December 2014

Advent Hope and Interns

As we move into Advent and Christmas – a time of new beginnings – we look with hope towards the coming year.

The session has agreed to have John Schoneveld as an intern beginning with our welcoming him and his family at his commissioning during the morning service on December 14th. John Schoneveld will be our fifth intern, following Nathan Pedro, Tani Huanga, Thomas Kauie, and Chris Milham. John will be with us for one year. John is experienced in many aspects of parish work and we look forward to enjoying his gifts of ministry as well as contributing to his further training. This is something we do together to raise up new leaders for ministry and mission. It is particularly good that John will be around as I take up the role of Moderator of Northern Presbytery in February 2015 and John’s special interest in Children’s ministry will welcomed by Angela and her team.

Intern exchange
As you all know, our parish is participating in training of ministers for the PCANZ.. I remind you that instead of students of the ministry going to Knox in Dunedin for a number of years, as in the past, the ministry training scheme is now run by the Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, based in Dunedin but also with an Auckland centre.
Students for the Ministry of Word and Sacraments within the PCANZ have usually completed, or are completing, their theological degrees by the time they enter the selection process and are then accepted for two year ministry formation by the Knox Centre. In the new scheme they are placed in a parish as an intern. 65% of the intern’s year is spent in supervised ministry, normally in the parish setting, and 35% of their time is spent in structured learning, including the attendance of 3 x 10 day block courses organised by the Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership. The learning requirements of the Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership, including the intern’s attendance of block courses, have priority over the ministry needs of the local congregation.
John has also been selected by KCML and Kids Friendly to participate in a National Kids Friendly Internship for 4 weeks, working alongside Jill Kayser and the Kids Friendly team. This will occur for a period that is mutually agreeable to St John’s, Kids Friendly and John and will be scheduled sometime between Easter and November of 2015.
John has sent us his profile.
I have been married to Jan for thirteen years and we have two daughters, Johanna (7) and Catriona (nearly 3). We currently live in Tuakau, ten minutes south of Pukekohe. The first half of my internship with my home church of St James Presbyterian Church in Pukekohe has been both a time of joy and a time of personal growth, and I’m looking forward to new learning as I continue my internship with St. John’s in Papatoetoe. Before my internship I was on the eldership team at church and have been involved in children and youth ministries in a variety of other churches with diverse flavours over the years. I have also enjoyed doing supply preaching in a number of Presbyterian churches, both in New Zealand and Scotland (Jan’s home country). My passion for working with all generations, for opening Scripture and for outdoor adventure has been nurtured, in part, by my involvement with Scripture Union over many years, including four and a half years on staff as a Schools and Camps Worker. I am excited about the potential for church to be a missional community of God’s children sharing His life and love together and shining this life and love into their local community and beyond. In my spare time, I enjoy adventuring outdoors, reading, photography and spending time with my family.


We welcome John and Jan to St Johns this Christmas time as we celebrate the coming of God with us, Emmanuel. We also celebrate 200 years of Christian mission in New Zealand in 2015 and as you travel around there should be signs of the bicentennial being marked throughout all the denominations. The good tidings of great joy which Samuel Marsden and Ruatara brought on that Christmas day 1815 is still changing lives and communities in New Zealand today.
May you find your way to the manger at Bethlehem, journey with the wise ones and rejoice with the shepherds and find God is with us, in pain and joy, bringing hope and love and new life.
May God bless you all

Rev. Margaret Anne Low