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Synod of Otago and Southland
The Synod of Otago & Southland is a regional court of the Church, with jurisdiction over Otago and Southland parish and church camp properties, and over the allocation of income from funds administered by the Otago Foundation Trust Board. The Synod also generally promotes the interests of the Church in the south, and often pilots mission projects for the national church.
Download the updated parish handbook here (pdf format)
About us
The Synod undertakes some of the functions which, north of the Waitaki River, are the responsibility of the Assembly Office or the Church Property Trustees. Otago and Southland parishes and church campsite committees apply to the Synod, through their presbyteries, for approval to: buy/sell/alter/lease buildings, borrow money, make applications to the Lotteries Grants Board.
The Synod’s sister organisation, the Otago Foundation Trust Board, is the perpetual trustee for Presbyterian properties located south of the Waitaki River . The Trust Board also administers the funds from which the Synod allocates income to eligible organisations.
At its annual meetings, held each April, the Synod decides on the distribution of the income from these trust funds. Although the majority goes to Otago and Southland parishes, the Synod has a policy of allocating substantial sums to the national church for enterprises which are based in Otago/Southland.
Contact us
Office Location: Level 5, Evan Parry House, 43 Princes St , Dunedin.
Postal Address: PO Box 1131 , Dunedin
Phone: 03 477 7365 or 0800 76 22 22
Fax: 03 477 6736
Email: synod.otago.southland(at)xtra.co.nz
Executive officer: Fergus Sime
Synod mission advisor
Bruce Fraser
Level 5, Evan Parry House, 43 Princes St , Dunedin.
PO Box 1131, Dunedin
Phone: 03 477 7362
Fax: 03 477 6736
email: synod.mission(at)xtra.co.nz
Educational Fund
- The aim of this fund is to promote both secular and religious education, for the benefit of the community as well as the church.
- Applications are accepted from community and church organisations which are providers of educational programmes in Otago/Southland, and from the national church for Otago/Southland based educational operations e.g. School of Ministry.
- Preference is given to tertiary educational institutions, and schools recognised by the Church and/or State, but this does not exclude other applicants.
- The bulk of the fund is allocated to 3 or 4 large enterprises, with a limited amount reserved for small allocations to enterprises meriting support.
Forms are available from the executive officer and applications close on 15 December of each year.
Ecclesiastical Fund
- This fund is open only to Otago/Southland Presbyterian and Union/Co-operating parishes, and Presbyterian church camps.
- Allocations are made towards the purchase, building or upgrading of churches, manses, church halls and church campsite buildings. The buildings must be Presbyterian-owned.
- Applications are assessed in terms of the extent to which the buildings have the potential to facilitate the strategic mission of the Church in the region.
- Priority is given to:
- Upgrade/expansion of buildings which are well used, have a thriving community mission focus, and have been identified as strategic assets.
- Upgrade of manses to ensure a reasonable standard of accommodation for the minister.
- A portion of this fund is also allocated for School of Ministry teaching salaries.
Forms are available from the executive officer.
Applications close with Presbytery Clerks on 15 November of each year. (30 September for Dunedin presbytery.)
Mission & Evangelism Fund
- This fund is open to presbyteries and Presbyterian and Union/Co-operating parishes and church camps in Otago and Southland, and to national church enterprises which are based in Otago / Southland.
- The fund offers financial support for mission projects, particularly those which reach out to disadvantaged or underprivileged people in the wider community.
- Priority is given to funding projects which have a regional impact, so that the greatest number of people may benefit, but this does not exclude individual parish applications.
Forms are available from the executive officer.
Applications close with presbytery clerks on 15 July and 15 November of each year.
Heritage Fund
This fund is open only to specified Presbyterian church buildings with a Historic Places Class 1 rating. The current list is: St Paul ’s Church - Oamaru, First Church of Otago, Iona Church – Port Chalmers, Knox Church – Dunedin , Caversham Church - Dunedin , First Church – Invercargill.
College Fund
The income from this fund may be used only for constructing/ repairing/maintaining buildings on the site occupied by Knox College and Salmond Hall.
History of the Synod
The Synod of Otago & Southland has its origins in the beginnings of the Otago Province, in 1848. Many of the Scottish Presbyterian emigrants who came to Otago at this time in search of a better life were members of the 'Free Kirk,' formed after the Disruption of 1843 split the Church of Scotland. Although there was already a Presbyterian Church in New Zealand, the independent southern settlers established their own Presbyterian Church. The Waitaki River was the boundary between the two.
As settlement expanded, the southern Presbyterians built a network of congregations throughout Otago and Southland. They set up a management structure of church courts, and in 1866 established the Synod as the ruling body for the church. The Synod administered church business, held together the southern presbyteries, and distributed the growing income from church property trusts.
When the southern and northern Presbyterian Churches were united in 1901, it was on condition that the substantial trusts which were the special endowment of the southern church remained in the south. The Synod of Otago and Southland became a court of the united church, but retained control of these trusts. The Synod remains the sole regional court of the national church.