Punjab Mission Centenary

May I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Maori, Cook Island Maori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.

Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the evening (Sign)

May I specifically greet you: Rt Rev Pamela Tankersley and Rev Dr Graham Redding, Moderator and Moderator-designate respectively of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand; Bishop Lyngdoh, Deputy Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of North India; Members of the Porteous Family; Distinguished Guests otherwise; ladies and gentlemen.  In the context of today's gathering, may I add the greetings of Punjab : Sat Sri Akal and the other Indian greetings: Namaste, Namashkar,  Kam Cho.

Thank you for inviting my wife Susan and me to be present at this gathering to celebrate the centenary of the Presbyterian Church's Punjab Mission.

A century ago, fired by evangelical spirit, Dr Will Porteous, a newly qualified doctor, along with his wife Edith, who was a trained dispenser, set off for India and into the history annals as the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand's first medical missionaries to India.

An initial visit was made in 1908, and a recommendation made that the proposed mission could be sited in what was then called Eastern Punjab.  In 1909 they arrived in India again and in the next year 1910, having spent some time learning Urdu, they began work in the small Punjabi town of Shahabad.  On today's map it is a place north of New Delhi in what has become the state of Haryana and is south of the Capital Haryana, the famous Le Corbusier city.

For several months the Porteous couple lived in a tent and their dispensary and clinic was a shed they had cleaned out and whitewashed.

According to Dr Morton Ryburn's history of the Mission's first 60 years, the first day brought 80 enquirers, the second day 180 and the third 240.

Eventually they found the town unsuitable, and  moved to Jagadhri a little to the East but still in today's Haryana.  Land for two bungalows and a hospital was bought in 1911 and an old building became a temporary hospital.  A school of girls was soon established, with a new hospital opening in 1914.

Dr and Mrs Porteous returned to New Zealand in 1926, but the work they started has continued to this day with the Church's official missionary service including support for hospitals, schools and many other programmes to improve the wellbeing of the area.

While I was born in New Zealand, India was the birthplace of my grandparents and I recently had the distinct honour to make the first State Visit to India by a New Zealand Governor-General.

There are other connections to be registered with this event in a personal way.  Susan and I have visited India on a small number of valued occasions in the past, including soon after we were married in the early 1970s.  My father was an OtagoUniversity medical student and KnoxCollege student resident in the 1930s.  He maintained a lifelong friendship with a number of Presbyterian ministers and doctors thereafter.  I can remember as a schoolboy my parents being friends of a Devonport medical couple - Jim and Hester Henderson who had also been medical missionaries in Punjab in the 1940s.

On the recent visit to New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad the New Zealand party was greeted with much warmth.  And we also saw first hand how much India has changed. In the last 20 years, India's economy, which for a number of years had sat in the doldrums, has surged. 

Since the 1990s, sustained high growth rates have set the stage for India to become one of the world's largest economies. Time magazine recently forecast that by 2050, only China and the United States will surpass India in terms of economic growth. 

Even so, while living standards have improved, by a number of measures and by the standards we take for granted, many Indians continue to live in poverty and much remains to be done.

The ongoing work of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand continues to play an important role in transforming the lives of many people in the Punjab.

It stands as testament to the vision and dedication of Dr and Mrs Porteous, and their family, some of whom are with us today. Everyone can be rightfully proud of their achievements and the achievements of the missionaries who followed them.

The Church's work also plays a wider role in strengthening relationships between cultures, religions, peoples and nations.  The relationship between the two countries is the result of many threads forming a tapestry.

The relationship between India and New Zealand, two nations so far apart, and was in 2003 described with the two countries being the "bookends of Asia." There are the growing trade links and a common Westminster legal and democratic heritage.  There are also our links as founding members of the modern Commonwealth and, of course, a shared love of sports such as cricket and hockey.

But equally as important are the people-to-people links.  They include growing university research partnerships and the several thousand Indian students now studying in New Zealand.

And they also include the work of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand in the Punjab.  It is work that the Church can be rightfully proud of.

I am sure that when that when Dr and Mrs Porteous arrived in India, the task ahead of them must have seemed insurmountable, and as I have mentioned, much remains to be done.  But in supporting worthy causes, every bit of effort helps.  To end two thoughts come to mind, the first being that of Mahatma Gandhi who said: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."  And the Church's work reflects this.  The second thought is that of the well known South African Anglican Archbishop, Desmond Tutu who once said:  "Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."

And on that note, I will close and in our country's first language Maori, offering everyone greetings and wishing you good health and fortitude in your endeavours.

No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa.