Welcome!
Christchurch South Methodist Parish
40c Stourbridge Street, Spreydon, Christchurch, 8024
Phone: (03) 980 5002 or 027 428 7356
Minister: Rev Andrew Donaldson
St Marks Methodist Church (Christchurch)
5 Somerfield Street, Somerfield, Christchurch, 8024
Phone 027 428 7356
Email: revandrewdonaldson@gmailcom
St Mark Methodist Church Somerfield has space available for clubs, community groups and private gatherings. Facilities include an activity room, lounge, hall and kitchen. Long-term or short-term rentals.
To hire these facilities contact Property Manager Paul Titus Ph 021 655 092
For use of the church contact Rev Andrew Donaldson 027 428 7356
Presbyter
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Rev Andrew Donaldson
Phone: 027 428 7356
Preaching Plan
MARCH APRIL 2026 SERVICES
Sunday March 29th
All age Morning worship 10 am
Preacher: Linda Cowan
Thursday April 2nd
7 pm Tenebrae Service
Rev Andrew Donaldson
Friday April 3rd
9:30 am Good Friday Service
Rev Andrew Donaldson
Sunday April 5th
10 am Easter Day Service
with Holy Communion
Rev Andrew Donaldson
4 pm Contemplative Service
at Whareora 8 Athelstan St
NB with daylight Saving this
Service reverts to winter time
of 4 pm
Sunday April 12th
10 am Morning worship
Rev Andrew Donaldson
Sunday April 19th
10 am Morning worship
Linda Cowan
Sunday April 26th
10 am Morning Worship
Rev Andrew Donaldson
Our Vision
- Growing & sharing our faith in God,
- Joining together for worship & celebration,
- Living faith by serving others and offering hospitality to our local community.
Our Values
Acceptance
Caring
Creativity
Outreach
Teamwork
Worshipfulness
Presbyter's Ramblings
Presbyter`s Ramblings
We now enter the Season of Easter. This is the highest festival in the church calendar.
We remember in the Easter story the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus our Christ. Through the season of Easter, we hear about Jesus’ resurrection appearances and encounters with the disciples.
In the season of Easter, the lectionary substitutes the Hebrew scripture readings with stories from the Book of Acts as the first listed reading. One of the important stories which we won’t cover this Easter is the story of Jesus’ encounter with Thomas in John 20.
I was interested to learn that the encounter with Thomas picks up and explores the Old Testament notion of ‘you can’t see God. especially God’s face, and live’. We see this with Moses’ encounter with God in Exodus chapter 33. God protects Moses from God’s face.
For as God says” … no one has seen my face and lived.
Given the nature of the Hebrew scriptures there exists a counter assumption. For the Law requires all Israelite men to go to the temple and stand before the face of God, three times a year
(Exodus 23:14 -17 and Deuteronomy 16:16). In excavated ancient temples, pre- Jerusalem temples have positioned in the holy of holies a standing stone representing the face of God.
Biblical scholar Dan McClellan connects these laws with Thomas’s encounter with the risen Jesus. Thomas, rather than the doubter, is the first disciple to recognize Jesus as God. The story of God begins in Genesis with God visiting Adam and Eve in the Garden Of Eden. God is in an intimate relationship with people in the garden. Later in God’s story God is distant and in the heavens.
In our theology, Jesus is the divine image that manifests God’s presence. Thomas is the first to declare that in Jesus he has seen God. In McClellan’s words,
“When (Thomas) sees Jesus as Lord, he also sees the walking, talking, sentient divine image” “ My Lord and my God”. ( John 20:28.
Andrew