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Australia Speaking Tour 2007 - August 8th, 2007
Aug. 8th, 2007
04:29 pm - I'm back! A brief word about New Zealand
It was a long ride home but that's okay. I've recovered from jet lag and feeling great. It is exciting to hear how many people from my home church, Chicago Temple, have followed along from this blog. I'll be making a presentating sometime in the coming weeks. What I said to the senior minister in our brief passing one another by today is that I have so many stories to share. That is the part that is so important to me - how everyone welcomed me and shared who they are with me. And I hope that I've left some of my own stories with each place I spoke. I will be following up with the host churches and sites to see how they are finding ways to adapt the Hospitable Pedagogy and the storyboard art into their ministries.
I did take a bit of holiday time! I spent 8 days in Auckland, New Zealand. I went to the northern islands and did alot of recouperating as well. Of course I took alot of pictures of the amazing natural landscapes.
This is the view from the top of the dormant volcano called "Rangitoto." It has been dormant for 600 years. There are no roadways, only trails and one small train that goes up to just about the top.
I took a ferrry to the island and it took one and a half hours to make the trail climb to the summit. There were 20 something in my group that took the ferry over together. Myself and four other people were the only ones to make the trail climb to the summit! Everyone else took the train, so I felt pretty good about making it to the top!
04:49 pm - New Zealand and the Methodist Church
While in Auckland, NZ, I had a delightful opportunity to have lunch with Rev. Barry Jones, Rev. Gillian, and Telita, the National Director for Youth Ministry. I emailed Rev. Jones at the last minute while in New Zealand and he arranged to have our two other guests there as well. We had lunch and conversation at the church of Rev. Jones, the Pitt Street Methodist Church. He prepared a lovely lunch and we talked and talked between the three of us! The Pitt Street church is multi-ethnic and urban. We talked alot about the challenges facing children's ministries and in working with youth. We talked alot about intergenerational ministry so that as people enter our church buildings we are not separating people off by ages and there is no contact between them.
When I saw the Pitt St church sanctuary it so much reminded me of the Chicago Temple sanctuary, but on a smaller scale. It has the original pews - very long and with no center aisle. The pulpit is a central feature. Very much the style of some of the first Methodist churches where the emphasis was primarily on the preaching rather than both preaching and sacraments. Beautiful large stain glass windows. The stain glass window above the balcony was given by the congregation in memory of the son of a member who was killed in WWII. What a wonderful gift it was for me to share a meal and be in conversation with these three warm people.
The memorial stain glass window:
The pulpit:
The sanctuary view:
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