4 October 2011
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Murray McCully, is to be commended for the prompt action taken in coming to the aid of the tiny island nation Tuvalu, says the Right Rev Peter Cheyne, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.
On Monday, the New Zealand Government sent two desalination plants, emergency water containers and officials to Tuvalu, after a state of emergency was declared last week due to an extreme shortage of drinking water.
The Very Rev Pamela Tankerlsey, Presbyterian Church Global Mission coordinator,...
5 September 2011
The Presbyterian Church today expressed strong concern over the recent ban on Methodist gatherings in Fiji.
The Fiji military imposed the ban this week, which includes a prohibition on all gatherings outside normal Sunday services.
Any meeting taking place between Monday and Saturday – including prayer groups, choir practice, mid-week holy communion and youth fellowship gatherings – have been banned.
“We’re alarmed that the military regime in Fiji appears to be taking...
Press Release
Food shortage in North Korea: an appeal for international assistance
31 May, 2011
In March 2011, a United Nations report stated that six million people in the DPRK (North Korea), a quarter of the country’s population, are in urgent need of international food aid. The Korean peninsula has suffered devastating summer floods, and an especially severe winter, which “leaves the country highly vulnerable to a food crisis”.
The report recommends that 430,000 metric tons (475,000 tons) of food aid be...
5 October 2010
The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand will be giving a further $30,000 to those suffering from the effects of the Christchurch quake, taking its donation to $67,000.
On Sunday 3 October an offering for earthquake relief taken up during Church’s General Assembly held in Christchurch totaled approximately $5,000, a further $25,000 donation will be added to this by the Church’s Christchurch Presbytery - $5,000 from national fundraising and $20,000 gifted by the Presbyterian Savings and Development Society (PSDS)....
3 October 2010
The Rev Ray Coster of Tauranga will be the next leader of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Ray has been elected Moderator Designate and will take up the role of Moderator in late 2012. The result of the election was announced at General Assembly 2010 in Christchurch on Sunday 3 October.
Ray is the senior pastor of St Andrew’s Presbyterian in Mount Maunganui.
Born in Southland, he studied at the University of Otago and the Presbyterian Theological Hall. After completing his training in 1976, he ministered at Trinity...
2 October 2010
Visitors from Korea have gifted $37,000 to the Presbyterian Church for Christchurch earthquake relief.
The Rev Tae-jin Bae, General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church of the Republic of Korea (PROK), who is in Christchurch as a guest at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, yesterday brought a US$5000 donation from his Church, and the Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK) gifted $30,000.
The gifts will be presented to the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand on Sunday during its General Assembly (currently being...
1 October 2010
At its General Assembly, currently being held in Christchurch, the Presbyterian Church urged the Government to implement all of the Law Commission’s recommendations on alcohol law reform, and endorsed the 5+ solution promoted by Alcohol Action NZ.
Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand the Right Rev Peter Cheyne said that, concerned about New Zealand's heavy drinking culture, in late 2009 the Presbyterian Church produced a submission to the Law Commission on New Zealand's liquor laws.
Peter says the Presbyterian Church is not...
1 October 2010
The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand estimates it has sustained close to $8 million in damage to its Christchurch church properties. 28 of the Presbyterian Church’s Canterbury church properties were damaged in the 4 September earthquake and insurers are working with brokers and the churches to process claims.
The historic St Paul's Trinity Pacific Presbyterian Church in Christchurch, damaged by fire in August last year, suffered further damage in the earthquake. The church received a Christchurch City Council Heritage Incentive Grant in June...
Friday 1 October 2010
The Right Rev Peter Cheyne has been installed as the new Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, at a ceremony opening General Assembly 2010 in Christchurch.
After the earthquake of 4 September, the Presbyterian Church considered shifting its biennial gathering away from Christchurch. But after months of work, the organisers (from local churches) were keen for the conference to go ahead as planned to show the Church’s solidarity with the people of Christchurch and to bring much-needed business, because the Church has heard the...
The Presbyterian Church is concerned by news that the settlement of the Tuhoe tribal claims has stalled at the eleventh hour.
The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand has long enjoyed a special relationship with the Tuhoe iwi. This relationship owes much to Presbyterian mission work in the Urewera region in the early 20th century, and in particular to the close friendship forged between Rua Kenana Hepetipa and the Very Rev J G Laughton. Today, the relationship is embodied by, and nurtured through, the work of Te Aka Puaho (the Presbyterian Church’s Maori Synod), which...