Our Services:

• Family Works Northern
• Enliven Positive Ageing Services
• Coactive Collaborative Disability Services
• Budgeting Service
• Connecting with Parishes
• Presbyterian Opportunity Shop
• PSN Foodbank

A good reason to celebrate

Duncan Macpherson, founder of Presbyterian Support Northern

Presbyterian Support Northern is 125 years old this year!

It all began with Duncan Macpherson who was appointed the first Auckland City Missioner in 1884. A Scottish rope maker by trade, he worked on levees and railways in America before emigrating to New Zealand with his wife and four children in 1879.

Duncan Macpherson took to his new job with characteristic energy, “hopefulness and zeal”, acting as chaplain for the hospital, asylum, prison, old people’s homes and sailors. He visited new migrants off the ships, taught Bible classes, organised activity clubs for boys and arranged food parcels for the poor. By methodically visiting door to door, he found out the needs of the residents and who was not attending church or Sunday school. He also ran mission meetings and supported the building of new churches in several suburbs.

In his travels about the city Duncan Macpherson came into personal contact with great need and poverty. There was no social welfare in those days beyond the meagre offerings of the Charitable Aid Board. Women and children were dependent on men’s jobs to provide for them. Large residential homes catered for orphans. Unemployment or alcoholism meant destitution for many families.

Those who supported Duncan Macpherson’s mission cared for others as their Christian duty. Along with charity came lessons in the virtues of right living, because personal sin was regarded as the root of many social problems. The ‘deserving poor’ were those who were willing to work, or demonstrated good morals.

One hundred years later, Duncan Macpherson’s mission had grown into a large independent incorporated society with hundreds of salaried staff. As in the 1880s, economic recession and unemployment affected the lives of many. Alcohol was still the cause of much crime and domestic distress. There were more women in the workforce, but churches were as concerned as ever about families breaking up and troubled young people.

The 1980s saw the growth of ‘human development’ and community involvement. Instead of Bible classes and Sunday school, Presbyterian Support offered a range of educational courses, drug rehabilitation programmes, unemployment schemes and counselling services. Family centres replaced orphanages while a large number of residential centres provided for older people.

Government welfare and subsidies helped address some social problems, but Presbyterian Support still relied heavily on the voluntary sector, especially that provided by the Women’s Auxiliary. Field officers strengthened the links with parishes while ‘pink ladies’ stood on street corners collecting donations.

Now, 125 years after Duncan Macpherson began his work, society has changed enormously but many of its problems are still the same. His description of social conditions in the 1880s is just as true of 2009:

”…unemployment, alcoholism with its often related consequences of domestic distress, battered wives and ill-cared for children and sickening crime, all contributing to the utter despondency of so many.”

Presbyterian Support Northern now focuses on children and families, older people, and those with disabilities. It has about 550 staff operating from 20 sites throughout the top half of the North Island. Our emphasis is now on empowering people to take responsibility for their own wellbeing. Older people, for instance, are encouraged to stay in their own homes; families help set goals themselves; people with disabilities partner with support workers to plan their care.

We’ve come a long way since the 19^th century! But we’re proud of the fine tradition we’ve inherited and are committed to providing the same kind of care and service well into the 21^st.