General Synod/Te Hinota Whanui has agreed to broaden this church’s official dialogue on Anglican and Methodist ordination.

On Tuesday Bishop Ross Bay (Auckland) moved that synod support this country’s Anglican-Methodist Dialogue Group in its study and conversation on interchangeability of Methodist and Anglican orders.

Synod passed the motion with an amendment from Dunedin’s Michael Wallace and Dean Lynda Patterson (Christchurch), which charged the dialogue group to work in closer contact with international and New Zealand ecumenical bodies.

 The dialogue will now draw on the expertise of the Inter Anglican Standing Committee on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO) and the Council for Ecumenism, as partners in the conversation.

Bishop Kelvin Wright (Dunedin) spoke in favour of the amendment, calling on synod to be mindful that priesthood is not only a matter of “doing” but exists as a state of “being” that cannot be owned by any individual, and is bestowed on them by the “one holy catholic and apostolic church.”

The motion requests that the Council for Ecumenism, in consultation with the Anglican-Methodist Dialogue Group, reports to General Synod in 2016.