On Saturday 12 June representatives from Diocesan Council, Selwyn College Te Maru Pūmanawa Board, students and senior staff participated in a hui facilitated by Emeritus Archbishop Sir David Moxon.

This is one of the early steps being taken to focus on the Special Character of Selwyn following the decision from Synod 2020 to keep the College as a Diocesan institution. A Special Character committee with Selwyn and Diocesan Council representation has already been formed, with this Hui taking the conversation further. Emeritus Archbishop David Moxon (who was chair of the Selwyn Consultation Panel) facilitated the day which focused on reviewing the journey so far before moving onto the highest aspirations for Special Character at Selwyn College Te Maru Pūmanawa. These aspirations were then fleshed out with practical ways to achieve them, as well as taking a reality check on obstacles and limitations. The day finished with setting some objectives-goals and some initial actions. 

Canon Fr. Michael Wallace gave an idea of the way Selwyn has developed over the years, from its roots as a mixed model theological and general university residential college, through to some of the changes since the 1980s. Over recent years the College (along with other similar institutions throughout the Anglican Communion) has struggled to find what its niche is within the church. Special College services were instituted by previous wardens (Lois Warburton) and Vicars of Dunedin North Parish (Fr. Tim Hurd), but it has still been a challenge. One significant point of difference with Selwyn is that it does have a living church on the doorstep, with recent visitors from Tikanga Maori commented that the physical lay out of the college with places for sleeping, eating, learning and worship was very similar to a marae. You could say the College and All Saints "breathe the same air". 

Over the day many worthwhile ideas and concrete actions were shared. It was great to have active input from Selwyn past and present students who also attended. The potential models that were shared in the final Consultation Panel report were discussed, with the general consensus that finding a way to use elements from each of the models (essentially a new Model D) would be a good direction to move in. There was also a lot of discussion around a chaplaincy model (the Vicar of All Saints has been the Chaplain of Selwyn from 1893) where students are "drawn into" and influenced by a positive Christian environment that helps in their formation for whatever life they lead. The unique gift of our Three-Tikanga Church was also seen as a strong point of difference: there would be nowhere else in the country that would have quite the same ability to be a Three-Tikanga based organisation which could touch the lives of students in a really positive way. 

At the end of the day, Sir David Moxon made reference to the Gospel for the next day which talked about mustard seeds. He gave these out to participants, reminding them that these small seeds develop into resilient, self-propagating shrubs. Mustard trees are able to shelter wildlife and were seen as "good" for people as well. This Hui was all about starting off with a few little seeds being thrown onto the ground: all we need to do now is wait and see what happens and what growth God will bring about.