At the beginning of July most of the UCANZ congregations went through the exercise of ‘changing partners’. Sounds like a dance, doesn’t it? However, it is not quite that, though in my way of thinking, it should be! I have always thought of myself as a dancer - not that I am a trained dancer but in the sense that I react to most music in that way. Music inspires me to move to its rhythm and beat.

This ‘changing partners’ is part of the system imagined, created and actioned by our recently retired Executive Officer, Rev Adrian Skelton, with the help of the then co-chair of UCANZ, David Hall. It was a response to a plea by our member congregations to make the system of calculating and paying levies to our partner churches, (Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Christian Churches New Zealand), more equitable and less complicated. As part of Adrian’s support team, I’m proud to say it has been very successful and, even though the levies have not reduced for most, they are certainly much fairer.

One of the features of this scheme is that the convening partner (once generally known as the ‘Church of Oversight’) now changes every three years. This gives each denomination which is involved in a congregation’s make up an opportunity to take a more active part in the life of that congregation. Changing partners provides the means for the dancers to introduce themselves, take to the floor and move forward together in the current rhythm and beat.

About 15 years ago I began a campaign to encourage the partner churches to hand over the titled ownership of the buildings to the Cooperating or Uniting congregations using them. I thought this would make a much more balanced partnership because, as things stood, and still stand, the power this ownership brings, is very one-sided. As you can imagine, being church people, the campaign hardly got off the ground and was a complete failure. I learned very quickly that it was more productive, and a lot easier, to try and change the world rather than the church! However, now I am glad I failed.

Being part of a movement rather than being a denomination means that it is much easier for us to change direction. We are not saddled either by ancient buildings or traditions as our partners are. We are comparatively free to step out and move forward. This is one of the reasons the levy system was able to be changed reasonably quickly to meet the needs of the congregations through the inspiration and work of Adrian. At the beginning of next year we are going to be on the move again, this time with a new ‘Adrian’. Times have changed, needs have changed, so the UCANZ leadership position is also changing with a change of name. It has been redesigned to play a different tune, emphasising and working more with the people in the parishes. We hope and pray everyone enjoys the dance. Foxtrot anyone? Or would you prefer rock’n’roll?