David Whyte’s thoughts on the church’s faults have certainly aroused some interest! It may be pertinent for the local Huntly churches David seems to be commenting on to be allowed to reply.

The first time David had a real conversation with me, he said I may be surprised to hear he was a Christian. I didn’t ask why that was (and I wasn’t!) but assumed it was because he didn’t seem to be involved much in our town.

In Huntly, most of the churches are very practical, trying to meet people on their own terms. Both the church and individuals are very involved in the life of the community – schools, businesses, care of the aged and infirm, help for struggling families, befriending isolated people, environmental work, budget help, food bank, children’s work, local body politics, medical and mental health work, preschool, kingitanga and local marae, rural families, teenagers, sports, employment.

Our church youth group, with about 50 attending each week, is mainly unchurched teenagers. The issues we are grappling with, to use David’s words, are the ones they and their families face: anger, addictions, unstable lifestyles, unwise relationships, poverty.

One of our youth leaders is a teacher at Huntly College and continues the ministry there, finding opportunities to counsel and pray with students and their families; another has just been appointed the local truancy officer with huge potential to touch lives and homes; and a third, employed as a youth worker by the church, has been appointed as an honorary college staff member in recognition of the help he gives with sports teams.

Help is given by church folk to send teens and children to camp who otherwise couldn’t afford it, transport is given to various events in the church van. And that’s one of our community ministries.

Services tend to be down-to-earth. Huntly’s a working class town, and a large proportion of its residents and church attenders are Maori, so our language tends to be literal rather than poetic.

David is an artist and academic. He has thoroughly enjoyed using his creativity with other Christians in Hamilton, helping set up thought-provoking installations, presenting Christian messages in new and fresh ways. Many people, including me, have been blessed by this, but I haven’t taken many Huntly people down, as I think they would be a bit “heady” for many people we work with.

Everyone’s different. I think much of David’s wish to not be involved in his local church relates to matters of personal taste rather than serious issues of conscience.

I and many others think the church in Huntly ticks the boxes that David laid out in his very sensible September article, and I hope one day he can find a way to express his faith somewhere in his local church. We love having his wife and children involved!

– Jeremy Welch

Huntly