We have been hearing more about how churches are doing things differently around investments, assets and stewardship, having a significant impact on wider communities in Aotearoa-New Zealand. We also thought about this more at Synod in 2022.

Have another look at the report (attached below). 

At the General Synod Te Hīnota Whānui in 2018, a special working group set up that resulted in a paper called "He waka eke noa - Mission Aligned Investment". He waka eke noa refers to "a waka we are all in together", recognising that although no one person or entity has the resources or talents to turn the tide alone, we can all work together to do this. The Anglican Church in Aotearoa collectively has billions of dollars worth of assets... and this call is one to be courageous and take action to use our resources for Mission and lead by example.

One quote in this report is from Archbishop Justin Welby who said in August 2019:

"Passive investment may be the right investment solution for many, but passive stewardship is the the answer for on-one... money is not morally neutral - it can do harm and it can do good"  

The report encourages us to imagine a future where: 

• The Anglican Church is seen at the forefront of socially responsible investment
• A time when the Anglican Church is renowned and respected for its total financial transparency
• A time when the Anglican Church in Aotearoa is not only believed by many to be a provider to the whole community, but acknowledged to be that provider. 

A follow up motion was taken to General Synod in 2021, which requested church entities to seriously look at how they could make this happen. The Anglican Diocese of Waiapu have already made changes in the way they invest to bring them more into this framework.  

On 8 September 2020 the Diocesan Council carried the following motion: 

That this document (He waka eke noa – A waka - We are all in together) be sent to all faith communities as well as the Trust Board and that all be asked to consider being socially responsible for mission aligned investment and fruitful stewardship in their future investments.

We want all of our parishes and organisations to continue to think about this, especially after the Motion passed at Synod this year around property (see below). The question continues to be: "what can we do to seriously be part of Mission Aligned Investment in the stewardship of our resources?" 

MOTION NO. 12: Diocese of Dunedin Property Principles

Moved By: The President - The Rt Rev’d Steven Benford

Recognising the need for a Diocesan Wide Property, Ministry and Mission strategy and the changing face of Diocese of Dunedin Anglican Faith Communities, as well as the need to ensure that property assets support the Mission of the Church as expressed in the Five Marks of Mission,

And in exercising stewardship of our resources, creating/maintaining safe, welcoming and accessible sacred spaces that can facilitate the Mission of the Church within the context of Aotearoa-New Zealand and liberating assets for ministry, the following principles are commended to Anglican Faith Communities[1]:

1. We will carefully consider local contexts in relation to the physical presence of the Church. Having a defined Christian presence and place is important, and we recognise that this may be in partnership with other faith communities. Our primary concern is the nurturing of new and existing believers in all parts of our diocese within a context of place, memory, and presence.

2. We will encourage, wherever possible, faith communities in proximity[2] to each other to look at how they can collaborate, share resources, and look at the best way for ministry to be resourced for mission. This will allow best use of our resources and enable us to maintain key physical locations.

3. We will consider what is required to support mission in particular localities. This includes identifying assets that are required to enable this, such as housing for clergy/other workers as well as any other resources and facilities.

4. We will consider options for releasing assets for ministry within the principles of Mission Aligned Investment[3] i.e., unlocking and properties or resources that are underdeveloped/unutilised in ways that have a positive impact in our communities. We will consider selling surplus assets that have outlived their usefulness in their current situation but could be released to support new mission and ministry. We will also be careful not to dispose of capital assets that could result in the undermining of our ability to resource future mission.

5. We agree that any future sales of property or income from them that is not attached to an existing faith community[4] should be available to support new ministries and ventures as approved by Diocesan Council. This support may include provision of buildings but also the resourcing of people.

6. We recognise that gifting to others of viable properties and resources may take place. This includes other partners in our three tikanga church, or to local communities who may wish to preserve a building for worship and other community use. We do not see this as a way of off-loading troublesome or burdensome assets, but as paying forward for mission resources that previous generations have left in our care.

Explanatory Notes:

1. This motion draws on the Diocese of Dunedin Property Consultation 2020-2021 and discussions at Diocesan Council, 3 May 2022 and was refined at a joint meeting of the Diocesan Council and Dunedin Diocesan Trust Board on 21 June 2022.

2. It is intended to lay down principles for any future bills to be presented to Synod, or to become a Standing Resolution in any form that it is Agreed to by Synod in September 2022.

3. A strategy to implement the above motion could include all or some of the following:

i. Create a register of all the property owned by the Diocese.

ii. Organise the register by parish and/or locality.

iii. Decide where the Diocese wants to maintain hubs which are based in Diocesan property after consultation with parishes or other local stakeholders. This may include some challenging conversations around the need to look at a bigger picture vs local preferences.

iv. Once the hub locations are established, evaluate what property they will require, determine whether any existing property will do the job, and so identify by elimination any property which is surplus to hub requirements.

v. Evaluate whether there are any surplus properties which may need to be retained for reasons other than hub mission.

vi. Proceed to dispose of surplus properties not required under iii and iv.

vii. Continue to maintain the property register at Diocesan level.

viii. Invest in mission.

4. This could also include calling a Bishop’s Commission to investigate the mission-ministry requirements of the Diocese as part of identifying any property strategic plan.

Speakers:

[Mr Steve Mitchell – spoke in support; The Rev’d Vivienne Galletly – spoke in support, needs to be funded; Mr Samuel Carter – caution recommended; The Very Rev’d Dr Tony Curtis – in support, needs a property manager to oversee; The Rev’d Dr Andrea McDougall – spoke in support. Discussion around this motion suggested that faith communities disposing of properties may want to consider giving a proportion to the Bishopric Endowment to ensure we can continue to support a Bishop in our Diocese for the future. We could be described as asset rich, but these assets also can drain our resources and keep us "poor". Speakers noted the importance of our assets in terms of providing physical connections with our communities, but that we also needed to put our assets to work so that we can focus on ministry. It was recognised also that property matters are putting an extra strain on the Diocesan Office and we need to think about how we can resource this in the future.]

Motion 12 was put unamended

AGREED

[1] parishes, local churches, regional deaneries and the Cathedral district

[2] Proximity geographically or in style of worship-ministry.

[3] As outlined in He Waka eke noa – A Waka we are all in together: Fruitful Stewardship through Mission Aligned Investment, a report submitted and adopted by the General Synod in 2021.

[4] This refers to a small number of properties that have no obvious benefactor i.e., when a parish or local church has ceased to exist and has not been merged into any other.