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About St John's ParishSt John's Roslyn is a parish within the Anglican Diocese of Otago and Southland. The parish covers the Dunedin suburbs of Roslyn, Belleknowes, Maori Hill, Kaikorai, Wakari, Halfway Bush and Helensburgh, and currently has a roll of about 350 people. Churches sometimes adopt some of the characteristics of their patron saint, and the Parish of Saint John the Evangelist is no exception. John's Gospel is the most literate and carefully-reasoned of all the Gospels. We believe that intelligent, informed reasoning, as well as scripture, is a path towards the truth. The long tradition of the Christian Church is important to us as well. We try to keep these three things - faith, reason and tradition - properly in balance, and the result is a healthy, growing parish. St John's is not a church where you need to leave your brain at the door. Neither is it a church where you put your soul in a box in the porch as you leave, and forget about God for the rest of the week. The Church Buildings
St John's, designed by H.F. Hardy and built by F. Wilkinson,
is a simple wooden church on a stone foundation, opened in June 1880.
The church is built of stained and polished rimu, kauri, bluegum
and oregon. Although it was designed to seat 282 people, its
comfortable seating capacity is about 220. The church has a
fine pipe organ and several notable stained glass windows. The
Parish Hall was built soon after the church; it has been altered and
added to over the years. A new building connecting the church to
the hall, and containing office space and a meeting room, was completed
in 2004.
(The main space in the new building is known unofficially as the Kataluma; this is a Greek word meaning a large communal room. The upper room of the Last Supper was a kataluma, as was the location usually mistranslated as 'inn' in the Christmas narrative.) See also our Ground Plan.
Parish Structure
Like all Anglican parishes, St John's is governed by a council
elected annually at an A.G.M. and called the Vestry. The Vestry
meetings are usually chaired by the Vicar. These meetings are
open to any parishioner who wants to attend, and minutes and statements
of accounts are available from the Parish Office by request. As
a matter of convenience, much of the Vestry's business is conducted
by subcommittees, and any parishioners are welcome to participate
in the work of any of the subcommittees if they so wish. Two senior
laypeople, known as Wardens, take legal responsibility for the parish.
One is elected by the parishioners and the other is appointed by
the Vicar.
See our People page for a list of the current Vestry members. Finances
The parish budget is about $130 000 per annum, which covers
our staff costs, the upkeep of our buildings, and our contribution
to missions and to the work of the wider Church. Our parish has
some endowments made by generous people in years past which help towards
this figure. Once a year, generally in early November, we hold
a Parish Fair, the proceeds of which are used for general parish purposes
and given to various charities. Largely, however, the parish
is funded by the contributions of parishioners. Regular contributors
generally give by way of automatic bank payment, or by being part
of our envelope scheme. Both of these methods ensure that details
of giving are kept as private as possible, while allowing for an annual
receipt to be issued for tax purposes. To obtain details of
the envelope scheme or to set up an automatic bank payment please contact
the office (464 0240) or Sue Cathro (467 5474).
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