Rev Sam Pullenger’s installation as St John’s Church vicar took place recently. Photo: Viv Posselt
The newly installed vicar at Te Awamutu’s St John’s Anglican parish, Rev Sam Pullenger, knows he is facing an unusual challenge as Anglican parishes go.
Rev Sam Pullenger after his April 19 installation.
Most Anglican parishes have one church. St John’s has five … the Old St John’s Church and St John’s in Te Awamutu, St Paul’s Church in Rangiaowhia, and churches in Pirongia and Kihikihi.
“That means we have five congregations, some of which may feel on the margins,” he said. “One of my hopes is for us to see ourselves as a more unified parish, so we are all together, simply St John’s.”
Sam was installed as St John’s vicar on April 19. It was a solemn event, overseen jointly by his predecessor, Archdeacon Rev Julie Guest, and the Archdeacon Rev Andrew Evans.
He has stepped into Julie Guest’s shoes – she is now focusing on her role as Archdeacon of Waitomo. The strain she encountered trying to juggle her role as St John’s vicar and that of Archdeacon of Waitomo is what saw her step down and is, in part, what Sam alludes to in addressing the topic of unifying five churches and five congregations. Acknowledging the whole while embracing the differences within each is what he wants to do … so is the management of trying to physically get to services across the district with very little time between each.
“I would like to be fully present at, and after, both services without having to rush in between. I’m looking at ways I can adjust that.”
There is a youthful zeal that sits alongside Sam’s seriousness. He is a young dad whose wife Josie teaches at Cambridge Primary School. Family time is all-important, and he intends guarding it closely.
Sam was born in Te Awamutu, grew up and went to school in Cambridge, a lad who always enjoyed studying the Bible.
ew St John’s Anglican Church vicar, Rev Sam Pullenger, pictured after his installation with his wife Josie and their children Silas and Eden.
After marrying in 2016, the Pullengers moved to Tauranga for Josie’s work, and he decided to add to his undergraduate degree with a Masters in Applied Theology.
Keen to travel before settling down, they went to Al Ain in Abu Dhabi, from where they hoped to see a bit of the world. “Then Covid hit… we spent two years there and saw very little else!”
When they came home in 2021, the couple settled in Te Awamutu and Sam joined St John’s as ministry assistant to Julie. Last year, he was ordained deacon, then priested to St John’s last November.
