Jesse Sherlock might look like a Wellington native in his beanies and button-ups, but he spent his formative years in the Nelson Anglican Diocese. Him and his whānau have been deeply involved in the life of the diocese.
Jesse has lived on the other side of the Strait since 2022. In another instalment of “Where are they now?”, Jesse and I chatted about what he’s been up to since flying the nest.
Jesse: I moved from Dunedin to Nelson at eight years old with my family when my dad became the vicar of Hills Community Church in Māpua – which is a non-denominational church but with ties to the Anglican whānau. My dad's an Anglican minister.
So that's how we were plugged into the Nelson diocese, and then I connected in through all the normal diocesan events – Convergence, Spring Camp, various youth activities and so on.
Our local church community was fantastic, but because Māpua is a small place, and it was a very intergenerational church, it was quite nice having a wider catchment of other people my age to plug in with across the diocese.
That's probably where my faith started to build, in that time there.
Jesse: Spring Camp comes to mind as somewhere I had quite important moments of encounter with God, and a real discovery of who I was and who I felt like I was being called to be in the world and in the Church.
I just always remember Spring Camps being very special times of both connection with others and connection with God. And it's a beautiful spot out there at Bridge Valley.
Jesse: I live in Wellington in a suburb called Brooklyn, where I'm plugged in with the local Anglican parish up here.
It was kind of a miraculous story how I ended up at Brooklyn. I was meant to be in an AYM house, which is another intentional community, but that fell through on Christmas Eve. And I was working crazy hours, so when I caught up with Jason Shaw [Nelson Anglican social services ministry coordinator], he was like, “You're the most tired and depressed that I've ever seen you, Jesse. Let me ring some people in Wellington and see if I've got any connects.” He got in touch with someone from Renew Communities, which is the wider church. And they said, “Ah, you're working at that restaurant. We have an intentional community which is right across the road.”
And then it wasn't until a week before I moved to start my job that everything had fallen into place perfectly. And it was not only a home, but a community. It's really become that for me, which is quite special.
And Jason is now quite plugged into our church community because he's engaged to one of our community members. So I flatted with his fiancé before they knew each other!
It's just funny how the world works. All those little connections.
Jesse: We run a pretty tight community. I'm involved in some cool ways – I’m on our leadership team and help run our community space, Two Todman, which is the church building. So me and a few others meet weekly about how we can use that space and facilitate different events and things going on in the neighbourhood.
Recently, we hosted a little art exhibition for local artists.
I also work in a restaurant. I love that job. It's great to work a job which isn't soul-destroying.
And then the third part of my life is writing and doing some creative work. I publish twice a month on my newsletter of short non-fiction stories from around Wellington.
So I have my finger in many pies, as they say. It's a very full and rewarding life at the moment.
Jesse: I suppose when I started it, I really just needed to learn how to write. I thought I was going to be doing much more, like other art stuff, and then just fell in love with it.
And the kind of stories that I was writing were very local and small and just observational. I really connected with it on a faith level – whilst I keep my writing pretty accessible to anyone. There's definitely a clear thread of hope and connection with local community and small moments of being present.
And I've managed to build a wee bit of a community around my writing. Sometimes people who I've observed and written stories about have become friends, which is quite special.
Jesse: I'm looking at ending my newsletter at the end of the year to do something else with my writing. So I'm looking forward to a break.
And then more opportunities at Two Todman. It's in a really exciting place at the moment where we're growing in all sorts of different ways.
It feels special to look back at being a part of Brooklyn Anglicans for three years now and realising – I've also sort of had a part to play in shaping what this has become and is becoming, and it's not going anywhere.
Check out other articles in the
Where are they now?
series below.
More articles in the
Where are they now?
series are to come.
We have invited these writers to share their experiences, ideas and opinions in the hope that these will provoke thought, challenge you to go deeper and inspire you to put your faith into action. These articles should not be taken as the official view of the Nelson Diocese on any particular matter.
Jesse Sherlock might look like a Wellington native in his beanies and button-ups, but he spent his formative years in the Nelson Anglican Diocese. Him and his whānau have been deeply involved in the life of the diocese.
Jesse has lived on the other side of the Strait since 2022. In another instalment of “Where are they now?”, Jesse and I chatted about what he’s been up to since flying the nest.
Jesse: I moved from Dunedin to Nelson at eight years old with my family when my dad became the vicar of Hills Community Church in Māpua – which is a non-denominational church but with ties to the Anglican whānau. My dad's an Anglican minister.
So that's how we were plugged into the Nelson diocese, and then I connected in through all the normal diocesan events – Convergence, Spring Camp, various youth activities and so on.
Our local church community was fantastic, but because Māpua is a small place, and it was a very intergenerational church, it was quite nice having a wider catchment of other people my age to plug in with across the diocese.
That's probably where my faith started to build, in that time there.
Jesse: Spring Camp comes to mind as somewhere I had quite important moments of encounter with God, and a real discovery of who I was and who I felt like I was being called to be in the world and in the Church.
I just always remember Spring Camps being very special times of both connection with others and connection with God. And it's a beautiful spot out there at Bridge Valley.
Jesse: I live in Wellington in a suburb called Brooklyn, where I'm plugged in with the local Anglican parish up here.
It was kind of a miraculous story how I ended up at Brooklyn. I was meant to be in an AYM house, which is another intentional community, but that fell through on Christmas Eve. And I was working crazy hours, so when I caught up with Jason Shaw [Nelson Anglican social services ministry coordinator], he was like, “You're the most tired and depressed that I've ever seen you, Jesse. Let me ring some people in Wellington and see if I've got any connects.” He got in touch with someone from Renew Communities, which is the wider church. And they said, “Ah, you're working at that restaurant. We have an intentional community which is right across the road.”
And then it wasn't until a week before I moved to start my job that everything had fallen into place perfectly. And it was not only a home, but a community. It's really become that for me, which is quite special.
And Jason is now quite plugged into our church community because he's engaged to one of our community members. So I flatted with his fiancé before they knew each other!
It's just funny how the world works. All those little connections.
Jesse: We run a pretty tight community. I'm involved in some cool ways – I’m on our leadership team and help run our community space, Two Todman, which is the church building. So me and a few others meet weekly about how we can use that space and facilitate different events and things going on in the neighbourhood.
Recently, we hosted a little art exhibition for local artists.
I also work in a restaurant. I love that job. It's great to work a job which isn't soul-destroying.
And then the third part of my life is writing and doing some creative work. I publish twice a month on my newsletter of short non-fiction stories from around Wellington.
So I have my finger in many pies, as they say. It's a very full and rewarding life at the moment.
Jesse: I suppose when I started it, I really just needed to learn how to write. I thought I was going to be doing much more, like other art stuff, and then just fell in love with it.
And the kind of stories that I was writing were very local and small and just observational. I really connected with it on a faith level – whilst I keep my writing pretty accessible to anyone. There's definitely a clear thread of hope and connection with local community and small moments of being present.
And I've managed to build a wee bit of a community around my writing. Sometimes people who I've observed and written stories about have become friends, which is quite special.
Jesse: I'm looking at ending my newsletter at the end of the year to do something else with my writing. So I'm looking forward to a break.
And then more opportunities at Two Todman. It's in a really exciting place at the moment where we're growing in all sorts of different ways.
It feels special to look back at being a part of Brooklyn Anglicans for three years now and realising – I've also sort of had a part to play in shaping what this has become and is becoming, and it's not going anywhere.
Check out other articles in the
Where are they now?
series below.
More articles in the
Where are they now?
series are to come.
