Churches unite to rebuild congregations

Two Masterton churches hope to combat diminishing congregations and have a new start, with the help of Jim Symons, an American reverend.

Mr Symons, of California, has been in the country since September and is helping Masterton's St Luke's Union Church and Landsdowne Presbyterian Church work together.

This is the tenth time the clergyman has worked within churches in New Zealand in the past 11 years.

The two churches have been having joint Sunday services for a while and are hoping to find more ways to become more of a co-operative ministry. They have the first two services of the month at one church, and then switch to the other.

"It's really, really working well," said Mr Symons.

Both churches have diminishing memberships which initiated the joint services.

"They feel like if they can join together, it will give them both a new start and a burst of energy," he said.

Representatives from both churches will meet Thursday with a list of goals, and Mr Symons will work with them to find the best way to achieve these.

This collaboration was also timely as church-goers at St Luke's broke away and formed the Lansdowne church in 1912.

Last Sunday, the congregation gathered around a foundation stone and remembered the history and the link between the two churches.

Mr Symons will deliver a five-week series of talks, starting with a session on the spiritual practice of discernment, tomorrow at St Luke's at 7.30pm or Thursday at Lansdowne at 9.45am.