The 2006 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand began in Auckland today with a traditional Maori service and ceremony.  As part of the ceremony the new moderator, the Right Reverend Pamela Tankersley was formally installed.  In the installation the outgoing moderator, The Very Rev Garry Marquand, passed her the Moderator’s korowai tapu (ceremonial cloak).

Business began with a report by the “Focus on the Future” task group that is looking at the structure of the PCANZ in the future.  The reduction of national staff over the last few years from 23 to 10 has left the remaining staff stretched and further reductions would be counter-productive.  Recommendations for the Council of Assembly to focus on core matters and for national/presbytery relations to “address” the effectiveness of presbyteries was passed with discussion.

The business of the day closed with two overtures from Auckland Presbytery about financial matters.  The first overture would have capped the Assembly assessment at 5% of parish income and outlined possible reductions and reorganization at the national level.  The summary says this was defeated by a wide margin.  The second overture would have limited the Assembly assessment, including mission and Beneficiary, to no more than 10% of parish regular income.  After considerable debate the motion received 54% affirmative votes but needed a super-majority of 60% to pass.  A follow-up motion referred the 10% cap to Assembly Council for their consideration and guidance.

Interestingly, there was a third overture that would affect the structure of the church moving it to a Federal model that was listed in the docket but no mention of it is included in the summary.  I would surmise that the Assembly ran out of time and the overture was moved to the overflow time at the end of the Assembly.  We will see where it surfaces.

You can read the full Thursday Summary.