GA 2022 reflection

Tone of having a posture of “humility with maturity” was set at the start, and I beleive made a big difference. Moderator Hamish Galloway opened with Eph 4 , emphasising that we are one church, and set the tone for our discussions and business to have “a lilt in our voices and a a twinkle in the eye” - speaking the truth in love. Stand up as a place of unity and maturity in testing times.

Theme - Empowering generations

feeling part of a big church - over 150 commissioners from around the motu - spanning age, experience, ethnicity & gender

things happen very quickly - business can be disorienting (a lot of paperwork to read and sort through), but very rewarding getting into topics in depth

depth of work happening behind the scenes

people working with wisdom, insight and effort for all of our good, really feel the benefit of the talents and skills of our wide church.

Big issues

Rory

TELT - didn’t agree on much in the way of solutions, but agree on the core issue - we need a deeper understanding and empowerment of our call to follow God - not just minsters, not just elders, but all of us called into our gifts and talents, serving God together

forming, inspiring, training our leaders in God’s vision for our church is vitally important for our future flourishing

Theology of Property and Money

Money is one of the issues that has the power to divide us

While we didn’t have much in the way of solutions, we see clearly that freeing our collective wealth to serve our ministry and mission as a Church is vital to our future

We were passionately called to take into account our historic wealth as a settler church, and how we can be a blessing, rather than a curse to tangata whenua

-> review of Church Property Act of 1885

Working together to get through the things that keep us apart

Andrea

A proposal on finding a way to diaalogue about inclusivity - Issue that’s divided the church for many years

Current moderator began a movement that said we don’t want to fight over this anymore

motion brought jointly by people on both sides of the fence,

not perfect, but a feeling of hope that we might find some way through, together

working together, even when we do not agree is the key point

What can we do to participate?

Partnership with Pres Supt flourishing around the country

encouragement to continue exploring how we can engage with our community, together

Whanau Friendly

Eco Church - resources and ways to bring this into our life as a church

This is Us

GA isn’t justr an AGM that we send delgates to because we have to

GA is a gathering of our church, in all of its beauty and brokenness

Dialogue groups Chair of PWANZ Faaolataga Leasi - “this is us”

Whakatauki / waiata E tu kahikatea

E tu kahikatea

Hei whakapae ururoa

Awhi mai awhi atu

Tatou tatou e

Stand like the kahikatea

To brave the storms

Embrace and receive

We are one together

Kahikatea stand together

their roots intertwine

strengthening each other.

We all help one another

and together we will be strong.

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