Touchstone welcomes letters from readers.

Many Thanks

I write to acknowledge and thank the following people who participated in the official opening service of the Baring Square Centre on Saturday 18 February, 2023.

To Piper Iain Isles, who gave the proceedings a stunning start, followed ably by singer Leanne Gichard.

To Reverend Kathryn Walters, District Superintendent, who opened the service and became M.C.

To Mayor Neil Brown, who acknowledged the Ashburton District Council’s association with the Methodist Church and neighbourly support.

To our Tongan family who provided cultural entertainment and showcased our combined church family association. Well done boys!

To Rev. Norman West, who spoke of past memories and ministers and shared amusing incidents and advice for the future.

To Rev. Peter Taylor, President of the Methodist Church of New Zealand and our parish minister in 2010, who looked back to the earthquake event, acknowledged the work involved in the restoration and unveiled our opening plaque.

David Leadley who provided the power point presentation along with the order of service, photos of construction work and acknowledgments. Thank you David, you kept us on time.

To the pianists, Ann Allot, Ruth Clucas and Stuart Grant. Leading the congregation of 200 strong singers, was wonderful (a joy) to hear… acoustically superb. We look forward to having the organ restored to its former glory later in the year.

To the Silver Band Committee for providing afternoon tea.

We acknowledge the huge task undertaken by Rangzen, Rushton Architects and McIntosh Construction.

Finally, we thank all the local people who joined us for our celebration. The venue is available for meetings, productions, cultural, choir, lecture, educational, and musical events. Our wish is for it to be used by the community.

Yours sincerely

Judith Crozier.

On behalf of the Ashburton Methodist Parish Restoration Committee (Ruth Bilverstone, Brian Leadley, Brian and Rothery Reesby, and Alister Smyth.

Nobody should walk alone

In the April issue ofTouchstone, Michael Lemanu shared his memories of stress as a young youth leader doing a full-time study, having two part-time jobs and family responsibilities. Thank you, Michael. But let us not get bogged down in detail. You raised an intergenerational problem in the church that needs to change.

The business of finding someone to do a task in the local church and then leaving them to it without support can be a form of betrayal. Appointing someone is not necessarily a problem solved. It can be simply passing the parcel.

Those appointed to tasks in the church are entitled to the intentional provision of continuing pastoral care. Personal support and an awareness of the challenges of the task undertaken are required. I look back with gratitude to times when a school teacher and an artist offered their services.

No leader and no church member is exempt from giving or receiving pastoral care. Singing “Brother, sister, let me serve you” without caring may be sound religion but more is asked of us. The mind of Christ and living life in his Spirit.

Laurie Michie, North Shore

MCNZ Facebook Page Content

I am very proud that our church has a long history of women playing roles at all levels from President of Conference to minister and also playing a vital role in keeping our church going and serving our communities. My church in Papatoetoe acknowledged International Women's day thus in our bulletin: "Let us recognise and celebrate all women of our own Wesley family, both those who are here with us now and those who are no longer with us in this world - for their contributions to families, communities and achievements in life." Fitting and appropriate.

I am also proud that the Methodist Church of New Zealand has supported the rights of same sex attracted people, has accepted gay and lesbian ministers and also the right of same sex attracted people to marry.

However, I was shocked and disappointed that the church's Facebook page chose to honour Georgina Beyer on International Women's Day, completely ignoring the achievements of the women in our church. This felt incredibly regressive and misogynistic to me. Regardless of what Georgina had achieved, pride month would have been a more appropriate month than International Women's Day. Acknowledgement of the death did not have to come under an International Women's Day banner.

This seems to be a political position stating that trans women are indeed women. This is contested by many people because of problems with women losing places in women's sports and facing stronger, more aggressive males in contact sports, problems with heterosexual men who are attracted to women and have not had any transgender surgery being placed in women's prisons affecting the dignity and safety of women. This is happening all over the world and in New Zealand. Lesbian women are being told they are transphobic if they do not accept trans women as dating partners.

This has not been decided. We cannot assume the fight for women's rights are over when women are subject to violence, when prostitution and pornography are rife throughout the world and prostitution is legal in our country and still dangerous and harmful to the women in it. Surrogacy is another issue where women's bodies are commodified. Just because these issues mainly affect poor and marginalised women is no reason to assume they don't matter and women's places can be given to men.

I would suggest our church Facebook be more carefully moderated as it is part of the online face of the church

Yours sincerely

Dawn Trenberth

Member of Wesley Methodist Church Papatoetoe