Rod Robson, the Chair of National Council, brings you this update from their last Assembly Council gathering on 12 October.
Hi Peeps
As we come to the end of the year, your 2025 National Council (notice our name change? – this was part of a resolution passed at National Hui to change the Baptist Union Constitution) met for the first time in December. Although this year we have no new faces around the table (didn’t catch it? We asked churches to extend the term of the current Council), the December meeting is still an important time of reflection, dreaming, and setting our strategic direction for the next 12 months. And because both the food and the company (also the discussions) were so good, we met for two days in person.
First off, the business. We started off co-opting Rangiaruaru Hema for another year, as nominated by Te Whāriki. I was also re-appointed as Chair for 2025. We then accepted the new national constitution, which is effective from 1 January 2025 (clauses were renumbered following some resolutions not passing at National Hui), and the ever-important task of receiving the financial accounts.
The reminder of our two days included four main areas which I will address:
- Reports from subcommittees
- Strategic direction setting
- National Leader search process
- Meeting with Te Whāriki
Reports from subcommittees
Constitutional Review Committee
This committee has been guiding our constitutional review process.
Following National Hui, it was time for a review of the process thus far. We want to assure you that your National Council members were at National Hui, and we were listening to your comments in the discussion sessions. During our meeting we took time to reflect on these comments and highlighted some valuable communication learnings. We also discussed what our next steps in the continued review might look like in 2025, but more thought is required before setting our course.
Baptist Pastoral Leadership Committee
This committee keeps us up to date on all things ‘Carey Baptist College’, policies needing National Council approval, appointments to representative roles, complaints and more.
During this meeting, there were a few areas of national policy within the wider safety ecosystem that needed to be aligned with the new Serious Misconduct Process, including a new code of ethics and conduct which you can expect to see in 2025.
There was also an update about the new Baptist Union Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry Response Group. Expressions of interest for this group are open until the 21 January.
Strategic Relationships Committee
This committee helps the National Council to build and maintain strong relationships with the Regional Association boards, as well as the boards of our numerous other Baptist entities.
In this meeting, we discussed how the National Council might support the Upper South Baptist Association in their church planting project at Rolleston, south of Christchurch.
Strategic direction setting
A major focus of any governance board is guiding the overall direction, in this case, of the Baptist Union of New Zealand. We have worked hard over the past year to deal with as much of our business in council committees as we can, so that in our council meetings, we can spend most of our time together discerning what God might be saying to us. It’s an ongoing task for us, which is especially important as we move towards proposing the appointment of a new National Leader.
National Leader search process
As you may be aware we are beginning the process of searching for a new National Leader, with Charles Hewlett coming to the end of his term at National Hui in November 2025. Currently, we are taking some time to consider the expectations that we put on our National Leaders and the key skills and qualities that we need in this critical appointment. If you have any thoughts on this, please feel free to drop them in an email to [email protected]. We expect to be calling for expressions of interest by late March of 2025, and that both National Council and Mission Council will bring a name to our next National Hui in November.
Meeting with Te Whāriki
Te Whāriki is elected by Te Rūnanga (Baptist Māori) at the annual Hui-ā-Māori.
During our December meeting, we spent the better part of a day with Te Whāriki, listening to each other muse and dream about what our joint future might look like. A key part of seeing gospel renewal in people and places is that Māori would thrive within our movement and that both Māori and Pākehā would enrich each other under the Lordship of Jesus.
Photo: Supplied by Catharina Siraa
