In the light of media comment about the bill before Parliament regarding same-gender marriage, here's a description of the position of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia.

Last month the Anglican General Synod met in Nadi, Fiji. Among the resolutions adopted was one which asks the church to begin a study of the nature of Christian marriage.

That study will also look at how the church could respond to requests from people in same-gender relationships who are seeking a church marriage.

Progress reports from that study will also feed into a formal commission created by the church which will look into the question of whether the church could, as it has on some occasions in the past, ordain people who are in committed same-gender relationships, and whether and how it might bless those relationships.

That work on the nature of marriage, together with the findings of the commission, will be reported to the next meeting of the General Synod, in 2014.