Though serving its local school, St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Invercargill has grown both its children’s programme and congregation.
Nyalle Paris, who is a ministry intern at the parish, says the relationship began when the church ran an art-focused holiday programme in 2007 and asked several local schools to promote it. One, New River School, was particularly enthusiastic. Twelve children attended the programme, with each completing a work of art on canvas to take home.
Some members of the church attended the “Standing out in your community” seminar in Gore last year, and then-Moderator the Very Rev Pamela Tankersley’s visit brought what Nyalle describes as a “prophetic word” from Jeremiah 29:7: “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into excile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
The church was prompted to think about their place in the community, Nyalle says and realised that they had already taken the first steps. So they asked New River School if there was any way in which they could help out.
It happened that the school had received a grant for material to construct a garden as part of a healthy living initiative, but could not find any volunteers to provide the labour.
So over the course of several months, about 10 men from the church built the garden. It is a 60 foot by 20 foot enclosed vegetable garden complete with tool shed and tunnel house.
The church received a community group award from Environment Southland for this work, which elder Roger Harrington describes as virtually unheard of for a church.
Classes have a plot each in the garden, and teachers have given lessons on how to cook the vegetables.
Roger says that before it began its community outreach, the church had become “internally focused”.
“The community knew there was a building there but they didn’t know what happened inside.”
After the garden project, people were keen to do more, Roger says, and they asked the school if there were other needs. “They asked for one or two people to help with reading. Now eight to 10 people are helping out every week.”
“The relationship is just fabulous.”
The school provided training to the reading mentors, who spend 30 minutes every week one-on-one with a child.
In 2008, the church also took on a Boys Brigade Iconz programme, for both girls and boys, which meets every week. Last year about 15 children were attending, but since the relationship with New River has grown, it’s jumped to more than 70.
“It’s created a buzz of energy in the community.”
Nyalle says more than 90 percent of the Iconz kids are coming from the school, with the growth necessitating a split into two separate age-based groups.
Leadership is provided by a part-time youth worker, with some other leaders coming from the congregation.
There’s a role for everyone to play in helping out. “We’ve got older folk coming along to make milo and drinks.”
The congregation has grown, with up to 100 people now attending services, and its make up has changed, with 1/3 being Pacific Island people.
The church decided that the first Sunday of the month would be a kids Iconz outreach service. “This month, we had 29 children there,” Nyalle says.
“When I started in 2007, two kids would come up for the children’s talk. Last Sunday there were 15.”
Some of the parents of Iconz kids have started coming to the church, and some are also helping out with the leadership of the programme.
Nyalle says the church made a deliberate decision not to be involved in the Bible in Schools programme that’s being run at New River. “We’re not there to proselytise; we don’t want people to think we have an ulterior motive.”
Focussing on how to best serve the school and community instead means “one thing leads to another”, he says.
“This is mission on our back door.”
By Amanda Wells