Wednesday 27 May 2026
It has been a very ‘full’ week of lots of great things going on here at the College in the wake of House Music. This past Monday as Chapel we were delighted to support two great initiatives:
Firstly, on Monday 25 May, we were enriched to have the opportunity to support the Breast Cancer Foundation Annual Appeal. Kate Bell (Year 12, Middlemore) and a team of students and a few key staff members did a phenomenal job in offering a beautiful afternoon tea in the Toi Manawa foyer. Lots of students, staff members and parents gathered for this important fundraiser – with all the baking for the pink-themed afternoon tea being provided by our talented student bakers – washed down with pink Stoke lemonade being kindly donated by one of our College parents.
We were then deeply privileged to hear Mrs Stacey Morrison – previous College parent, and broadcaster share her role in advocacy for the work of Breast Cancer Foundation research. Again, a sincere thank you to Kate for her superb work in driving this wonderful and very important fundraiser.
Kate wrote of the experience:
"The Breast Cancer Foundation Afternoon Tea was an incredibly rewarding and memorable experience. Organising the fundraiser allowed me to develop my leadership, communication and teamwork skills while supporting a cause that impacts so many people across New Zealand. Seeing the King’s College community come together to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research and support services was very inspiring. One of the highlights of the event was hearing from our guest speaker, Stacey Morrison, whose story and insights made the afternoon even more special.
Throughout the process, I learned the importance of planning, collaboration, as well as perseverance, especially when balancing the event alongside school commitments. It was also very fulfilling to see how even small contributions from individuals could collectively make a significant impact. The leftover baking from the event provided us with a successful bake sale the following day, and the rest was donated to St John’s Emergency Services.
Overall, we raised over $2000 for the Breast Cancer Foundation."
A sincere thank you also to all the parents who came to support and donated towards this worthy cause.
The second initiative was the Boarders Chapel where our boarding students, along with two fortunate Year 9 classes, were blessed to hear from guest speaker Mr Jonathan Noyes – a Chicago-born and LA-based speaker, theologian and writer – who was in the country visiting high schools and tertiary institutions. Sharing respectfully and with warmth and humour, he spoke about his own personal journey from doubt to belief, and the reasons why he has come to believe in the grace and love of God, as we find expressed in our Anglican faith.
Two of our students who engaged with Jonathan over the lunch-hour at an open Chapel forum had this to say of the experience:
Emily Yang (Year 12, Taylor) said:
‘It was interesting to talk to someone about their journey with faith and how they had developed it. Through connecting with Jon, my perspective of Christianity widened as I learnt that the principles of science and Christianity are supportive instead of conflicting, as seen through the Big Bang theory where they can coexist.
Discussions about how hardships strengthen faith have shaped a positive light on how I view times of despair. Through our conversations, I learnt about the truth of God, seen in real life examples of his creation and how science is not always a counter argument for religion, [but that] they can also be compatible…’
Lachlan McFarlane (Year 12, School) had this to say…
Monday morning’s Chapel genuinely made me think. Jon spoke about his journey from being an “angry atheist” to becoming a Christian. He described three major “bumps” that challenged his atheism: the existence of “Stuff”, objective morality, and human conscience.
Whether or not you agreed with his conclusions, the talk raised some genuinely interesting philosophical questions. He discussed how the universe must have originated from something, even if we are still uncertain about what that “something” is. Through inference and rational argument, he arrived at the conclusion of God. He also pointed to the extraordinarily precise conditions of the universe and the intricate design of the world, arguing that such complexity was unlikely to be the result of mere chance.
He then pivoted to the idea of objective morality through the example of concentration camps during World War II, arguing that we collectively recognise them as profoundly evil. Through this, he argued for the existence of objective morality: the belief that some actions are inherently wrong, regardless of culture, time period, or personal opinion. He argued that morality requires a foundational baseline — an anchor upon which moral truths can be rooted — and that without such a foundation society risks drifting into moral relativism, where morality becomes entirely subjective. However, he never explicitly explained why moral relativism itself must necessarily be a bad thing.
To conclude his address, he discussed his final “bump” — human consciousness. We are all conscious beings: capable of thinking, forming ideas, and then communicating them (some can even do all three at once). From this, he linked consciousness to the idea of the soul, arguing that if humans possess a soul, then we must originate from something greater than ourselves — that perhaps we are made for something more. This eventually led into the question of meaning and purpose in life. He argued that if humanity is so intricate within an even more complex universe, then science alone may not be able to fully explain our existence, ultimately challenging his previous naturalist worldview.
Regardless of belief, Jon’s address encouraged deeper reflection on existence, morality, and the purpose of human life…’
This weekend, we wish Jaedon Gin (Year 13, Greenbank) and his group of students and staff from Greenbank House as they assist with another Child Cancer Foundation collection at Mitre 10, in Mt Wellington.
As we described in last year’s Chapel centenary… don’t forget over the King’s weekend to ‘Remember, Celebrate and Serve…’
Peace and grace,
Rev’d Gareth Walters and The Chaplaincy Team.