-food lunch, which allowed for plenty of catching up with each other. Russell Hayhurst led the service with Louis Smith and Brenda Gordon helping with the music plus special music from Peter Kousal playing one of his own compositions, Wayne Jones led the offertory and I gave the sermon (focused on the mission of the Holy Spirit in the church). And after that we enjoyed a lengthy afternoon tea before everyone headed away. Aside from the travel, it was a lovely and largely restful day of fellowship and I hope we may get to do it again sometime.”
