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Resourcing For Mission Policy Group

Terms of Reference

The Resourcing for Mission Policy Group reviews and develops policy on:

• Outreach and Growth strategies
• Church unity including relationships with other churches and negotiating partners
• Integration of Pacific Islanders and Presbyterian Church mission strategies
• Nature and resourcing of specialist ministries
• Asian ministries in New Zealand
• Relationships with Presbyterian church schools
• Facilitating congregational capabilities in doctrine and theology

Synopsis

• Five key challenges facing the Church;
• Proposals for membership and presbytery oversight of congregations.
• An Ecumenical Agenda (jointly with Overseas Mission and Partnership) for the next two years.
• Information regarding Church Schools and Chaplaincies.

Recommendations

(1) That the following recommendations (a) to (g) be approved and sent to Presbyteries/UDCs under the Barrier Act. [see paragraph 7 of the report]

(a) That there be provision for two forms of membership in the Presbyterian Church, members and associate members.

(b) That regulation 19 be amended to read:

Each congregation shall have a list of members, a list of associate members, and a register of all persons under pastoral care

(c) That regulation 20 be amended to read:

The list of members consists of persons recognised by the Session/Parish Council as:

• having been baptised; and
• professing their faith in Jesus Christ; and
• expressing their intention to live their discipleship as part of the congregation.

(d) That regulation 22 be amended to read:

The list of associate members consists of persons recognised by the Session or Parish Council as expressing their intention to be associated with the congregation.

(e) That regulation 30 be repealed.

(f) That all members and associate members be entitled to a vote in congregational meetings.

(g) That members (not associate members) be eligible to be elders or Parish Councillors.

(2) That the Book of Order and Judicial Reference Group draft any further amendments needed to give effect to these decisions.

(3) That General Assembly adopt the proposals outlined in the paper Presbytery Oversight of Congregations (Appendix 2) . [see paragraph 8 of the report]

(4) That General Assembly adopt the proposed Ecumenical Agenda (Appendix 3) .[see paragraph 9 of the report]

Report

1. Five Key Challenges

1.1 As Reform considered the challenge and opportunity presented to the Presbyterian Church to respond to the current context, as articulated in the thinking of the Council of Assembly, we identified five key areas which we believe are vitally important to our ability to respond creatively to the challenge of being Church at the beginning of the third millennium in Aotearoa New Zealand.

2. Connecting faith with everyday life

2.1 The challenge is to equip all within the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand to make those vital connections between their faith and their lives lived day by day in their communities and work places. The ministry of the People of God is primarily community-facing ministry - not what happens within the church, but what happens beyond the church walls as we live the reality of the Christian life in all parts of our lives. The task of church-facing ministry is to equip, encourage and resource those in the church to be effective in their community-facing ministry.

3. Meeting the diversity of spiritual needs

3.1 We have been learning within the Presbyterian Church to recognise and live with, sometimes even to celebrate, the diversity God has given us. It is a gift of God and a challenge from God. People outside the Presbyterian Church have asked at times how on earth we manage to maintain even the degree of unity we have - why have we not fallen apart? It seems to us in ReforM that the grace of God provides the only explanation.

3.2 Such grace offers us opportunity and resources to respond in a variety of ways to the diversity of spiritual needs beyond our Church. We recognize that the diversity outside the church is ever increasing. We also recognize that the interest in spirituality (however defined) is increasing even in staunchly-secular New Zealand.

3.3 The variety of styles and approaches held within our Presbyterian Church is a gift to be celebrated and nurtured.

4. New ministry models

4.1 The traditional model of congregation /charge with full-time minister is rapidly becoming a minority within our church. New models of being church and doing church, responding to the forces of demographic change and post-modernism, are born of necessity and of creativity. The future will not look like the past we know. The church in the future will not look or sound much like the church we know now. We need to encourage and resource creative responses to our current context.

5. Relations with other churches

5.1 The shape and form of ecumenical relations in the future will not look like they have in the past. As well as well-established partnerships, there are local initiatives arising out of creative response to local mission situations. Congregations with long experience of the ecumenical journey continue to provide another model of ministry and mission in our context.

5.2 The Ecumenical Agenda being presented to General Assembly addresses ecumenical issues both in the local context and from a wider national/international perspective. It represents the strategic planning of both ReforM and the Overseas Mission and Partnerships policy groups.

6. Vision for a multi-ethni-cultural church

6.1 The cultural diversity which makes up the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand offers opportunity and challenge to become a multi-ethni-cultural church, where each ethnic and cultural group is empowered and celebrated, and its gifts for the whole church are recognised and shared. As part of this vision, we would like to see our structures and procedures reflect and draw on the diversity of cultural traditions within our church.

7. Membership

7.1 The paper presented to the last Assembly was sent down to Presbyteries and Parishes for response. After reflecting on the responses and comments received, we offer a new model of membership which allows for both local flexibility and wider connectedness. (Appendix 1)

8. Presbytery Oversight of Congregations

8.1 The changing nature of society in Aotearoa New Zealand has a major impact on the life of our congregations, and means that we need to find new models of ministry and mission appropriate to 21st century realities. ReforM offers the proposals in the paper 'Presbytery Oversight of Congregations' (Appendix 2) as a way of empowering Presbyteries and parishes to talk together about the future of ministry and mission in their particular local context.

9. The Ecumenical Agenda

9.1 Both the Resourcing for Mission and Overseas Mission and Partnership policy groups have responsibility in the area of ecumenical relationships. Together we bring the Ecumenical Agenda, which reflects the changes and commitments we have to the ecumenical enterprise both at a local level and in a wider context. (Appendix 3)

10. Church Schools

10.1 At the 2000 Assembly Reform was asked to develop a contemporary statement about the nature of Presbyterian Church Schools.ReforM produced a discussion paper which aimed to help Church Schools and Presbyteries/UDCs assess the nature of their relationships, and cooperatively to explore whether / how these relationships might be strengthened. The discussion paper was approved by the Church Schools conference, and has been distributed to presbyteries / UDCs which have church schools within their bounds. It is also available on the Presbyterian website.

10.2 The intention is to provide a common basis for discussion, so that Presbyteries/UDCs will be able to establish or enhance positive relationships and pastoral links with the Church Schools and their chaplains which are within their bounds. Reform would be delighted to receive any feedback from the conversations which have taken place.

11. Chaplaincies

11.1 The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand is involved in a number of chaplaincies, in Defence, Healthcare, Prison, School, Workplace, and Elder care. Around 30 ordained ministers are involved in chaplaincy work, and an unknown number of lay people. Most chaplaincies operate ecumenically.

11.2 The responsibility of ReforM is for the policy issues which arise in connection with the various chaplaincies. We have wanted to assess the place of chaplaincies within our wider policy framework. Chaplaincies can be seen as a key place

• where the church connects with everyday life;
• where a wide diversity of spiritual needs are met, often for people who are not normally in contact with the Church in any form;
• where new models of ministry have been and are being developed;
• where ecumenical relationships are long-standing and much valued.

11.3 Over the past two years the Interchurch Council for Hospital Chaplaincy, the national ecumenical body to which we belong, has been considering its strategic direction while at the same time talking with the government about the levels of government funding which is available to it. As we await the outcome of both those processes, we have continued to recommend that current Presbyterian funding for ICHC be maintained at its current level.

12. Pacific Islanders' Task Group

12.1 The PI Task group has worked alongside the PI's Synod Pilot in working out issues such as: To clarify how projects are to be planned, and implemented within the Pacific sector of the church. The PI Task group has been working on two projects in the last two years as its main focus.

13. Pacific Island Reflection Centre.

13.1 The PI Synod Pilot and the PI Task group agreed to work together in planning, and setting up of a Theological Reflection Centre. $150.000 has been granted by the CWM for this project. The project is still in its formative stages

14. Komiti Moana Nui.

14.1 The Komiti Moana Nui has been established by the Pacific Islands and Te Aka Puaho to promote the work of the Pacific Conference of Churches in the Presbyterian Church. A workshop on Mission and Ecumenism was held at the Te Maugarongo in March.

Appendix 1 - Membership in the New Millennium

1. Background

1.1 Following the Extra Assembly in 1999, a special committee was established to look at the issue of membership in congregations. It brought back a report to the 2000 General Assembly which received it and sent it out for study and response.

1.2 There were three questions in the report on Membership for the Third Millennium which required a response.

• Do you support the concept of membership as outlined in Section E of this paper?
• In what ways do you believe this model; of membership could help you in your mission, strengthening the commitment of the people to your local congregation?
• If you have any concerns with this model, please outline them.

1.3 The responses were given to the Resourcing for Mission Policy Group for analysis and policy formation.

2. Responses

2.1 The analysis of the replies does not give a clear enough mandate to proceed in the direction of the report. On an issue as important as this there needs to be quite a substantial proportion in favour given the issue of membership is integral to our constitution through the Book of Order.

• only 14% of our constituency (62 out of a possible 459 replies) has responded (51 parishes [12%] and 11 Presbyteries and UDC's [44%]) .
• Parishes were divided with 24 clearly supporting the model proposed and 15 giving a clear no. The remainder were generally supportive in principle with suggestions and reservations being expressed about some of the elements
• The majority of Presbytery responses (6) indicate they were unable to come to agreement and simply forwarded their discussion papers outlining major reservations as their response.
• Of the other Presbyteries 1 was clearly in favour, 2 clearly against and 2 supported the proposal with strong reservations.

2.2 Critical issues raised relate to:-

• place of baptism in membership
• proscriptive requirements in the model not sure what this means
• non-negotiable elements not sure what this means
• loss of linkage, not just with the Presbyterian Church but with the world wide Church
• need for some mechanism of transfer or introduction
• narrowness of definition of "active mission membership"
• the situation of cooperative ventures at the parish level and at the national level of agreement over the Guide to Procedures - not sure what last clause means.

There is a Way Forward:

3. Belonging

3.1 We believe membership is primarily about belonging. Belonging in the church has several dimensions:

• Firstly: "I belong to God"
• Secondly: "I belong in this place with these people"
• Thirdly: The congregation responds (through Session/Parish Council)
• "You belong with us"

3.2 We begin by assuming two things. The first is that in all talk of "belonging" the initiative is with God the Creator. As the created thing belongs to the one who created it, so as part of the whole created order we belong to God. Baptism acknowledges we belong to God. This is affirmed in a statement from the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in 1997 where it includes the words "We are not alone. We belong to God." As we develop in our Christian faith there are times when we wish to acknowledge for ourselves that understanding of belonging to God through our professing the faith.

3.3 Second we understand that being a member of a congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand will always mean that a person is a member of the body of Christ. That is part of the theological and ecclesiological framework that we work from as part of the universal church.

4. Membership

4.1 We can now look at membership from a number of different perspectives.

4.2 There is the classic theological formulation of each follower of Jesus being a member of the body of Christ as a limb or organ is a member of a body.

4.3 There are the statements of the Book of Order which use member in a different way through the defining of a number of characteristics of the persons involvement with the local congregation, and the use of the terms communicant and adherent.

4.4 There is the common sense of membership which is used when people join groups and organisations which usually involves the paying of dues which then allows the appropriate level of involvement.

5. Flexibility and Connectedness

5.1 We have discerned two important things in the dialogue around these issues

• The need for flexibility at the level of the local congregation.
• The need for connectedness beyond the local congregation.

5.2 The first of these acknowledges that a person's commitment at the local level does not necessarily translate into a commitment to the wider partnership with the church at the regional, national and world wide levels. In that sense they are committed to the local congregation and are quite happy to exercise that commitment there. We believe the way forward must foster flexibility so that people are able to move in and out locally with ease and with integrity.

5.3 The second reflects our understanding as a church of being part of the one holy catholic and apostolic church. It must also allow for the real possibility of enlarging the local commitment to a much wider perception of belonging to the universal church of Jesus Christ.

5.4 We believe references to membership should reflect our understanding of what it means to belong. Our belonging to God is not to be understood as a passive thing. Acknowledging we belong to God involves us responding in faith and action. As God reaches out to us so we respond to that movement of overwhelming love with thanksgiving and in faith. Through our response and the indwelling of God's Spirit we are joined to Christ and so become part of his ongoing life and work through the church.

6. Associate member

6.1 People link with the church in various ways and various points. We believe people need opportunities to mark points in the journey of belonging in the Church. There is a generally a point at which people express a desire to belong to a congregation before they are prepared to make a full commitment. That is where we propose congregations offer associate membership. This is where the person can publicly express their intention to be associated with the congregation, and also have the acknowledgement of the congregation. The saying of "I belong here" is echoed by the congregation saying "You belong with us."

7. Member

7.1 There often comes a point at which people want to mark God's claim on their life by being baptised or publicly professing their faith, and at this point they become a member. They want to affirm that they belong to God, that they belong in this local congregation and that they are actively seeking to live out a life of discipleship. That point is also to be acknowledged by the congregation through Session or Parish Council. It is the responsibility of the congregation to ensure that associate members, and indeed all seekers, are given the encouragement to grow in their life of discipleship so they can grow up in Christ and understand more fully the wonder of belonging to God through actively participating in the life of God's people in the congregation.

7.2 We understand that as people journey through life their faith and commitment may change, leading them to more or less involvement in their local congregation. While they still belong they may not wish to have the same level of involvement and responsibilities, so for that time they be able to be accepted as associate members.

7.3 Congregations would make use of these categories to create and maintain such lists as they find appropriate to their mission situation.

8. Letter of introduction

8.1 Transfer certificates presume an automatic right to full participation when a member moves to a new congregation. We propose that when a person leaves a church they be given a Letter of Introduction which they could use in any congregation they may want to join. The automatic right to member status is removed and those who shift from one congregation to another would need to show they are intentional about linking themselves to that faith community.

8.2 We believe that the membership, which includes the associate members, is best placed to determine the congregation's mission and leadership needs at the local level. We propose that all on the membership list will be able to exercise the right to vote. This still requires the session or parish council to ensure their lists or rolls are kept up to date.

9. Elders/Parish Councillors

9.1 The last matter we have considered is who should exercise authority within the congregation. We propose that members, namely, those who are baptised, who are professing their faith and who express their intention to live out their discipleship in the congregation, should be eligible to be elders or parish councillors. This recognises that there are certain levels of commitment which are needed in order to lead congregations in mission and ministry.

10. Conclusion

10.1 These proposals pick up the two important themes. The first is the individual's search for a community of faith to belong to and to participate in. The second is the congregations need to be clear who has the right to exercise rights and responsibilities and how members gain those rights. They preserve flexibility locally and connectedness regionally and nationally. They also clarify our understanding of membership as belonging. We think this framework offers the best way forward for the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand in this new millennium.

Appendix 2 - Presbytery Oversight of Congregations

1. Principle

1.1 This proposal is intended to assist Presbyteries in fulfilling their responsibilities under Regulations 32, 33, 34 and 172 of the Book of Order and relate to

• Whether or not a congregation is designated, by a presbytery, as a charge;
• The relationship between a congregation and a presbytery;
• The access which a congregation has to resources such as land, buildings and capital investments.

2. Purpose

2.1 The intention of this shift in policy is to enable presbyteries to be more effective in the

• Creation of new congregations which meet the different and changing needs of New Zealand society;
• Deployment, in the most effective way, of the skills and experience of our ministers of word and sacrament;
• Making of strategic, regional decisions about the best use of people, money and property in achieving their mission goals.

3. Background

3.1 The Book of Order, at the beginning of Chapter 2, defines a congregation as 'a number of persons in a particular locality united for Christian worship, instruction, fellowship, and mission. (Regulation 17)

3.2 It then provides for the governance of the congregation by a session or parish council.

3.3 From that point on, almost all the references to a congregation, and the way in which it relates to presbytery and assembly, are based on the assumption that a congregation has a full-time minister of word and sacrament attached. If it does not, it is designated as 'vacant'.

3.4 The traditional model of a stand-alone parish with full-time stipended ministry is still a valid model but it by no means universally applicable and it is certainly no longer workable in many instances.

3.5 In terms of financial capacity to support full-time ministry over half our current parishes are no longer viable. Some are still supporting full-time ministry but only by using financial reserves. Others are only offering part-time ministry positions.

3.6 Parishes in this situation usually demonstrate two other trends.

• The first is a continuing decline, over the past three to five years, in membership and/or attendance at worship.
• The second is a continuing increase, also over the past three to five years, of the percentage of income being spent on the support of ministry.

3.7 There is good evidence to suggest that once membership falls below 100 and the percentage of income spent on ministry rises above 60%, a congregation's capacity to support full-time ministry is significantly compromised. A congregation in this situation tends to become inward-looking as most of its energy is concentrated on finding the money to pay a stipend and it runs the risk of losing its focus on its community-facing mission.

3.8 The issues for a presbytery with regard to such congregations then centre on its regional strategy and the following points become significant.

• Does the congregation continue as a separate entity, amalgamate with a neighbouring congregation, or close?
• If the congregation continues should the presbytery still authorize it as a charge, i.e. with full-time settled ministry?
• If the congregation continues, should the presbytery still authorize it to have access to the same resources, e.g. buildings, financial assets, or should these be re-deployed so they can be used elsewhere in the presbytery to sustain new initiatives?

3.9 There is no reason why a presbytery should not recognize a congregation of almost any size.

3.10 There are many reasons why a presbytery should exercise its capacity to decide that

• Not all congregations need be charges and have full-time settled ministry
• The appointment of a part-time ministry to a particular congregation should be a presbytery decision, based on whether or not such a ministry will help the accomplishment of the presbytery's mission goals, rather than a congregational decision rubber-stamped by presbytery
• There are times when it is in the best interests of the church as a whole that some resources are released and re-deployed so new and different kinds of congregations can be developed.

3.11 This situation in which many of our current congregations find themselves is not necessarily to be construed as failure. It is simply a recognition of changing demographic and social patterns with the consequent need for us to re-organize our resources and use them differently.

4. Proposal

4.1 The proposal is that we should formally recognize two forms of congregation in terms of our order.

4.2 The first form would be congregations which were designated as charges and they would be characterised by

• A membership of 100 - 120+, which is stable or growing, and
• An income which can sustain a full-time stipend and associated ministry costs, by using only 60%, or less, of income.

4.3 These congregations are the ones which would be designated as charges to which settled ministry appointments would be made.

4.4 The second form would be congregations which would not be designated as charges and they would be characterised by

• A membership of, say 20 - 120, with no growth occurring in the past three to five years
• An income which cannot sustain a full-time stipend, plus payment of presbytery and assembly levies, or can only do so by using reserves, and is using 60% or more of income to pay the ministry costs.

4.5 These congregations are the ones which presbyteries recognise as needing special attention, which would not normally be designated as charges and to which settled ministry appointments (whether full-time or part-time) would not normally be made.

4.6 Having made an assessment based on the above criteria a second appraisal should be made on the basis of the healthy congregations criteria. On the basis of this assessment a presbytery can determine whether a congregation which is not a charge has:

(1) most of the signs of health, a recognised potential for growth and playing a vital role in the community

(2) some signs of health but no pattern of growth and little capacity to change that

(3) none of the signs of health

4.7 The congregations which fall into category (1) , those with potential for growth, are the congregations which could benefit from some regional and/or national assistance. This could take the form, for example, of providing a grant to support full-time ministry over a specified period, say three years, while the congregation became self-supporting.

4.8 The congregations which fit into category (2) should be able to continue as congregations and have access to ordained ministry through, for example

• Lay Ministry Teams
• Non-stipended, locally provided ministry
• Supply ministry from a retired minister
• Clustering with other congregations to have access to a presbytery-provided ministry enabler who could resource lay leaders and non-stipendiary ministers.

4.9 The congregations which fall into category (3) should either close or amalgamate with another congregation to form a bigger unit.

5. Implications for ministry

5.1 Adopting this proposal would mean that presbyteries would be assigning their ministers of word and sacrament to areas which were more, rather than less, likely to grow. It would reduce the likelihood of presbyteries putting ministers into ministry appointments which were not likely to succeed.

5.2 It would also mean that the church, at regional and national level, would need to

• nurture the alternative forms of ministry already in existence, e.g. locally provided ministry
• develop other options for providing ministry of word and sacrament for congregations which were not charges with full-time ministry appointments.

6. Implications for ministers and those employed in ministry

6.1 A consequence of adopting this proposal would be a reduction in the number of designated charges with a full-time minister. This, however, would simply be a case of naming, or making explicit, something which is happening already.

6.2 If the implementation of this proposal means that some ministry positions are disestablished there are already provisions on the Book of Order for this contingency. The fact that a number of our parishes have found themselves in the situation of not being able to afford a full-time stipend is one of the indicators which has led to this proposal being presented to the Assembly.

6.3 The proposal will require that ministers will need to work with new models of relating to congregations, whether individually or in clusters. For some their role will become more that of a teacher/enabler/resource person. Team ministries are likely to be both more frequent and more important than they have been in the past.

6.4 We talk already of ministers being accountable to presbytery for the ministry they offer. A future model may be that all ministers may be designated as being part of the presbytery ministry team. Then their deployment - as a full-time minister in a charge, or a chaplain in a particular specialist area, or a minister who is responsible for a group of congregations - is determined by the presbytery in consultation with its congregations, rather than a decision of a congregation which is endorsed by the presbytery.

7. Implications for presbytery/congregation relationships

7.1 All congregations, of whatever kind, should have the right to be represented at presbytery by an elder and to participate in all aspects of presbytery life.

7.2 The Book of Order already provides that a session/parish council is responsible to the presbytery for the oversight and welfare of the congregation and its members. This means that congregations which are not charges still have an appropriate accountability to the presbytery, but it will be through their session/parish council. The Book of Order Re-write Task Group is proposing that it not be mandatory for ministers to moderate sessions/parish councils. The option that an elder to be convenor of a session/parish council would be useful for clusters of congregations.

8. Some final points

8.1 Congregations need not be fixed permanently either as charges or as congregations, nor in the three categories identified for congregations which are not charges. Movement from one group to another would happen as congregations either grew or diminished.

8.2 This proposal therefore would provide not only for congregations which are declining but for embryonic congregations which are growing and for small, thriving congregations. Presbyteries would then offer an appropriate level of regional support for these congregations.

Appendix 3 Ecumenical Agenda

1. Introduction

1.1 Ecumenism invites us to consider how we, as Church, respond to the good news of God's determined commitment to the whole world. It further calls us to translate this consideration into action.

1.2 The ecumenical question is always concrete. It asks us what might God's determined love for the whole world means for the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand as it seeks to be the Church here and now. From this distinctive context, the ecumenical question invites local, international and global response.

2. Vision

2.1 A vision for our Church that seeks to take account of God's recreating love for all things might include the following:

(1) Cultivating ecumenism within our own denomination

(2) Cultivating ecumenism with partners whose presence is also reflected in our denomination (with special emphasis on the Pacific and Asia)

(3) Revisiting, revisioning, revitalising and/or re-negotiating our relationships with ecumenical partners, including other denominations and churches within New Zealand

(4) Cultivating ecumenical relationships with other religions

(5) Cultivating ecumenical relationship within the wider New Zealand community (includes business, sport, cultural organisations etc.)

(6) Cultivating an ecumenical relationship with the environment

(7) Promoting this ecumenical vision and opportunities for its expression at the local level.

3. Focus

3.1 The two policy groups (ReforM and OMP) have made decisions about where to focus our resources. As a result the Ecumenical Relations Secretary will place an emphasis on 1, 2, 3 and 7 above. This does not mean that 4, 5, and 6 are ignored. They will be responded to in a variety of ways both from other quarters and from the Ecumenical desk. However, priority will be assigned as indicated.

4. Objectives

4.1 To cultivate an increased ecumenical ethos within the Presbyterian Church

4.2 To continue to cultivate stronger relationships with partner churches in the Pacific

4.3 To review the effectiveness of our participation with other churches in New Zealand and in our wider ecumenical networks

4.4 Where appropriate, to increase our level of participation in these partnerships and networks to the benefit of the part all partners play in God's mission

4.5 Where appropriate, to revitalise or renegotiate our relationship with these networks

4.6 To enable ecumenism generally and the fruits of our ecumenical partnerships to be reflected at the local level.

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