letter from New Zealand
New Zealand sees itself as a forerunner when it comes to progressive thinking: in 1893 New Zealand became the first self-governing country to award women the vote. And, whilst many of the progressive advances have brought good, there have been others which have had a detrimental impact.
One such ‘progressive advance’ came in 2018 when the Anglican Church of Aoetearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia (ACANZP) voted to bless same-sex relationships despite this being contrary to Scripture and the Church’s canons.
In the aftermath of this decision, Anglicans from 12 churches across the country took the painful decision to set up a new diocese: the Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa New Zealand. A sad, but inevitable, outcome of this split was that many congregations lost their church buildings and most changed their names as an indication of their new identity. The stand these churches took resulted in many of them having to rent out school gyms or use other churches’ facilities at odd times of the day. But in God’s goodness, despite the challenges, the diocese continues to grow and is now made up of 20 congregations around New Zealand.
Trinity South Christchurch was one of the churches which left in 2018. We began a journey round several different venues and time slots, and the need for a more permanent place to call home became more and more pressing. People gave generously and sacrificially and in the end a less than ideal building was purchased for which a significant building project was planned. Just as the final plans were being put in place the former church building that we had left during the split came on the market.
It was everything that we had prayed for, but the big question was would ACANZP sell to one of their old congregations? Previously there had been a lack of willingness to even rent the buildings to us, but in the Lord’s kindness, provided we could pay the asking price, they were happy to sell, even to us. The prospect of repurchasing the old building brought forth even greater generosity and remarkably within a few short weeks the old church buildings were returned. We have been in the buildings just over seven months now, and the Lord has been bringing people to us and building His church; many new people have just walked past and decided to come in and check it out. A church building is just a rain-shelter, but it is a very handy tool in reaching out!
As many of the Anglican churches in England face painful and difficult decisions over the coming months and years we want to encourage people with our story of God’s faithfulness.
