New teamwork at Leigh church

A small management team is being established to help coordinate operations at St Michaels and All Angels Church in Leigh, at a time when dwindling attendance has made it difficult for the congregation to manage the heritage building on their own.

In a display of ecumenical cooperation, Anglicans are joining Presbyterians and others in helping to ensure needed maintenance takes place and services run smoothly.

The move brings no change to the status of the Anglican church, where different denominations have taken services for years, but is seen by those involved as a positive one for Christians in the area and the broader Leigh community.

“We are looking to more formally include the local Leigh congregation by giving them a role in the care of the site,” Anglican Vicar Peter Jenkins says. “More importantly, we are wanting to make sure that the church community is supported and that we can find new opportunities to grow the ministry of St Michaels.”

Neville Johnson, a Presbyterian who was principal of Leigh Primary School in the 1980s before 23 years at the helm of Matakana School, is among those involved.

With understandably “sporadic” maintenance over the years, St Michaels – which marked its centenary in 2015 – has issues including borer and a leak in the belfry area. It’s a lot to handle for a congregation that was drawing perhaps ten people to a Sunday morning service.

The cross-denominational team hopes to help with maintenance, and in facilitating the church calendar, arranging a roster of speakers for Sunday services.

Crucially, Johnson believes the wider community shares an interest in a building seen as an iconic part of the village. The church marked its centenary in 2015.

Johnson spearheaded a campaign to bring St Andrews Presbyterian Church back to Matakana in 2007, 15 years after it had been relocated to Snells Beach. He recalls that when that little church was moved out of Matakana in 1992, the people who were most dismayed weren’t necessarily churchgoers but those who had family connections – “we don’t go to that church, but my parents were married there”.

He believes people in Leigh feel a similar attachment to St Michaels, and will step up to help, if needed – “not because they are necessarily committed to Christian belief or values, but because the church is part of the Leigh identity”.

Johnson says the management group is discussing the possibilities of enhancing landscaping around the church, perhaps extending landscaping from the adjoining library gardens, making it “even more pleasant on the eye” than it already is.

Meanwhile there are signs of “gradual, sustainable growth”. Wednesday night services are drawing promising attendance, and 11-week foundational Alpha courses – he describes them as “Christianity 101” – are being run, drawing 15 to 20 people, including some teenagers.

“We see great synergy there,” he says. “All the churches bouncing off one another – it’s very healthy for the church as a whole. I can’t see any negatives at all.”

The vicar evidently agrees.

“I really love the worship of St Michaels and am excited about what has been developing out there over recent months,” Jenkins says. “The new proposal will be an ongoing work in progress but we hope it can help things run more efficiently between the different partner churches and those who make up the Leigh church congregation.”