Reverend Dan Ross was installed by Bishop Ellie as the Vicar in Pauatahanui on Sunday the 27th September, and reflects this week on the unexpected journey he and his family have taken from Leeds, England to the Wellington Diocese.

In the Anglican Church, becoming a deacon can be a first step on a pathway to being a pastoral minister. There is a choice. Deacons can “out-reach” as a vocation. Like Jesus, vocational deacons speak their particular Christian message as a voice in the community to call out inequalities, provide guidance, and be a voice of hope for others.

As churches, we’re communities doing life together and loving one another through thick or thin. At any one time there will always be some of us facing a crisis of some kind. If we know someone facing a mental health crisis, how best can we support them? How can we show them empathy, compassion, and respect?

As followers of Christ, we are called to be family together, but there can be a concern of disconnect intergenerationally, as churches seek to meet the needs of their congregation from creche programmes to content for their most seasoned parishioners.

In the lead up to the Vocational Deacons’ Ordination service on the 11th of October, Paul Carey and Hannah Rowan will be writing about their journey to ordination. This week Hannah shares on her calling to become a Deacon in the parish of Levin.

My daughter was in her late teens when she first started struggling with her mental health and suicidal thoughts. There followed five years of riding a frightening roller-coaster with her, as best I could. There was no instruction book to follow.

James Coleman, the co-vicar at Silverstream Parish published a book in June of this year, ‘Visions for Everyday Christians’, and has shared some thoughts on his own experience of receiving visions and how he was inspired to tell this story.

In the lead up to the Vocational Deacons’ Ordination service in October, Paul Carey and Hannah Rowan will be writing about their journey to ordination. This week Paul shares on his calling into becoming a Deacon for Administration.

Family caregivers and good friends are the ones who play the most central role in the care of those experiencing mental distress. They’re the ones who support an unwell person to follow the steps they need to be well. But have you ever noticed that the work and commitment of carers often goes unseen and unacknowledged?

As followers of Jesus, we are called to point to the injustices we see around us and work to direct them towards the hope of God’s Kingdom. The ongoing housing crisis in New Zealand, highlighted by the upcoming elections, is an issue that affects many of us on a personal level and has direct ramifications on inequality and poverty levels.

Should we legalise the production, supply and consumption of cannabis? That’s what the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill sets out to do, and on October 17th, the nation will vote to decide if we support that bill. We might head for Scripture to find the ‘right’ answer, and thus determine how we should vote, but the question of which option is scripturally right is not the best way to frame our thinking, according to Rev. Dr Joe McGarry, our Anglican Studies Co-ordinator.

Moving through an experience of mental distress can be a challenge. In times of despair and anxiety, recovery can feel impossible and the road feels endlessly long. It is important to remember in these times that recovery is not a destination that we arrive at one day. Rather, recovery is a series of small steps that lead us towards improved well-being.

In our current nation-wide state of Alert Level 2, many local businesses are struggling with their ability to retain customers and keep their doors open. In the midst of this, there has been an opportunity for parishes to support the businesses in their communities, as our whānau from St John’s Anglican Church in Wellington’s northern suburbs has discovered.

The COVID-19 pandemic has left very few corners of the world untouched, and the work of sending Christians to serve in global mission is no different. Reverend Rosie Fyfe is the National Director of NZCMS (the New Zealand Church Missionary Society), and she writes about how the organisation is managing their ongoing mission work in the face of the pandemic.

After any kind of illness, everyone’s pathway back to wellness is their own. ‘Recovery’ from mental distress or disorders will look different for different people. Gradual changes begin to help a person improve their health and wellbeing, step by step.

Over the last year, the snowy Anglican parish of Ohakune has been home to the St James hall-turned-retreat-lodge, dreamt up by Chris Casey with a nudge from Bishop Justin Duckworth. The lodge was commissioned at last year’s Synod in September, intending to be used primarily by friends of the Anglican church – large family gatherings and youth programmes.

With the fast-paced nature of tertiary study for students, university chaplaincies have the chance to encourage a practice of rest and stillness. The Wellington Massey Chaplaincy recently ran its Unplugged Silent Retreat for the third year in a row, at the Home of Compassion Retreat Centre in Island Bay. Their first retreat was held at Ngatiawa River Monastery as an initiative headed by Ian Cook, chaplain at the time, but they took the opportunity to hold it more locally over the last couple of years.

Hi, I’m Amanda, I’m 38 and I worship with the Anglican church plant in the suburb of Brooklyn, Wellington. I had a really ‘wholesome’ upbringing, with lots of time outside on bikes and playing on invented obstacle courses in the backyard. Nevertheless, by the time I was around 8 years old, I was a very anxious child and my internal world had started to become somewhat dark.