There is a beautiful story in 1 Kings 19 where the prophet Elijah comes down from a mountain and sees Elisha plowing a field. In a moment, he throws his mantle over him and, in that act, calls him as a prophet. The beauty of it is the unexpectedness - from the obscurity of the domestic realities of life to ministering to God’s people, Elisha was suddenly in a new place.
On Thursday afternoon, Bishop Andrew announced that the Parish of Taradale would become the first of the diocese’s new ‘Resourcing Parishes’ - Centres of church life and mission that are called upon to look out, equip and resource the ministry of other parishes and churches in a region. You can read the announcement by clicking here. You can read more about the Resourcing Parishes model by clicking here.
Alongside the parish becoming a Resourcing Parish, Alan is to be appointed Archdeacon of Hawkes Bay Cities and Hawke Bay Coast, reflecting the area the parish as a resourcing parish will have input. This also brings with it some responsibilities for training and education of both lay and ordained people.
While this has just been announced, it comes following a period of discernment and conversation between the Bishop, the Bishop’s Leadership Team and the Vestry of our parish. We believe there are numerous practices in place to ensure the work does not demand too much of our parish and that there is space and boundaries for Alan to ensure that the call and ministry is sustainable.
We will speak more about the wider implications of these announcements in the coming weeks. Suffice to say this is not dissimilar from the experience of Elisha receiving Elijah’s mantle. There is a degree to which we do not know what it means and what it will lead to, but that we are called to faithfully follow to where God is calling us as a parish and what God is doing within the Anglican Churches of the Hawkes Bay.
These new roles will begin on April 1 - the irony is not lost.
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