Year of Discernment: Mid-Year Update

Our 2024 Year of Discernment is picking up momentum and growing wider involvement. As we turn our calendars over to July, now is a great time to take stock and share where we have been on the journey.

The Year of Discernment brings together three pieces of work from Synod 2023 into four Discernment Summits in 2024.

2024 Discernment Summits

• Summit 1 – Property and Finance (1st and 2nd March)
• Summit 2 – Healthy Presbyteries A: Programs & Processes (24th and 25th May)
• Summit 3 – Healthy Presbyteries B: People & Placements (2nd & 3rd August)
• Summit 4 – Radical Resourcing (1st & 2nd November)

We have had two Discernment Summits, with two more to come. We have had visits to four Presbytery meetings or gatherings, with more scheduled for the other eight Presbyteries before November. We are also listening to diverse voices from our CALD, First Peoples, and First Third of Life communities across our Synod, as well as those engaged in diaconal and missional work on the risky, growing edge of the church.

A lot has been heard. A lot of action has begun.

Outputs from Discernment Summits 1 & 2

Each Summit has both done and generated work.

Discernment Summit 1 was focussed on Property and Finance. It achieved:

• A resolution to establish Presbytery Property Partner (PPP) roles to both ease the burden of property oversight for presbyteries and to help maximise return from our resources to support mission.
• Clarity around the scope for the Presbytery Resourcing Fund and principles for how it could be distributed.

Discernment Summit 1 generated:

• A combined Presbytery-Synod working group, currently working to implement the PPP roles.
• A combined Presbytery-Synod working group which has defined the amount of funds required both immediately and to establish a perpetual capital fund. Importantly it will not fund Synod Mission Services operational costs. Commitment to liberate funds within Presbyteries to support “Common Wealth” resourcing is growing through the direct work of the working group, Conversations that Matter, and at Discernment Summit 2.

You can find a more detailed summary of Discernment Summit 1 here.

Discernment Summit 2 was “Healthy Presbyteries A: Programs and Processes”. It achieved:

• Clear definition of four key areas for resourcing Presbytery oversight.
  • Oversight, support and encouragement of congregational life (incl. finance, compliance, vacancies, closures and life and witness).
  • Discernment and supervision of ministry for lay and ordained leaders (incl. POD, authoriaation, advocating for skill development, pastoral care, discipline, vital ministry).
  • Fit for purpose Presbytery staffing (i.e. what do we believe is an appropriate core staffing model and can we achieve greater uniformity across all Presbyteries for position titles/roles).
  • Intentional strategic planning for mission and evangelism, including formation, placements and succession planning.
• Movement towards a preferred model of forms and relationships among our Presbyteries. A creative new option emerged to have our 12 Presbyteries grouped and resourced as “triplets”, each triplet with a mix of urban, rural and regional Presbyteries.

Discernment Summit 2 generated:

• Four working groups, one for each of the four focus areas for Presbytery Resourcing.
• Work to shape Discernment Summit 3, particularly bringing together insights from Summits 1, 2 & 3 around resourcing, responsibilities, roles, relationships and forms. There will be a particular focus on “Fit-for-Purpose Presbytery Staffing”.

Expected Outcomes from Discernment Summits 3 & 4

Discernment Summit 3 is titled “Healthy Presbyteries B: People and Placements”.

Summit 3 will bring together threads of the first two Summits, with additional focus on insights from the Placements for Just Church discussion paper. Summit 3 will include intentional listening to diverse voices from our CALD, First Nations, and First Third of Life communities. The Summit will work through a number of scenarios for different ways of resourcing and relating across our Presbyteries.

A key outcome that will flow from Discernment Summit 3 is an options paper that brings together resourcing and staffing questions with a proposal for a preferred form of presbyteries across our Synod, noting the architectural adage “form follows function”.

Between Discernment Summits 3 and 4, Presbyteries and diverse communities will continue to shape the insights that have grown over 2024.

Discernment Summit 4 is titled “Radical Resourcing”. This is the Summit where it all comes together. We will emerge from the Summit with a preferred option, not just a series of options. This preferred option for resourcing and relationships will be refined further across our Presbyteries in partnership with Synod and come to Synod in July 2025 for final acceptance.

Synod 2025

Synod 2025 will not be asked to make a sudden decision. It may be radical, compared to where we were in 2021, however the decision will be the sum of all the work that we are doing together in our 2024 Year of Discernment.