Ian Boddy, Involvement with Methodist Church, Part 2 - Manawatu Conversations

Description: Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 19th November 2024. Part 2 of 2. The Palmerston North Wesley Broadway has had a number of lay preachers but other churches in the region haven’t had so many. About 2012 they became one parish, the Manawatu Rangitikei Parish, with buildings in Feilding, Pohangina, Ashhurst and Palmerston North with services in each. Marton parishioners attend a service at the Lutheran Church Some people are only involved with the church on Sunday. Some cultural differences with the Tongan community. They like to dress up and like to dress up the church. Tongans like to have a longer church service. In Ashhurst the church was moved and the hall is now the church. Bunnythorpe church was sold to an independent Tongan parish. Many Tongans became members of a Methodist band. In the 1960s the Trinity church started a Methodist social service centre which set up a second hand shop – Highbury House. Members of the Methodist church form groups to provide pastoral care to other church members. Methodist Women’s Fellowship is one of the biggest groups. Volunteers tend to be older people. At the moment there is still a need for churches, but the next generation will have to work out what their needs are and how they will provide for people’s spirituality and religious needs. More weddings are with marriage celebrants. The Methodist church tries to have a voice in political issues.