People

Selwyn is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. He currently leads the A Rocha local group in Dunedin. He has degrees in Geography and Divinity and did his doctorate on the nature of human dominion over creation.

Irene is on the organising committee for the Wellington local group of A Rocha Aotearoa New Zealand. She spent far too long studying in her younger years (horticulture, economics and theology) and not enough time planting trees, and is making up for lost time now. Irene and her husband, Terry live on a 5 ha bush block near Paraparaumu, and are thankful every day for being able to live amongst God’s gifts of bush, garden and sea. She works at the Ministry for the Environment when she is not planting trees.

Please see here for more information about the Wellington local group, or email [email protected] to get in touch with Irene.

Pete Armstrong is an electrical engineer working as the General Manager Network for EA Networks Limited, who operates the electricity distribution network for the Ashburton District. He has an engineering degree from the University of Canterbury and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Waikato. He is interested in the de-carbonisation of electricity, transport and process heat technologies to assist in reducing the impact of those sectors on climate change. Previously Pete was based in Hamilton and joined the Karioi Project as a trapline volunteer and enjoyed getting out and making a difference for the birds on the maunga. Married to Carolyn and with three teenage children, Pete now lives in Ashburton.

Mary Hutchinson is a Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington based, retired GP who has had a lifelong interest in environmental issues. This was originally inspired by childhood family holidays near a North Canterbury river. Her involvement with freshwater conservation continues with being a member of the Papawai Reserve Group in her local suburb of Pukeahu-Mt Cook. The neighbourhood group is part of the Mt Cook Mobilised Resident’s Association and has been working to restore the small un-piped ‘Papawai Stream’, with riparian planting, water quality monitoring and advocacy. She has also volunteered with weed control at Zealandia Eco-Sanctuary.

Mary’s medical career included working in mental health; with newly arrived refugees in Wellington, and more latterly, student health. Currently she is a volunteer lay ecumenical Chaplain two days a week at Massey University, Wellington.

Since retirement from medicine, Mary has further developed her interest in street and social documentary photography; she has held several exhibitions and self published photo-books focusing on distinctive parts of local urban areas.

Mary is married to Jonathan and they have two adult daughters.

Stephen is the Translations Director for Bible Society New Zealand.  He serves translation projects in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Thailand as well as being part of the United Bible Societies’ international training wing, Global Bible Translation. He is also Executive Editor of The Bible Translator, UBS’s flagship academic journal, published by SAGE. Stephen’s  Otago University PhD thesis was published by Cambridge University Press (SNTS Monograph Series 128, 2004).

His research interests include the book of Revelation (on which he has taught courses for Auckland University, Otago University and Laidlaw College), Relevance Theory, translation theory and biblical hermeneutics, especially ecological hermeneutics.  Stephen has presented papers on the biblical interpretation and the care of the earth at the 2005  “Creation Care” conference in Auckland which led to the establishment of A Rocha Aotearoa NZ, at the first A Rocha conference in Raglan in 2008, at the A Rocha National Conference in Wellington in 2012 and at the Ecology and Hope conference in Auckland in 2016. He is currently editing a special issue of The Bible Translator as a result of a joint session with the Ecological Hermeneutics section of SBL, 2018.

He has been a member of the ARANZ Auckland local group committee since its beginnings in 2008 and is involved with a local stream restoration project in Unsworth Heights.

Stephen is an elder at Northcross Community Church.  He is married to Raewyn (co-chair of Auckland ARANZ committee) and they have four adult children and six grandchildren.

Nō ngā hau e whā ōku tūpuna, engari I tūpu ake au i raro o te korowai o Kā Kōhatu Whakarekareka o Tamatea Pōkai Whenua kei Waitaha. My ancestors arrived in Aotearoa from the four winds, but I was raised under the protection of the Port Hills in Canterbury. I deeply love the land and the people of Aotearoa, and I am passionate about the good news of Jesus changing people’s hearts and restoring their relationship with God, themselves, others and the whenua. When I am not pursuing God’s dream for the restoration of all things, I love running in the hills, reading books, making music and hanging out with my little whānau.