Called to be the Footsteps of Jesus in our Communities

Often the first question people ask when meeting someone from a church is 'What's the church like?'  At St Cuthbert's Anglican Church, our community upholds four values particularly highly.  We embrace others; opening up our lives, love, resources and priority to the most vulnerable, just as Christ offered himself.  We risk the cost of faithfulness; even when it might mean failure or personal cost.  We cultivate; serving, encouraging and equipping each other, for Jesus' work in the world.  Finally, we practice and uphold the renewal God promises in the death and resurrection of his son; we make room for the possibility of new beginnings and letting go of the old.  This promise of renewal extends not only individually, but also to communities and God's creation.

As a result of treasuring these values, St Cuthbert's is a richly diverse and authentic community who invest their time, finances and people in the community; especially with the most vulnerable, voiceless or marginalised.

Here are some of the folk who help lead and cultivate the church or aspects of the church's mission:

Susan Blaikie is the Priest in Charge.  The most important aspects of leading a church for Susan is faithfulness; 'Being faithful to Jesus is surprisingly difficult.  It demands trusting in God when we often prefer to trust ourselves...it involves taking risks for God and being OK with the occasional worldly failure.' Susan is married to Duncan, and they have a blended family of four children and Susan's mother, Pat.  Courtney Wilson who lives with the Blaikies, with her young daughter Hana.

Richard Noble is the Priest Assistant.  Richard spends a lot of his time on the main streets of Newtown; a busy, cosmopolitan suburb of Wellington.  Richard often works with the most vulnerable, such as mental health consumers, people who live on the streets, the lonely or folk in distress.  Richard also works closely with local support agencies throughout Newtown.   Richard is a very talented musician and also works part time for MASH.  Don McDonald, Rick Shirley, John Kerkmeester and Cathy Bi also work with Richard in this ministry.

Penny Harding is the churchwarden and Prayer Cultivator. In her role as churchwarden, Penny support Susans in leading the church and looking after her welfare.  In her role as Prayer Cultivator, Penny leads a prayer team and helps encourage, equip and enable people in the discipline and joy of prayer.   Outside of the church, Penny is a journalist and editor. 

Manu Ward is our Children & Youth Cultivator.  As with Richard Noble, Manu spends a lot of his time working with children and schools in Newtown.  Manu, along with Urban Vision, runs a weekly Kids Club at Newtown Park Flats, Playgroup, and works with a couple of local schools in leading voluntary projects such as music or gardening.  Manu also belongs to Urban Vision.  Working with Manu is Tori Holman, our Youth Cultivator, who works alongside Urban Vision, schools and other youth groups to help cultivate vulnerable youth in Newtown.  Cilla Brough also work with Manu in overseeing the St Cuthbert's Playgroup.

Don McDonald is our Health & Safety Officer.  Don is a talented photographer and a keen mathematician and astronomer, and regularly spends his time visiting people in the community, and running 'Cosmos' (a general knowledge quiz for elderly) at the Alexandra Resthome in Berhampore.

To help support our team above, we also have Pat James, Brendon Ojala, Dan Vincent and Robert McKee who make up the vestry.  The vestry are a governance body, and help Susan, Richard, Manu and the churchwardens in the leadership of the church.  The vestry particularly focuses on buildings and administration, mission, fellowship, worship, finance and Christian faith education.