Fast forward a decade: What role should St John’s College play in shaping the church’s leaders then?

That was the theme of the 2011 Te Kotahitanga Forum, which was held last week at Te Manukanuka o Hoturoa, the new marae at Auckland airport.

About 50 Anglicans – most of whom are involved in theological education or ministry formation – gathered there for two days to brainstorm about the future of St John’s.

The forum delegates weren’t mandated or required to come to any hard and fast decisions.

This was a free-wheeling “consultation”, facilitated by the Rev Caroline Leys, which met the obligation Te Kotahitanga has to consult, every two years, with tikanga ministry boards about theological education.

Nonetheless, it was more than just a ticking-the-boxes exercise.

Specifically, it was the first chance – in the wake of the moves General Synod made about the college last year – for key people to tell Te Kotahitanga what they want from the college.

Moreover, Te Kotahitanga will draw from what it heard to draft new legislation about St John’s. That draft legislation will be tabled at the 2012 General Synod, and it will replace those parts of the college canon that were suspended last year.

The keynote speaker at the forum was Archbishop Roger Herft, the Archbishop of Perth and Metropolitan of the Province of Western Australia.

Archbishop Herrft, who was Bishop of Waikato from 1986 to 1993, and who still has close ties with Aotearoa New Zealand, reflected on the nature of leadership in the church.

After his addressthe forum moved into a rhythm of presentations from each of the three tikanga. These were followed by caucus discussions of those presentations, and then reports back to plenary forum sessions.

And that round was repeated a fourth time: the Tikanga Toru Youth Commission was invited to say what they’d like to see from St John’s.

So what were some of the themes that emerged?

Well, the forum heard that Tikanga Pasefika has a high view of the college – as a place that equips leaders for the whole of Polynesia. We heard again of the new emphasis that Tikanga Polynesia is placing on youth ministry and youth leadership.

From Tikanga Maori we heard an analysis of the pros and cons of various models for organising St John’s College.

For example, the Tikanga Maori paper presented by Rangi Nicholson looks at a “one plus three” model (three independent tikanga societies with St John’s College taking care of common life and the Anglican Studies Programme), and a “two against one” bi-national model (which, taking its lead from Te Tiriti o Waitangi, treats the College of the Southern Cross and the College of the Diocese of Polynesia as one society).

A fourth “science and faith” model suggests that further research is needed on how best the college is shaped.

And that hedging of bets – they didn’t opt for one model over another –might be evidence, according to one of the more experienced Maori delegates at the forum, “that Tikanga Maori isn’t clear itself what it really wants.”

The Tikanga Pakeha delegates seemed more certain.

They acknowledge that while only 17 percent of the deacons ordained this year will have been trained at St John’s, it has a unique contribution to make as a school (delivering excellence in theological education) as a seminary (for ministry formation) and as a centre for bicultural learning.

Interestingly enough, it was Tikanga Pakeha – and not Tikanga Maori – who were the ones who proposed that the St John’s College of 2020 should include a marae.

That isn’t a new idea, says Bishop Kito Pikaahu, the Chairman of Te Kotahitanga.

But he’s intrigued that Tikanga Pakeha are the ones who are lobbying for it now.

“The Tikanga Pakeha people are wanting their students to be formed by their experience at SJC as three tikanga. They clearly believe they can’t get that anywhere else – unless they go to a taapapa.”

Some would also see it as a vivid illustration of the fact that despite the Maori renaissance, Pakeha and Maori New Zealanders still lead their lives on parallel tracks.

There’s not much danger that New Zealanders of European descent will ever taste that other Kiwi reality, either – unless a St John's-type experience comes their way.

Tikanga Pakeha also made it plain that they want St John’s to reach wider into the Anglican community.

They’re proposing that the college develop block courses, which non-residential students could tackle in short-stay bursts. And they’d also like to see a new on-site accommodation block built specially to house these extramural students.

And the young people? What do they want from St John’s College?

Well, they introduced their presentation with a whizz-bang videothat graphically demonstrates the ever-accelerating rate of change facing the world.

They pointed out that there’s a big difference between St John’s College being relevant for the church as it isand St John’s being relevant for the church as it needs to become.

They reiterated the need for St John’s to support young people as leaders in mission, to train leaders who are equipped to lead through ongoing change.

But their great hope, they said, was that St John’s would place a high value on children, young people and family ministries.

And worthy as that great hope may be, some felt that their presentation had started with a bang, but ended with a whimper.

“They looked,” said one observer, “as though they were heading out into deeper water – and then they turned around and rowed back to shore.

“They’d vividly demonstrated the explosion of change we’re facing – and then proposed something that’s an old model. I’d liked to have heard something more challenging.”

The formal presentations weren’t the only source of ideas, of course.

We heard an acknowledgement in one session of how well Otago University is educating and preparing students enrolled in its Department of Theology and Religious Studies courses.

The question left hanging after that observation was surely: in the light of that excellence, what’s the raison-d’être for St John’s College?

A number of speakers also made reference to how well Bishopdale Theological College (Nelson diocese’s own college) is progressing with its “action-reflection” model of learning.

What wasn’t acknowledged, however, is that other schools within the Anglican orbit – the taapapa, for starters – have always operated with that “action-reflection” model. So the accolades for Bishopdale could just have been an appreciation of its conservative stance.

A further intriguing suggestion was that St John’s College could become an entirely Tikanga Maori site – and that they become hosts to all students.

So: where to from here?

“The real challenge for Te Kotahitanga now, “ says Bishop Kito, “is to make sense of what we heard. We need to interpret accurately and adequately the data that we received at the forum.”

Bishop Kito says that task – plus talking to the gathered bishops and the college staff about the future of St John’s – will be “the foundation of our work” for the coming months.

“We’ve got to have this sorted,” he says, “by the end of the year in time to prepare legislation to take to the next General Synod.”

“We’ve got to put a lot of energy into it.

“And we’ve got to get it right.”