Preacher reflects on ‘the evolution of faith’
It would be fair to say that Michael Hansen has spent a great deal of life serving the Lord.
For the past decade, he has been associated as a lay preacher with the Anglican Church in Waitara, and 10 years before that with New Plymouth’s St Mary’s Cathedral.
He has lived in the Waitara region for decades and has always preferred the rural lifestyle. He cheerfully describes himself as someone with ‘the country in his blood’. In that time, it would also be fair to say that numbers attending services on Sunday have declined but Michael sees this more as an evolution of faith rather than a lack of interest in spiritual matters.
When asked what a lay preacher actually is, compared to a clergy member – something quite a few people would be mystified by – Michael laughs.
‘‘Well, it’s a bit arbitrary, really,’’ he says. ‘‘Basically, a lay person is a citizen off the street who attends church, whereas a clergy member has an official standing or position within that church.’’ And a lay person can do more than most people might think.
‘‘In general, you can perform most functions except celebrate the Sacrament [essentially, baptisms and communion] and weddings. A lay person can carry out funerals and church services, for example.’’
Michael readily admits that in general church numbers are declining, and Waitara is no exception to this general trend, but feels that it is not a question so much of a rise in atheism or any sort of growing disdain for spirituality but as in people looking for God in a different way.
‘‘I don’t think people’s spirituality is declining, they just express that in different ways and different places, rather than at traditional church services.’’
Attracting the young to churches is something Michael feels strongly about, and the key to that is music.
‘‘Music has always been a large part of worship, and these days it’s the churches with modern band music that have large numbers of committed young members,’’ he says. And his take on the greater informality of worship today, outside of the
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