Then sings my soul - pastor's pen for 26th October 2025

The first day of General Assembly in Christchurch had all the things one might expect and more. I attended the AFFIRM pre- assembly mini conference in the morning, which was both encouraging and informative.

The welcome into St. Paul's Trinity Pacific Church was enjoyable. It's such an impressive complex. The congregation worship band was outstanding, bringing some contemporary interpretation of familiar hymns, with a bit of a soul/funk edge to it. The singing in the very full auditorium was something else! God's people can sure make a joyful noise.

We transitioned from the moderatorship of Rose Luxford to the new one, Peter Dunn. Rose has been warmly appreciated and Peter will bring something new, a gospel focus in his understated way.

After the moving openings, we got down to some dialogue group business, which was important but not so exciting. Dinner was absolutely delicious.

GA is always exhausting because of it's constant conversations, reading and thinking. I think I hit my people quota on the evening of day one....

But this is our church. It can seem weak but is robust in so many ways, made strong by it's different cultures and strong emphasis on doing things in good order as the Spirit leads. We sang How Great Thou Art in English, Maori and Samoan and with the amazing music it was superb. Then sings my soul...