Church Search

Today is our eighth Sunday in New Zealand, counting Christmas Day when we arrived. We have visited three different churches on five of those Sundays, searching for a new church home that will match our sense of humour and irreverence. Our friends at Kairos Milwaukie UCC set a high standard for us and we are having trouble finding a community of faith with a similar inclusive view of the world and a strong music ministry.

Megan performed a web search before we arrived and compiled a list of liberal churches in the Auckland area that we might find suitable. She got three hits by combining liberal/church/Auckland. The first church on this list that we visited was St. Mathews in the City, Anglican Church. We were warmly welcomed by Gavin, even though the service was sparsely attended on New Year's Day. The inclusive theology of St. Mathews appealed to us and we were able to overcome aversions to certain high church vestiges like kneeling to receive the Eucharist, genuflecting paritioners, and imposing vaulted gothic ceilings

(bells and smells as our Kiwi friend Rick Utting calls it). My biggest complaint was that the hymns were printed in the bulletin without written music which is one sure way to make me feel awkward and uncomfortable. I acknowledge that most people don't read music so it would be a waste of ink and paper, but I found out later they actually have hymnals stored in bookcases but not in the pews.


We skipped church the following Sunday to buy a car (see "New Wheels" in the blog below). We returned to St. Mathews in the City the next Sunday and were warmly greeted by Gavin again, and this time we were supplied with a hymnal after I asked Gavin for the music to go with the printed hymn verses. The hymnal only had the melody line printed but at least I could follow along when the tune was unfamiliar. After the service, we met the pastor, Glynn Cardy, who seemed very approachable. He had delivered the sermon with a sprinkling of humour and a measure of humility which I found refreshing. We also were introduced to Clay, an American who recently moved with his wife from America for reasons similar to our own.

The next Sunday we were on the road again visiting the Coromandel Peninsula (see "Kauri Tress" in the blog below). We returned to St. Mathews the following week and had another positive worship experience with the exception that there was no choir. Gavin said that the following Sunday, there would be music leaders (cantors?) and the service would be sung (chanted?). That's not exactly what I had in mind for a choir. We miss the friendships and support of the Milwaukie choir, not to mention the spiritual nourishment that comes from listening to music expertly played by Kathy and Ji Young (and Rick Skidmore's drum support!).

We decided we needed to branch out and at least try some of the other churches on our short list. Last Sunday we visited St. Columba's Anglican Church in Grey Lynn (a suburb of Auckland). It's a small church with a very small congregation. The pastor, Hugh, seemed very friendly, and the message from the pulpit was generally open and affirming. There was a child baptism scheduled for the Sunday service, and this seemed to attract all of the disposable attention of the pastor. There were many unfamiliar visitors and extended family for the baptism so I think Megan and I got a little lost in the shuffle. As could be expected, the music programme was lacking, and the congregational singing was sketchy.

Back to the internet for a new search, we attempted to find a church on the web which advertised a progressive message and had a regular choir. We obtained a list of 14 churches in the Auckland area that have regular choirs, but I could not tell from the individual web sites whether these churches would meet with our exalted standards.

Today we visited Mount Albert Methodist Church. The choir was strong and two of the four hymns were either printed in the bulletin or available in the hymnal (but no harmony parts!). The worship service was well attended, and a large contingent of children listened to a brief message before departing for church school. The pastor, Elizabeth Hopner's sermon was conventional but not memorable and both Megan and I felt somewhat disconnected from the message. We were spoiled by Rick Skidmore's sense of irony and his frequent rants about fundamentalist Christianity. At the very least, we almost always felt that his sermons connected with us and our attention did not wander far from the point. Maybe he and the Kairos gang would like to move to New Zealand. Hey, there's no George W. Bush here!

Again, I should't complain too much about the Methodist Church because their theology is basically sound (although they're still struggling whether or not to allow gays and lesbians into their leadership and this is causing a potential schism from within). We may try this place a few more times. But we may try some others, too. I guess we're still searching.