THE
BRAIDED RIVER OF FAITH HILARY HAGUE | SUNZ National Director
Rl]G}PUCv˙
L
ast year, I had the experience of flying over the Canterbury Plains. It was a fine day and as I looked out the plane window, I was struck with the beauty of the braided river stretching below me. What a wonderfully creative God we have! Braided river systems are intricate and dynamic. Their channels repeatedly separate and reconnect, inter-twining to create patterns of low islands and shallow bars. They provide habitats for many rare birds, fish and plants. Globally, braided rivers are unusual, but here in New Zealand we are privileged to have more than 150 braided rivers. The entire Canterbury plain was formed by gravel carried from the Southern Alps by braided rivers. Southland and the West Coast and Otago regions also feature spectacular braided rivers, and there are some in the North Island too.
4 www.sunz.org.nz
Some of our camps take place alongside braided rivers. On these camps the river is an integral part of the experience—camps like E3 Canterbury on which participants raft down Waiau Toa or Clarence River. The young people work together to follow their guide down the main channel and stay in the current. If they miss the current they can end up getting stuck in the shallows and having to carry their raft for part of the journey. Here in SUNZ, we run a particular style of camp and, like those braided rivers, our camps have different channels running through them—each channel contributing to faith formation for our young people. THE CHANNEL OF GROWTH SUNZ camps are adventure-based and every camp offers a different set of challenges. Whether these challenges are physical or
