E-NEWS 25TH JULY 2025
LONG LEAVE
During the coming week our minister, Fei, will be returning to the Parish after three months on Study Leave. We will be interested to hear of her experiences and insights.
During my 39 years of full-time ministry, I had two periods of three-months leave. The first was termed Long Leave when we were permitted to choose how we spent our time. Nola and I opted to centre our time in London where my twin sister was on a teacher exchange. We explored the UK and Eur-railed our way around Europe including Retreats at Taize in Southern France and the World Council of Churches outside Geneva. The second one was Study Leave and was used to research material for my Doctorate on the relationship between Sunday School and church in the history of the Methodist Church of NZ.
I also had two terms of a month in work-related travel. One was to meet Christian Educators and take part in brief courses in Christian Education. The people included Ruth Duck, whose hymns we sometimes sing, and James Fowler, who wrote ‘Stages of Faith’. I travelled to London, Princeton, and Richmond, Virginia, among other places. The second was a “pub crawl” of United Methodist Theological Colleges in the United States, including Los Angeles, Dallas, Nashville, Atlanta, Columbus (Ohio), Rochester (where Martin Luther King trained) and San Francisco. I was fortunate indeed. It was all part of my continuing education.
Continuing education plays an important part in many professions, occupations and trades. We must keep up to date and refreshed. One of my daughters is a teacher, the other a nurse. They both have requirements for continuing study and courses. So it is for many.
I am an advocate for continuing education and life-long learning for all, and not just in our occupations or vocations. I no longer try to stay on top of the areas that once occupied my mind. I don’t need to. But there are always new areas to be explored.
I honour the numerous ways in which St Andrew’s engages in continuing education. Through worship, social justice seminars, musical events, progressive theology discussions, sustainability information, the Rainbow Room, etc. It happens in groups. It happens in us as individuals. It provides growth and widens our interests. Go for it!
Frank Hanson
You can read the full E-news here: https://mailchi.mp/1da585766fe4/this-weeks-newsletter-from-st-andrews-on-the-terrace-10135763
