Chairperson:Bishop Kelvin Wright

Dunedin Diocesan Council
Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, 11th October 2016 at 10.00 am
Peter Mann House, Green Island
Present: / The Right Revd Dr Kelvin Wright,Ms Lisa Burton, Revd Joanna Fielding,Mrs Trish Franklin, Mrs Anne Gover, Revd Max Whitaker,Revd Andrea McDougall, Mr Fred McElrea,Ven Damon Plimmer, Ms Lynda Turner-Heaton, Revd Michael Wallace
In Attendance: / Revd Canon Alec Clark, Ven Jan Clark, Mrs Debbie Flintoff, Mr Keith Gover, Ms Ginny Kitchingman, Ms Meg Kornmayer (Secretary)

Apology:Revd Eric Kyte

Prayers:Bishop Kelvin opened with meeting with prayers.

Welcome:Bishop Kelvin welcomed the new members of the Diocesan Council and invited each person to introduce themselves. +Kelvin commented that the members of the Council had been elected at a very interesting and demanding time; that of re-shaping the Diocese over the next two years and electing a new Bishop to oversee the changes. The previous Council had determined that the model for our next Bishop would be Bishop Educator. The Council had applied for funds and had been given an exemption from St John’s CollegeTrust because of the educator role of the Bishop. +Kelvin commented that other Dioceses would be looking very carefully at what was done in this Diocese and that the national Church was keen for this Diocese to survive. The next couple of years would see significant changes in the Diocese, especially in the rural areas, where many parishes would be closing, with a consequent decrease in the total parish contributions.

Minutes of the previous meeting held on 13th September 2016: It was moved and agreed that these were a true and correct record. (Chair)

Correspondence: Notes on the discussions with Archbishop Phillip Richardson on 13th September 2016. It was agreed that the notes on the previous meeting with ++Phillip on 12th July 2016 would be issued to the new members of Council. There was no other correspondence.

Reports:

Tikanga Pakeha Mission Council Report and Minutes¸ 31st August 2016, Christchurch.It was moved and agreed that the report be received. (Chair)

Finance:

Ginny Kitchingman referred to the Diocese of Dunedin Financial Statements and the Bishopric Financial Statements for the year ended 31st December 2015. Ginny spent some time going through both sets of financial statements, explaining the ‘road map’ to help members of the Council understand them. It was moved and agreed that the financial statements be received. (Chair)

Investments: Child Care Fund –It was moved, seconded and agreedthat90% ofthe interest on the investment from the Diocesan Trust Board Child Care Fund be distributed quarterly in the proportion:60% to Anglican Family Care, 40% to South Centre. (M.Wallace/M.Whitaker).Any other distributions from withheld funds to be decided on as required by the Social Transformation Committee.

Diocesan Aged Care Facilities - Jan Clark commented that the Diocesan Council had asked Chris Fraser to write a reportin 2012on theoperationof the rest homes.The report suggested the formation ofan over-arching governance body, but the rest homes had resisted this idea. The report indicated that Diocesan homes needed towork togetherso they could survive.There werethreeDiocesanaged care facilities (Parata, Takitimu, St Barnabas)and twoParish homes (North Otago Anglican Homes and Leslie Groves). It was suggested that the report be issued to the new Diocesan Council members, so that a mandate from this Councilmight be able tobe formulated. It was moved and agreedthat the Fraser report be re-assessed by theSocial TransformationCommittee and a recommendation be made to the next meeting of the Diocesan Council. (Chair)

2016 Budget – It was noted that with the variance of $50,000 from the St John’s College Trust, there would be no need to draw down from reserves this year. Ginny Kitchingman advised that with the Financial Reporting Act coming into effect early next year, parishes would need to share the cost of the additional auditing requirements, as they related to parish accounts. After Ginny had further consultations with the Auditor, she would send out information to the parishes regarding the review of finances.

It was moved and agreed that the Finance Report be received. (Chair)

Health & Safety: nothing to report.

Property:

Debbie Flintoff reported the following -

Athol –the sale was going ahead and there had been an agreement to remove the trees.

Mossburn – the church had been put on the market.

Lumsden – nothing to report.

Mataura – the legal ownership had not been determined by the lawyers and the Diocese was paying the rates and associated expenses of $3,000 per annum. It was hoped that the situation would be resolved before the next meeting. Keith Gover reported that the building was being used by Tikanga Maori but they were not interested in continued use of the building as they would prefer to be in Dunedin.

General Business:

Youth Ministry – Alec Clark reported that the when Discipleship Committee met a Job Description would be discussed and this would be placed on the agenda of the next meeting.

Formation of New Committees – the following appointments of Diocesan Council voting and non-voting members were made as follows:

Discipleship –Bishop Kelvin, Ms Lisa Burton, Revd Jo Fielding (Chair),Revd Andrea McDougall, Revd Max Whitaker

Stewardship –Bishop Kelvin, Ms Lynda Turner-Heaton, Ms Ginny Kitchingman, VenDamon Plimmer (Chair)

Mission – Bishop Kelvin, Revd Canon Alec Clark, Mrs Trish Franklin, Mrs Anne Gover (Chair)

Social Transformation –Bishop Kelvin, Ven Jan Clark, Mr Fred McElrea, Revd Michael Wallace (Chair)

It was noted that there would be cross-over from time-to-time between some of the Committees as the objectives would influence each other, e.g. Mission & Discipleship; Mission & Social Transformation. Each Committee would then determine which co-opted people were willing to continue.

It was agreed that each Committee would present a report to the next meeting of Diocesan Council.

It was suggested by Fred McElrea that it would be beneficial for some members of the Diocesan Council to meet with other Diocesan organisations (e.g. Selwyn College, Anglican Family Care) say every two months. Alec Clark suggested that occasionally the Diocesan Council should meet in other parts of the Diocese. It was agreed that the Social Transformation Committee should organise these meetings.

Feedback on the Synod session with Sue Burns–It was questioned as to whether Sue’s Synod session had achieved its purpose. She had worked on the issue of change but did not move the Diocese forward. Some disappointment had been expressed that Sue had not carried on with the second part of her talk. It was agreed that members of the Council should bring their opinions and shared experiences to the next meeting so these could be discussed in a forum, enabling the loop to be closed.

It was agreed that once the Minutes of Synod had been finalised, they would be issued to members of Diocesan Council.

Re-organisation of the Diocese – In the light of the widely expressed desire for re-organisation of the Diocese, and the need for more information on the impact of potential changes, Michael Wallace tabled a draft motion which called on the Diocesan Council to commission research on the financial feasibility and impact on ministry of restructuring options.

After discussion, it was moved,seconded and agreed that

(i)Diocesan Council initiates conversations on the role of the Cathedral in the Diocese (including a joint meeting with Chapter in November), and

(ii)that the Diocesan Council encourages the Archdeacons to begin or continue the conversations already begun with the parishes in their areas regarding a restructure and reduction in the number of parishes (in order to make better use of resources to provide ministry)and to determine if they could make the changes by the end of 2018. The Diocesan Council would also assist with these discussions in consultation with parishes, if needed, so that by 2020 any necessary reductions would be in place. (M.Wallace/M.Whitaker)

It was agreed that the recommendations from Peter Beck in his 2015 review of St Paul’s Cathedral be issued to the Council members.

Diocesan Council meetings: It was agreed that meetings would continue to be held on the second Tuesday of each month commencing at 10.30 am.

Date for the next meeting:Tuesday, 8th November 2016, 10.30 am.

Diocesan Council Retreat: It was agreed that the Retreat would be held on Saturday, 12th November 2016, 10.00 am to 3.00 pm.

It was noted that it had been announced that Richard Wallace had been appointed the Bishop-elect for Te Waipounamu, and that Bishop Kelvin would write a letter of greeting to him from the Diocese of Dunedin.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 12.30 pm.

ACTION POINTS

Debbie Flintoff / Email 2012 Fraser report on the Diocesan Rest Homes to DC members
Social Trans.Committee
Debbie Flintoff / Re-assess the Fraser report and make recommendations to the next meeting

Agenda item

Discipleship Committee
Debbie Flintoff / Re Youth Ministry, formulate a job description and report to next meeting

Agenda item

All Committees / Prepare reports for the next meeting
Social Trans. Committee / Arrange for DC members to occasionally meet with other Diocesan organisations
All DC members
Debbie Flintoff / Re Synod session with Sue Burns – feedback from Sue’s session to be discussed in a forum at the next meeting

Agenda item

Debbie Flintoff / Issue finalised Synod minutes to DC members
Alec Clark / Email Peter Beck’s recommendations from Cathedral Review to DC members
Bishop Kelvin / Write to Bishop-elect of Te Waipounamu

Confirmed: ……………………………………………………….. 13th December 2016