Rev David Major recognised

Rev David Major recognised

Levin resident Reverend David Major has been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to the community and state.

He says he is “surprised and honoured” and had always looked on service to others as “a privilege and a joy.”

David has always had a close connection to Levin. Born in Auckland in 1946, his family moved to Levin and lived at Stuckey Street. He did his initial schooling at the old Levin Central School, now the site of Levin Adventure Park.

His father, Elliott, was a Salvation Army officer and used to visit Kimberly Hospital near Levin, now where Speldhurst Country Estate is, and where David and wife Carol now live. The couple actually bought the same Stuckey Street house 50 years later and lived in it for a time.

David trained as a teacher at Ardmore Teachers College and taught in New Zealand for five years before embarking as a Salvation Army officer, teacher and missionary, to Papua New Guinea and Fiji, then Russia and Belarus.

He served in Russia shortly after the disestablishment of the former Soviet Union, providing humanitarian aid with funding mainly from the US.  In Belarus, he established the Veterans of Chernobyl Group, a collective that cares for victims of the nuclear disaster.

He was awarded the Minsk Medal as a veteran of Chernobyl, and remembers having to run a Geiger counter over food.

An expired visa led to a return to New Zealand. A strong interest in politics saw him appointed chief executive of the National Party towards the end of the Muldoon era. He joined a small group of inter-party MPs that would meet and pray together every Wednesday and share a basic breakfast.

David led the inter-party parliamentary weekly prayer meetings in the Beehive kitchen for more than 20 years, during which time their number grew. The role offered pastoral care to MPs from all parties at times of stress and difficulty.

“It started with breakfast and a prayer, and reading and was open to everyone, no matter your denomination or political persuasion,” he says. “It has grown significantly but we never divulge who is there. It’s there for people of faith to participate.

“Some have said it’s the highlight of their week . . . a simple meal of cereal, toast and cordial . . . meaningful conversation, and we pray for each other.”

He says it’s a chance for MPs to talk with someone from the other side of the House who might have a different view.

David is proud of his service as the national director of the Prison Chaplaincy Service. He is also a past member of the Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority, past member of the New Zealand Parole Board, served as a Wellington City councillor, and is a member of Rotary International.