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In touch with Assembly
Anyone who is not going to the General Assembly in September but would like to be informed about what's happening at Assembly, can register for email or fax updates on the website or contact Kirsten Dale, Communications Coordinator, phone 04 381 8292 Email kirstend(at)pcanz.org.nz (Fax updates must be to a dedicated fax line.)
Overseas mission, social issues, leadership training, church structures and the Pacific Island Synod will all be discussed at Assembly. Please pass this message on to anyone in your congregation who might be interested in keeping up with the discussion.
Assembly Talking Points
Over recent years Assembly has emphasised themes of continuing relevance - healthy congregations, structures that support, leadership for mission. We've restructured nationally to take bolder and more coordinated steps. Assembly will see early evidence in the Council and Policy Group proposals.
<typohead type=3>Strengthening Presbyteries</typohead>
This time Assembly is asked to focus more on strengthening presbyteries. The desire for change is evident in the new ways most presbyteries are trying to work. Assembly will be asked to encourage those efforts. The Council of Assembly is proposing the strengthening of presbyteries by clarifying their functions to focus on essentials, clustering parishes to provide support, and consolidating to fewer presbyteries.
More active regional leadership through planning, resourcing, and coordinating is needed to help respond to new opportunities, and as we face changes in congregational life. One sign of change - less than half our parishes can afford full-time ministers of word and sacrament. Regional ministry teams, regional congregations, and new expressions of church regionally initiated are needed. Guidelines are being suggested to help presbyteries more actively oversee the provision of ministry.
<typohead type=3>Broaden Ministry</typohead>
Changes in congregational size are affecting every aspect of our Church's life. Assembly will consider proposals to broaden the ways ministry of word and sacrament is offered. The proposal is to add to the existing national ordained ministry and Amorangi, regionally authorised and appropriately trained local ordained ministry and local ministry teams.
<typohead type=3>National Functions</typohead>
As the church faces the pressure of change, and as regional functioning is clarified, the Council of Assembly will report its view of what functions need to be performed nationally. Alongside that will be proposals for what Council believes is a fairer sharing of the cost of performing those functions with a single assessment.
<typohead type=3>Pacific Island Synod</typohead>
The Church is being encouraged to reflect more of its multicultural diversity. The Review Committee of the Pacific Islanders Synod will report following the piloting of the Synod over the past four years.
<typohead type=3>Subordinate Standards</typohead>
It is important we release more of the vitality at the heart of the Reformed movement One aspect of that is the review of our basic confessional documents. The Subordinate Standards Task Group signalled to the regional meetings held last year their belief that that the Westminster Confession needs to be valued in a different way.
I hope this Assembly will help our church to connect in Christ more deeply and broadly with the wider community. Assembly will be invited to combine a will to grasp new opportunities, realism about our present capacity to do so, and resolve to develop our life so we can.
Kerry Enright
Assembly Executive Secretary
New Initiatives
Representatives of Auckland Presbytery executive have agreed to work alongside the Assembly Office on a research project. The project is to research into opportunities for the church to connect with people who do not currently attend church. Information from the research will be fed into the shaping of new initiatives in the Auckland Presbytery area and in other Auckland regions. The information will be made widely available nationally as well.
There are several population groups of interest to the church. The one selected for this study is families with children where the parents are between the ages of 25 and 50. This group was selected because of the potential it offered to research the needs of children as they mature, the likelihood of parishes being able to adapt to meet the needs of families and the church's perception that parents may be interested in a values-based framework for their children.
The areas of Auckland selected for research are north-west Auckland including Massey/Westgate and West Harbour; south-east Auckland including south Botany Downs, Totara Park and Takanini; and Albany and the Rodney District. The research will be funded by a Council for World Mission grant and CWM funding will also be sought to seed the new initiatives.
"The research is different to other projects because it will talk with people outside church and be focused on opportunities for the church to connect, rather than just looking at why people don't come to church. It may also give the church information about what is needed to adapt its practice to reach new people," says Communications Manager, Mary Macpherson.
Hospital Chaplains Hold-out for More Funding
At their Conference in Christchurch on 8-12 of July the Hospital Chaplains asked the Inter-Church Council for Hospital Chaplaincy (ICHC)not to sign off on the Government's current contract offer which essentially keeps funding at the 1999 level and does not return to a 50/50 cost share.
The New Zealand Healthcare Chaplains Association has appealed to the government to reconsider its decision not to fund the extra $645,000 per annum needed to bring its funding of the back to sharing costs equally with the churches and community.
Of the 22 committees that co-ordinate the Non-Government funding and provide administration for the chaplaincies around the country, twelve have run at a deficit for the last year. Some chaplains have recently received letters from ICHC informing them of the decreases in funding for their positions as churches cannot maintain their present level of contribution for the coming year.
What's New on the Web
<typohead type=3>The Yearbook</typohead>
The Presbyterian Yearbook (that's the red one) is now online. This has the full national section and a search function for the Presbyteries and UDCs part. You can find a Parish within a Presbytery, search for Worship Centre or Parish by Name or Location, or Search for a Minister and find their full contact details. Communications is updating this every month to coincide with the monthly mailing.
<typohead type=3>General Assembly News Updates</typohead>
Register online for news from Assembly. You can elect to receive news updates by email or fax. (a dedicated fax line is needed)
<typohead type=3>Bush Telegraph</typohead>
You can also register to receive Bush Telegraph as a weblink online with a new registration function.
<typohead type=3>Ecumenical Relations</typohead>
There is a new webpage for Ecumenical Relations
<typohead type=3>Presbyterian Foundation</typohead>
Stories of initiatives that have been funded by the Presbyterian Foundation.
<typohead type=3>MRT Noticeboard</typohead>
Featuring details of conferences, events and opportunities that are coming up.
<typohead type=3>The Parish Handbook</typohead>
A quick reference guide to Presbyterian Regulations and Procedures, published by the Synod of Otago and Southland and prepared by Heather Mackenzie, clerk of the Synod.
Renewal Ministries Conference
Renewal Ministries are having a Pre-General Assembly Conference from 20 to 22 September at St Columba Presbyterian Church in Lower Hutt.
Speakers include Wayne Kirkland co-author of "Where's God on Monday?" which explores the connections between our spirituality and the way we approach daily life, Douglas Pau Minister at St Columba Naenae, Ian Wood Ministry Director of Renewal Ministries and Margaret Waight Ministry Director of Renewal Ministries.
For further information contact Margaret Waight ph 06 327 4050 Email marg(at)prm.org.nz
Aspiring Faith Community Summer School
People, Passion and Perception: Living in a Changing World
An exciting new venture for Wanaka! An opportunity to combine a summer holiday in the most beautiful area of New Zealand with a forum to learn, share and discuss. Children 12 and under catered for too.
Aspiring Faith Community, Upper Clutha Presbyterian parish, is holding its first January summer school for all interested people at Mt Aspiring College. Seminars and workshops will run in the mornings, with afternoons free to enjoy Wanaka and its surrounds. Evening sessions open to the public.
Highlights include
Professor Gareth Jones from Otago University School of Medical Science: Playing God: Exploring the Boundaries between Human and Divine Control.
Main Impro: workshops on drama, and Jim Symons of Denver, Colorado: Compassion as Creative Energy for Change. Biblical reflections will be by Alistair Rae.
12-17 January 2003 - mark it in your diary now, tell your friends and make plans to join us.
For further information contact: Neal and Alison Brown Ph 03 443 1044 Email brown.hawea(at)actrix.co.nz
Public Writing Panel
An interdenominational panel of people has been put together to provide well written articles to the daily print media, especially those in major cities, on topics of current importance, all of them from an orthodox theological perspective.
The panel includes, Professor Gareth Jones as an expert on medical and bioethics, Professor Jonathan Boston on public policy, government and politics and Presbyterian minister Rev. Dr Graham Redding as an expert on worship and theological issues. Topics that will be covered by other experts on the panel will be; church history, biblical issues, commerce, business, tertiary education, workplace issues, the liberal arts, mental health and criminology issues.
Churches can register to receive (without charge) material that has just been published by one of the experts on the panel, which they can then reproduce for distribution in their congregations without breach of copyright.
If you are interested in receiving the material produced by the panel for your congregation, contact Kirsten Dale, Communications Co-ordinator ph 04 381 8292 Email kirstend(at)pcanz.org.nz
Resource Library
The Library at the Assembly Office is not just a Youth Library and covers many topics.
If people have borrowed books from the library and would like to write a book review they are encouraged to get in touch with Mo or Janice at the Assembly Office, PO Box 04 801 6000 Email mo.mansill(at)pcanz.org.nz or janiceh(at)pcanz.org.nz.
Those with overdue books are gently reminded to return the items (the recommended time for borrowing books is 1-2 months).