Saturday 2 October

Speaker says discipling means costly commitment

Mick Duncan’s third address to Assembly continued the story of how he was discipled.

After his conversion, he started going every week to an evening church service, sitting in the back row.

“I wanted to be out of these as quickly as I could, before anyone could come and talk to me.

“I think that we forget how scary we actually are to an outsider.”

Mick told several stories around the idea of the Good Samaritan and taking time to be alongside people.

He also talked about “the hurry sickness” that “plagues our times”.

“We need to hear that hurry damages some of our most important relationships with people.”

He said that to disciple, you must take the time to actively be with people: to walk towards them and alongside them.

“The tragedy of our churches is that we have churches where most people are sitters.”

Mick talked about Murray Robertson, the pastor of Spreydon Baptist Church who discipled him: through a process of walking towards him, sitting alongside him and opening up his life to him.

“When you sit with someone, it communicates to that person that you are companionship orientated and not goal oriented.”

Many Christians have forgotten how to do relationships, he said.

“I personally believe that most Christians are relationally retarded.”

Mick referred to the Biblical story of Naomi, and how after she had suffered immense loss, Ruth made key promises to her. “Ruth spoke promises that became that future of hope for Naomi.”

“Promises are the food of hope for people; promises say to people that there can be alternative future for them.”

Mick also said that the church has lost the art of how to rebuke people as part of discipleship making.

“We’re all about accepting one another; and those outside the church we judge, when in fact I think it’s meant to be the other way round.

He was also critical about the contemporary Church’s fixation on programmes, “because it’s easier and we don’t have to bleed”.

“If you do this one-on-one, skin-on-skin stuff, it costs you dearly and you bleed with Jesus.”

That doesn’t mean there is no place for programmes, he said, but that “in and of themselves, they will not make disciple-making disciples”.

Listen to an audio file of Mick Duncan’s third address

Assembly adopts new confession of faith

General Assembly agreed to adopt Kupu Whakapono - but not to drop its historic subordinate standards.

The Rev Richard Dawson presented the new version of the contemporary confession of faith, which has been a work in progress for more than 10 years. He said that over the past two years, many people, both lay and clergy, and those with theological training as well as without, have engaged with the text of Kupu Whakapono and its commentary.

“We have worked hard to revise the confession [and the commentary] according to requests of last General Assembly.”

Richard said that, as a “reformed and reforming” Church, it is our duty to continually re-express our faith.

He asked Assembly to make Kupu Whakaponu a taonga of our Church: “a new confession sung by new people for our time”.

Co-presenter the Rev Sally Carter spoke of the reasoning behind the proposal to remove the Westminster Confession as a subordinate standard.

“The context in which we gather hear today is not the context in which the Westminster Confession divines gathered in 1646.”

Speakers against talked of the respect in which they held the Westminster Confession, and how it was “tested and true”. They also spoke of how its difficult parts were made acceptable by the Declaratory Act.

The motion to remove the Westminster Confession as a subordinate standard was lost.

Assembly then agreed to amend the formula that ministers and elders sign at ordination to reflect the new subordinate standard (after a significant diversion into consideration of the wording of the formula taken at ordination).

Moderator the Right Rev Peter Cheyne thanked the many people who had had input into Kupu Whakapono during its long period of development.

Assembly says yes to inclusive language

General Assembly reaffirmed its 1993 decision to encourage the use of non gender-specific language.

The Church was urged by Assembly to be sensitive and careful in the use of language in life and worship.

A speaker in favour of the proposal said: “It’s a matter of justice, not a matter of language.  Every time I see the word ‘man’ I feel excluded. I have to stop and think whether I am included.”

Those who spoke against the motion felt it was an old issue.

The Rev Ian Guy, convener of the Leadership sub-committee, said that the proposal wasn’t about being the “language police”, rather that the use of exclusively male language and images for God wasn’t appropriate in today’s Church. 

“We don’t want to remove masculine language. All that this proposal asks is that we are sensitive and careful in our use of language.”

Assembly encouraged the Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership to continue to teach care and sensitivity, particularly in courses on preaching and worship. 

Assembly also requested that study resources on inclusive language be prepared by the Knox Centre.

Leadership changes get approval from GA

Assembly extended existing rules to make supervision compulsory for all paid ministry staff, not just ministers.

This was one of a raft of changes approved by General Assembly to strengthen the Church’s ministry development programme.

When recommending the changes to Assembly, the Rev Helen Harray said supervision offers safeguards for both ministers and those being ministered to.

Helen highlighted that the proposal simply reinstated provisions that existed in the previous version of the Book of Order. 

Commissioners sought to clarify several issues about the proposal to make external supervision mandatory for all staff.

Helen confirmed that while the rule would apply to all those who have paid employment contracts, parishes were strongly encouraged to provide supervision for volunteer ministry workers as well.  The matter of cost was raised by several speakers, and Helen confirmed that cost of supervision is borne by the parish, and urged them to consider it an investment in ministry.

Assembly agreed to adopt new supplementary provisions for ministry training and ordination that take into account changes since the Book of Order was last amended.  Assembly also asked that the rule that set a five-year fixed term for Local Ordained Ministry (LOM) appointments be revoked.

New resources for LOM were also approved by Assembly.  A handbook for LOM candidates will be prepared (similar to the existing one for National Ordained Ministers), as will a resource for presbyteries and settlement boards about the process for LOM.

These changes were recommended as a result of the Leadership subcommittee’s review of the LOM programme, which was implemented by GA in 2002.

The subcommittee also recommended new terms of reference for the Personal Work Group, which were approved by General Assembly.

In other changes agreed by Assembly, the parish review process is to be updated to include a section that examines the model of ministry that a parish is currently in. The changes will enable regular discussion about whether the current ministry model is still the most appropriate model for that parish.

Assembly agreed to several significant changes to the way ministers from other denominations are received. The changes mean the application process for ministers from New Zealand and those from overseas are now more aligned. Ian said the changes were needed because in recent years there had been a significant increase in the number of overseas ministers applying to be received into the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Changes to Certificate of Good Standing rules

Assembly declined to uphold a proposal to move the clergy review cycle from biennial to once every five years.

The Rev Nancy-Jean Whitehead, who introduced the proposal on behalf of Christchurch Presbytery, said that the time, energy and cost involved with two-yearly clergy reviews was prohibitive, especially for smaller parishes.

Speakers against the motion said regular review was critical to effective ministry. Others believed that biennial review was not necessary if effective supervision was in place.

In changes endorsed by the leadership sub-committee, Assembly agreed that a minister will no longer have to ensure that their parish undergoes a five-yearly review in order to get a Certificate of Good Standing.

The proposal that all ministry review costs be met from the national Church budget was withdrawn because the Resource sub-committee had not had the opportunity to consider the proposal prior to Assembly.

A thorough review of the Ministry Development Programme was endorsed by Assembly: a task group will be established and asked to report back to GA12 with its findings.

Special committee to investigate making PI Synod a presbytery

General Assembly agreed to appoint a special committee that would investigate giving the Pacific Island Synod the status of a presbytery.

As part of an enlarged presentation, the Pacific Island Synod gave Assembly an update on the progress occurring in the synod in terms of working with young people, supporting people into ministry and setting up a Pacific Island reflection centre.

The Rev Sa Si’itia-Asi spoke of the vision for a multicultural church and asked whether this as just a rhetorical claim.

There was then debate about the wording of the notices of motion concerning the exploration of presbytery power for the synod, and, after an adjournment, the movers withdrew the proposals and replaced them with a new notice of motion. This asked the Assembly, recognising its commitment to the bicultural and multicultural Church, to appoint a special committee to investigate the feasibility of the Pacific Island Synod being granted the status of presbytery and report back to GA12. The motion was overwhelmingly agreed.

Mick Duncan closes speeches with stories of discipleship

Mick Duncan ended his series of addresses by telling stories about people he has discipled, including one about his experiences slum-dwelling in the Philippines.

Mick has proved a popular speaker, with the hall nearly at capacity for each of his four keynotes.

In 1985, Mick, his wife Ruby and their children relocated to a Manila slum. Their first Christmas Eve in the city, they were woken in the middle of the night by a gang throwing rocks at their shack.

Huddling in a corner, they “automatically went into prayer mode”, asking God for protection. But Mick also asked Jesus if “I could get to know one of these gang members and see him become a Christ follower”.

Instead of going to a language school, they were learning Tagalog (the language of the Philippines) word by word, phrase by phrase, through hanging out with people.

Mick had only a limited number of phrases and one day tried these out on two boys in the street, one of whom was called Richard.

A couple of weeks later he saw him again, and called out his name, though Richard kept walking.

After weeks went by, Richard one day knocked at Mick’s door and managed to communicate that he wanted to do Bible studies, despite their lack of faculty in each other’s language.

So Mick got to know Richard, who lived “in a hole in the ground” with his five brothers and sisters.

These “strange Bible studies” continued periodically, then one day Richard knocked on Mick’s door and announced that he had become a Christ follower.

“I asked him, ‘how did it happen?’”

“He said, ‘one day you remembered my name: we are the forgotten ones; no one wants to remember us’. Then he started to think that my God might also know his name.”

“We did life together for years.”

As they walked together, Mick said, he asked himself intentional questions about Richard, what was going on in his life and how he should respond.

“I discerned two issues in this guy’s life: he had no access to money and no access to land.”

So Mick started a bank, and he joined together with other nongovernmental organisation to become a political force to give land to people squatting in poverty.

“Today Richard is a Methodist pastor and he is discipling pastors of squatter churches in his part of the Philippines.”

He was also a member of the gang that stoned the Duncan’s house that Christmas Eve.

Listen to an audio file of Mick Duncan’s address

Presbytery reform underway

Assembly approved the formation of three new presbyteries and agreed to a range of other measures to enable further presbytery unification.

Presbytery reform was mandated by the 2008 General Assembly, and the Very Rev Garry Marquand, convener of the task group charged with facilitating change, praised the progress that has been made on the journey so far: three new presbyteries – Kaimai, Southern, and a yet-to-be-named upper North Island presbytery – have been formed, and others are in discussion about amalgamation.

Garry reiterated that the reform or presbyteries is about more than restructuring.  The task group believes it will create a culture of operating that stresses mission resourcing rather than governance, and will create presbyteries that are more of a movement, rather than just a well-organised institution, he said.

“We stand on the threshold of a new future,” said Moderator the Right Rev Peter Cheyne, before he led Assembly in prayer to mark the significant change journey that Church has embarked on.  He also called the members of each new presbytery to the front of Assembly, where they described their hopes and dreams for the new presbyteries.

Garry spoke of the need for a strong ecumenical voice in the process, and he strongly affirmed Churches Together In Northland for their courage engaging in the process.  He confirmed that they have agreed to dissolve themselves in February 2011, and will form a new body that will relate to the new upper North Island presbytery.

As part of the reformation of presbyteries, Assembly agreed to proposals that better enable congregations as the “life and locus of mission”.  Assembly determined that presbyteries will be consulted in determining the life and business of Assembly, and they would also report to General Assembly.  It is planned that both these changes will be in place for the 2012 General Assembly. 

To maintain the momentum on presbytery reform, Assembly also agreed to re-direct existing money from General Assembly’s budget to better support the mission of these larger presbyteries.

New triggers for congregational assessment

Assembly agreed to new rules that alter the way a congregation’s life and mission can be assessed.

Feedback from dialogue groups brought friendly amendments to the original proposal, which sought to re-focus the assessment process on renewing the life and mission of the congregation and better recognise that dissolution was only one possible outcome of an assessment.

As a result, the regulations passed by Assembly recognise that assessment may result in the congregation being affirmed in its mission; or taking steps to renew its life and mission if the congregation is fulfilling some of the functions identified in section 2 of the Book of Order;  and if needed the congregation would be dissolved and presbytery would ensure the continued pastoral care of the congregation.

The proposed threshold of 40 adult attendees at worship as a trigger for initiating a presbytery review attracted some comment.  Commissioners said that the concept was good, but the number itself was somewhat arbitrary.  Several speakers expressed a need to consider the overall context of the parish – whether it was rural or urban, and its outreach – alongside the number of people at worship.

Under the new provisions agreed to by Assembly, presbyteries can initiate a congregational assessment if, over a period of 12 months, there has been an average of fewer than 40 adult worshippers. 

The rule changes simplify the existing regulations and provide more clear-cut guidelines for congregational review.  Introducing the proposal to dialogue groups on Friday, Council of Assembly convener the Rev Emma Keown said the Church’s rapidly changing environment necessitated a review of the rules governing how a congregation’s life is assessed.

Her report to commissioners referenced a rapid decline in the number of stipendry ministers available (currently around 250 to serve more than 400 parishes), and a significant national trend toward fewer and fewer people at worship.

The new rules replace existing Book of Order regulations relating to the dissolution of a congregation at the initiative of a church council, and dissolution of a congregation at the initiative of a presbytery.

Assembly agreed to adopt the new rules ad interim, which means that they will come into force immediately.

Clear guidelines for committee appointments

A raft of changes to the way the Nominating Committee works, and the way Council of Assembly appointments are made, were agreed by General Assembly.

Among the changes endorsed by Assembly: Nominating Committee membership will be expanded to include two youth representatives; new larger presbyteries will get three representatives on the committee; the term for convener and deputy convener were formalised as being for four years; and that a set of knowledge-and-experience criteria be developed.

Assembly also agreed that the Nominating Committee should work in a way that is fair, balanced, transparent and objective, making nominations that recognise the Church’s diversity and endeavour to ensure geographical, theological, cultural, gender and lay/clergy balances are considered.

The changes sought to remove ambiguity about the system of appointments, and codified the procedures for the sake of clarity, said Nominating Committee convenor Neil Walker, who presented the proposal to Assembly.  They will enable good process and transparency around nominations, he said.

The processes followed by Nominating Committee are to be included in supplementary provisions, and placed on the Presbyterian Church’s website.  A variety of other provisions governing the committee’s work were also agreed to.

All rule changes were adopted ad interim.