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Council of Assembly News

The latecomer paused in the foyer - the singing was lovely... in harmony ... in Maori... He moved through the door to join in morning devotions - led by a Pakeha who had started worship with a Samoan hymn. Council of Assembly then went on with its tightly packed programme.

The Council of Assembly met 21 -23 June 2002. Much that follows represents discussion of proposals to be brought to the General Assembly.

Key issues included:

The overarching goal of developing Healthy Congregations
The concept of health embodied in this phrase is that of right relationships:

• with God,
• within the congregation,
• with the wider church and
• with the environment (created and built including society).

If the word 'health' is seen too narrowly the idea of wholeness may be more helpful.

The Treaty partnership

Te Aka Puaho reported encouragement from the increasing involvement of their young people. They commended the wider church to be ready to welcome them.

At Assembly 1952 the Maori Synod was established - the changing relationship over that period was discussed and a consultation process is planned to enable Te Aka Puaho and the Council of Assembly to explore ways to help partnership keep developing.

Relationship with the wider environment

Council received a report on the work of the Churches Agency on Social Issues (CASI) and noted the resources provided to enable congregations to become informed and to make their own representations on public matters of concern. Material on issues for the coming election is being prepared.

An Interchurch Bioethics Council has been established with Presbyterian, Anglican and Methodist members for the purposes of providing opportunities for consultation and dialogue, taking an educational role, making submissions and keeping the partner churches informed on issues concerned with the use of biotechnology.

The Nominating Committee is to be asked to seek a convenor and members for the Connecting with Society
Policy Group (PG).

Overseas Mission and Partnership PG has prepared a paper on Climate Change to be presented to Assembly. It was prepared in close cooperation with CASI. The paper is on the Presbyterian website under OM&P.

Relationships with God

The Task Group on Church Membership summed up the concept of belonging as:

1. belonging to God,
2. belonging with these people, and
3. being accepted by the congregation.

They recommended that there be members and associate members and a roll of those in pastoral care. Definitions are discussed in the paper. However there are important cultural considerations to be addressed - belonging for Te Aka Puaho spoke of whanau belonging and for Pacific people it concerned households. The concepts, rather than the exact words, will need to be translated and discussed.

Relationships with the wider church

Overseas Mission and Partnerships reported on:

• relations with overseas churches including priorities, such as Vanuatu where Navota farm is one of the areas being discussed;
• the appointment of Andrew Bell as Global Mission Secretary, at 70 Khyber Pass Road (St David's). He is to be inducted 22 August;
• liaison with Te Aka Puaho and Pacific Islands Synod;
• a paper on Israel - Palestine issues to be presented to Assembly.

Council recorded appreciation to the Rev. Neal Whimp for his valuable work during the transition;

Ecumenism Resourcing for Mission and Overseas Mission & Partnerships share responsibility for our church's ecumenical relationships. They note that the ecumenical vision seeks unity so that the church may better serve the world. In that context there are local and international relationships. The newly appointed Ecumenical Relations Secretary is working on issues within our denomination, with partner churches in Aotearoa /New Zealand and overseas particularly in Asia and the Pacific.

Hospital chaplaincy; The funding of hospital chaplaincy is complex. Every chaplaincy is funded by a different mix of local, regional, and national amounts and sources. Most chaplaincies have local ecumenical committees but some do not. The extent to which presbyteries and Presbyterian Support are involved varies. Negotiations between the Interchurch Council of Hospital Chaplaincy and the Ministry of Health continue. Council confirmed its decision not to provide extra funding for hospital chaplaincy beyond the existing $100,000. The Assembly Office was asked to communicate the situation to presbyteries. Any extra funding to cover shortfalls arising from static or reduced funding from a number of sources will need to be provided locally or regionally.

Developing leadership

Leadership for mission - there has been a real shift from the assumption that the minister will be the leader. The emphasis is on training strategies for leadership, including ordained ministers. Ministry is being developed more widely than 'ministry of word and sacrament'. Equipping the Leadership Policy Group reported their excitement in the changes in the School of Ministry as Principal and staff work on programmes and outreach.

Relationships are being built with theological training institutions in Fiji and Samoa. Council recorded appreciation for Rev. Dr Joe Bush, School of Ministry Lecturer, who is moving to a position in U.S.A.

The Lay Ministry Task Group was set up after last Assembly in response to problems experienced by rural and struggling parishes. In their report four possible types of ministry were proposed:

• national ordained ministry (NOM)
• local ordained ministry (LOM)
• local ministry team (LMT)
• Amorangi ministry

Each had standards and procedures to ensure people were properly assessed and trained for the position. Presbyteries would have a major role in each.

Lay Moderators: Council agreed to recommend to General Assembly that at least every other Moderator should be a layperson (an elder or parish councillor). There have been only four lay moderators in 101 years. It was recognised that gender and cultural diversity were also important and should also be addressed.

Structures that support

Presbyteries

Resourcing congregations for mission was a continuing theme. The pivotal role of presbyteries in supporting and resourcing congregations emerged repeatedly. Yet many presbyteries do not have the resources to carry out these roles.

A vision emerged of a presbytery large enough to manage:

• regional planning for mission and regional management of outreach including development of new parish groupings, new regional initiatives, and ministry arrangements to meet changing situations;
• oversight of parishes including ministers and ministry teams;
• management of regional resources including members of national services assigned to a region;
• administrative and legislative tasks requiring critical population mass.

Such a presbytery would meet two or three times a year for a major event - 'stadium' or 'cathedral' worship for as many parishes as could meet, training events, children and youth participation, planning mission at regional level with local collaboration and input. It could be a family Sunday out - or even a weekend for some. Such a presbytery would have the flexibility to manage a range of functions at different levels and with different groupings. So other presbytery activities would take place in small groups - geographically close or having similar concerns where distance allows. Already cultural and other congregations work across existing parish boundaries. Working committees could be geographically based or make good use of modern telecommunication for business. Some resource people would travel to parishes instead of the other way round. Pooled resources would allow for employment of an administrator. Opportunities include the ability to employ presbytery resource people to be widely available to parishes.

Forming such presbyteries will require a lot of consultation and creative problem solving to ensure that concerns about distance and local needs were addressed. Potential cost and time savings on travel to existing meetings would be balanced against occasional large gatherings. Council is proposing that there be five regional presbyteries and a proposal for starting the consultative process will be coming to Assembly.

The Mission Resourcing review proposed strengthening regional resourcing by increasing the accountability and ownership of mission resource personnel to presbyteries - provided presbyteries had the capacity to manage this resource.

Oversight of congregations - These proposals require a level of presbytery capacity to determine viability of congregations and to decide whether they were entitled to employ a full time ordained minister of word and sacrament. The Task Group divided parishes into groups based on membership, income and activity and made recommendations about presbytery action in respect of each variety.

The Lay Ministry report called for a high level of presbytery involvement and competence in respect of discernment, appointment and oversight of various ministries.

Communication

An area of high priority to Council - this communication is part of our attempt to let people know what is happening at national level. The web site, sPanz and Bush Telegraph are others. Every Presbytery/UDC has a Council member who is responsible for sharing information from Council.

Assembly Executive Secretary

Council will recommend to the Assembly the appointment of the existing Assembly Executive Secretary Kerry Enright for a further four-year period.

Directions

Council approved objectives to be achieved by 30 June 2005 arising from the Directions document. It includes a commitment to growing participation in the Church, successful pilots of new expressions of congregational life, resources devoted to mission, and effective leadership development.

Financial support

Presbyterian church spending on ministry and mission is predominantly done in parishes. Only 6% of that expenditure goes on national functions (see diagram below). The national functions are those which the church requires for resourcing ministry and mission locally.

After considerable discussion based on a comprehensive overview of the national budget, existing levies, and the way parish contributions are designated it was recognised that the purpose of the 'Ministry and Mission' component had not been properly understood and a significant number of parishes were not contributing. In response it was agreed that a single national assessment should be applied to Presbyterian parishes incorporating present levies and targets including for the Beneficiary Fund, Seniority Allowance, National Services Fund and the Mission and Ministry Fund.

Insurance has greatly increased in cost since 11 September 2001.

Mission Project Funding, agreed at General Assembly 2000, has been studied and the report was presented and discussed. Results from a two-year trial involving a sample of parishes have shown that this project would not achieve what was intended and that there are better ways of achieving the desired outcomes. Council will report to Assembly that it not proceed.

RESOURCING OF PRESBYTERIAN MINISTRY AND MISSION