Being back in Rotorua meant we could attend St Faith's Church again on Sunday morning. It was as lovely as I remembered, with a warm, welcoming congregation. This week was the centennial celebration, so it was a full house. Even the bishop came and some other visitors from the nearby catholic church. 
The sermon was quite informative- he spoke about the history of the church, how it started out smaller and was expanded. The original carvings were all of one eyed creatures only. The missionaries didn't originally want any Maori carvings in the church; they thought the congregation would worship the Maori gods and carvings. They only agreed to it after some negotiations and only if the gods depicted only had one eye. If the god carvings weren't looking at the congregation, then the congregation wouldn't be able to worship them.
When the church was expanded, they were able to make new carvings with the gods and figurines looking directly at the congregation because the missionaries were no longer in control. That's why the outer sides of the church have two eyed carvings but the center doesn't.
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