‘Democratic image’ for Church body

Press, 4 March 1988, Page 28

‘Democratic image’ for Church body

PA Wellington The Conference of Churches in Aotearoa New Zealand, with its new name and a new demOv cratic image, hopes to encourage women, young people and Maoris to have more of a say. Set up this month, the new conference, formerly the National Council of Churches, has three offices. The old N.C.C. . was more hierachical with just one main office and one secretary. Mrs Jocelyn Armstrong, the secretary of the Wellington office, said the decentralisation of the council was important to get across to people the message that everybody could play a part in the council, not just clerics.

The three offices are in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch. She said the council’s new democratic app -oach was reflected throughout the whole structure df the new organisation. The council would now be able to reach out and involve lay people. Council meetings for ins ance, would now feature three presidents. These might typically include a bishop, a young person and a woman. In addition, meetings would have a facilitator whose job it would be to see that everybody, no matter how quiet, would have a fair chance to speak. The council also hoped to have a larger political voice.

The new council has as its goals the advancement of bi-culturalism, in line with that envisioned by the Treaty of Waitangi, and a new recognition of the dignity of women. Institutional racism and the fraught area of immigration law and refugee resettlement were other issues to which the new council was heavily committed. The new council includes, for the first time, the Catholic Church which traditionally has resisted close involvement with other Churches. The old council was in existence for 46 years. The new one, which was officially consecrated at a special service in Wellington' last week, was five years- in the making.