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Minutes of the General Assembly 2012
Second, his acceptance of a call to a Baptist Church in Palmerston North as an
assistant minister led to his theological study at the Baptist Theological College. He
graduated as an accredited minister of the Baptist Union of New Zealand and served in
churches in Manawatu, Epsom, Glen Eden, and Pakuranga in Auckland.
It was when Frank was in the Glen Eden Baptist Church that he was approached by
Right Rev Paddy Jansen to turn some of the jungle trees on the mission property in the
New Hebrides into sawn timber to erect campus buildings, battens and gate timber.
Frank took this request to the deacons court who, in 45 minutes, unanimously agreed
to release their minister for three months for this project. It was a unique cooperation
between the Baptist and Presbyterian Churches.
Frank wrote years later in his book, To Number Our Days, “’When I was forty years old
the bush burned for me a second time’” (Exodus, chapter 3). He went to Carter
Consolidated to request every item for a saw mill. Every item was supplied. Keith Hay,
mayor of Mount Roskill, offered to meet all the costs of assembling the equipment and
crating it for shipment. Stan Murray in his book, One Small Finger, wrote, “Only when
the materials were assembled on the site at Navota farm did Frank McKean go out and
undertake the task of putting them together in the shape of a sawmill. It was a
tremendous job requiring great skill and ingenuity as well as outstanding physical
strength. Mr McKean possessed all of them and worked with such concentration and
devotion, that, with the aid of some local folk, he had the saw mill in operation in two
and a half months.” Little did Frank know that his pilgrimage would eventually lead him
to ministry in the Presbyterian Church when he made some adjustments to his theology
of baptism.
Third, when he was appointed South Pacific Field Coordinator for World Vision, which
involved organising the 40 Hour Famine, securing funds for children’s books in the
Pacific via telethon funding. He travelled throughout the Pacific—the islands, Thailand,
Singapore, Japan. He visited the site of the saw mill. In 1981, at the age of 50, Frank
received a Member of the British Empire (MBE) Award for his services to the people of
the Pacific.
Fourth was when he was called to the Pokeno Presbyterian Church which led to 10
years in parish ministry, including Clevedon Parish at Maraetai. He negotiated a 75 per
cent duties agreement with the intention to retire a little ahead of his 60th birthday.
Health intervened. After suffering a cardiac arrest that resulted in a quadruple bypass,
he took early retirement and settled in his home in Tauranga.
For 20 years, he and Juliet had the pleasures and joys of family life while members of
the St Enoch’s Church.
In July 2003, Frank preached what was to be his last sermon at St Enoch’s. He
worked his way through the letter R, mentioning the names of his children, Rosemary,
Ross and Ruth— who had been dubbed by the Bible class members as the three Rs,
reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic. When a fourth baby was added to the family, Rae, she
was listed as religion. Frank worked out his theme on reason, respect and
responsibility. He ended, “The seventh R is not to be called religion but righteousness
(or right-mindedness) wedded to human kindness in that caring spirit we know as love,
or even more simply, following the way Jesus walked: nothing more is needed and
nothing less will suffice.”
36 Session 2