Our Priest in Charge

Ordination of The Reverend Dr Gillian Reid by Bishop Ross and Bishop Jim in February 2017. Gillian is our Priest in Charge. Gillian is standing to the right between Bishops Ross and Jim.

Centre photo – Our Reverend Gillian blessing the knitting produced during the Level 4 Lockdown in 2020.

St Peters Knit For A Purpose Group – knitting woollens for babies and toddlers cared for by the Anglican Trust For Women and Children in Auckland. With 30 knitters now contributing, we have produced many many 90 litre bins of knitted clothes which have been passed on to the Trust, in four years of effort by the members of the group.

Walk Through Christmas
Local schools’ Children’s Walk Through Christmas, where groups of 1st and 2nd year children from four reasonably local schools walk to the Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Presbyterian churches for stories and activities about the birth of Christ. Gillian is pictured telling the story of the first Christmas.

Men’s Group. The group meets on Friday afternoon caring for the church garden and grounds, and contributing vegetables to the St Andrews Community Meals and the Community Services, as well as spending some time solving most of the world’s problems from men’s perspective over cups of tea.

Building Renovations The roof was strengthened and the building re-piled and earthquake proofed in 2017.

Advent Study
The 2018 Advent Study was a very interactive set of group work exercises during the four weeks leading up to Christmas. The result of each week’s work was recorded on long sheets of paper and displayed around the church.

Whitianga Spectacle Collection
In 2019 St Peter’s Church collected people’s old disused spectacles from the people of Whitianga.  They were sent to a Lions group in Papakura who sort them and then send them to the various Pacific Islands for distribution.

Christmas Boxes
The congregation take these Christmas boxes and fill them with gifts suitable for children.  The boxes are categorised as boy/girl and three age groups to specify.  The boxes are collected by Samaritan’s Purse who distribute them around the Pacific Islands.

Wilkinson Family Baptism on Easter Sunday. The first baptisms for ages, and this time father and two boys were baptised.

Good Friday Walk of Witness through Whitianga township. A combined Anglican and Roman Catholic Christian event.

Combined Churches’ Carol Service in the centre of town. This typically attracts well over 100 people each year.