Present - Pastor's Pen for 31st May 2026

Boulder Bay, Medlands, Great Barrier Island

I rode past a dairy at the Belmont shops the other day. Fiona needed some bananas for her smoothie so I popped in to see if they had any. They didn't, so I asked if there was a fruit shop nearby. The assistant didn't know. She probably wasn't from there, it was just a job. It got me thinking about how present we are to our surroundings, to our neighbourhood. Ours is an increasingly busy suburb, with denser housing meaning more people and more cars, more of everything on even our side-roads. It's likely we don't know our neighbours. Do we notice things?

Contrast this with our recent trip to Great Barrier Island. With a population just over 1000, neighbours are connected, virtually every resident is known up and down the island. Leading the very relaxed church service, this was evident. The church family were well known to one another, who was sick, who was off the island for a while and so on.

A neighbourhood church like ours can be a counter-cultural expression of belonging. Everything seems Mega these days, the city, churches, the traffic jams. What about the local expressions of community?"Large enough to share, small enough to care" was the vision on our newsletter and sign for many years. It is still relevant, even though it has been refreshed.

As we launch into the Revitalise SWOT analysis and future planning process this weekend, please pray for our congregation and community. I think we have a real opportunity to be present, to see what God is doing and what the Holy Spirit is leading us into, in this neighbourhood of Forrest Hill. Shalom