Overture 15: Decision Making Structures

At St Peter´s Presbyterian Church Ellerslie on 13 July 2004, the Presbytery of Auckland met and was constituted.

<typohead type="3">Among other things: </typohead>

It was moved seconded and carried that the Presbytery transmit the following overture simpliciter to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand appointed to meet in Christchurch on 19 September 2004.

Whereas the Presbyterian Church is very diverse in theology, style and practice

And Whereas the prime agent for mission is the local congregation

And Whereas we have adopted the model of healthy congregations as our strategy for mission

And Whereas the role of the Presbytery is to resource congregations for mission

And Whereas mission is exercised in a post denominational society and the membership of our congregations is in large part composed of these coming from many different denominations and those non-aligned to any denomination

And Whereas we can not afford (financially) our current denominational structures

And Whereas our decision-making structures no longer serve us well in a rapidly changing, post modern and post denominational world

And Whereas our decision making process serve only to divide us further than we already are divided

And Whereas arising from the diversity of the Church there appears to be a significant distrust and suspicion of one another (given our diversity)

And Whereas there is a need for national decisions to reflect the mind of the church at the "grass roots". Historically the Barrier Act has been the way national decisions have been tested with the local membership of the church. This needs to be preserved, strengthened and streamlined

And Whereas the Church has in place a structure which could serve the church far more effectively and allow for more streamlined decision making

The Council of Assembly could become a small management executive giving oversight to a minimal national structure.

REFORM providing policy leadership for the church leading it in the direction of healthy congregations and the.

General Assembly could be reformed to become a series of Equipping Leadership for Mission forums under the leadership of ETHEL

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<typohead type="3">It is hereby overtured that: </typohead>

That the General Assembly instruct the Council of Assembly to initiate a reformation of our structural processes that will allow for:

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Maximum ownership by the "grass roots" of the church

Smaller policy work groups that are skill and performance based

Leadership focused on the delivery of services and resources for Healthy Congregations

The development of a new model of making national decisions that is cost effective, locally owned and responsive to a rapidly changing world

</typolist>

The Council of Assembly report six monthly to Presbyteries until such time as significant agreement is found for a new structure. At Such time a Special Assembly be called to ratify and put in place such changes.

Or that the General Assembly determine otherwise as in its wisdom it shall deem best.

The Presbytery appointed the Rev Andrew Norton and Mr. Forbes Worn to support the Overture to the General Assembly.

Extracted from the records of Presbytery by

Trevor Mosley
Presbytery Clerk