Meet Jono Macfarlane - Priest in Charge in the Parish of Pohangina
Jono MacFarlane was installed this week as Priest in Charge in the Parish of Pohangina. We caught up with him and found out he holds a Guinness World Record. Read on to find out what it is for.
It’s not every day a new Priest in Charge also brings a Guinness World Record with him. “An interesting fact is that I used to be New Zealand's Strongest Man, and still hold the Guinness World Record for the Longest Throw of a Person,” he says.
“I'm a millennial only-child who is a father of 5 kids, married to the wonderful Lauren, who I met over in America.”
Jono says that coming to the Pohangina parish feels like stepping back into something familiar. “I grew up as a townie but genuinely love being around sheep and beef farming in the Manawatu, and some of our fondest memories were on our lifestyle block in the Pohangina Valley.”
Jono’s path into ordained ministry has taken some turns. “I came to faith in Christ at 14 in the Anglican Church, then the next year moved to Auckland and promptly got baptised in a Baptist Church, went to Carey Baptist College, and became a pastor in a Baptist Church.”
What followed was a mix of planning and surprise: “Lauren and I then moved to Lower Hutt with plans to church plant, but ended up being the senior minister in an independent Reformed Church in Palmerston North for almost a decade.”
Those years grounded his focus. “There I developed a real heart for gospel ministry in regional and rural NZ, and had numerous frank reckonings with the realities of church revitalisation and planting in independent circles.”
At the same time, something was shifting in the background. “Having used Anglican liturgy extensively already, I was becoming a convictional Anglican, and returned to the Anglican Church after 23 years, with the goal of pursuing ordination.”
That return was influenced by the wider life of the Church as well. “A key motivator for me was watching Archbishop Philip Richardson at the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Abuse in Care,” he says. “And so it was a joy to be ordained deacon and priest by him as I served the Parish of Katikati in the Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki.”
As he steps into his new role in Pohangina, Jono keeps his focus simple and practical. “My sense is that Anglicans in NZ need to be known for preaching the scriptures well to head, heart, and hand; graciously magnifying the goodness, beauty, and truth of Christ.”
He’s noticing a wider appetite for that depth. “It is constantly impressed upon me that there is a real hunger for the word to move powerfully, and that needs to be met with renewed conviction, study, and prayer.”
For Jono, taking up the role in Pohangina is less about starting from scratch and more about continuing a story—returning to a place that already holds meaning for his family, and bringing with him a mix of experience shaped across different churches, communities, and seasons of life.
