letter from New Zealand
New Zealand sees itself as a forerunner when it comes to progressive thinking: in 1893 New Zealand became the first self-governing country to award women the vote. And, whilst many of the progressive advances have brought good, there have been others which have had a detrimental impact.
One such ‘progressive advance’ came in 2018 when the Anglican Church of Aoetearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia (ACANZP) voted to bless same-sex relationships despite this being contrary to Scripture and the Church’s canons.
In the aftermath of this decision, Anglicans from 12 churches across the country took the painful decision to set up a new diocese: the Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa New Zealand. A sad, but inevitable, outcome of this split was that many congregations lost their church buildings and most changed their names as an indication of their new identity. The stand these churches took resulted in many of them having to rent out school gyms or use other churches’ facilities at odd times of the day. But in God’s goodness, despite the challenges, the diocese continues to grow and is now made up of 20 congregations around New Zealand.
