Our Pastors

John Haverland

My name is John Haverland and I am one of the pastors of Pukekohe Reformed Church. I have been married to my wife, Harriet, for over 30 years and we have four married children and five grandchildren. I love the pastoral, preaching and teaching work of the ministry and would not exchange it for anything else! My aim in preaching is to explain the Bible, making it clear, so that children, young people and those with English as a second language can understand it. I also enjoy teaching the Bible to individuals and groups. In my pastoral ministry I regularly visit members of the church and am glad to be involved in people’s lives.

I was born in Christchurch and studied at Canterbury University. From an early age – about five or six – I felt a call to be a pastor and this remained with me through all my growing up years. In pursuing my theological training I gained degrees from the Reformed Theological College in Geelong, Australia, from Calvin Theological Seminary in Michigan, USA, and from Westminister Theological Seminary in California, USA, writing a book called Feed my Sheep: Preaching the Gospel in a Postmodern New Zealand Society.

After serving churches in Bucklands Beach and Christchurch we moved to Pukekohe in 2004 to serve this church. We count it a great privilege to be here and are thankful to God for all his goodness to us in every way.