The Diocese of Nelson hopes to build a visitors' centre in its cathedral and needs to look at creating churches on the internet and in cafes to ensure its future, says the Bishop of Nelson.

The Rt Rev Richard Ellena spoke on Thursday of his ideas at the Anglican Diocese of Nelson Synod, and also told the Nelson Mail of plans for a new development at the cathedral.

He said that while Nelson had the second-most-visited cathedral in New Zealand after Christchurch, it lacked a visitors' centre where people could gather for information, company or simply "a cup of tea".

The project was still in its early stages and no fundraising plan had been formed, but the cathedral was working with iwi on its plans and hoped to be in a position to launch the project early next year.

Bishop Ellena said a visitors' centre would meet the needs of tourists and would also provide a space outside the main building for the community to use.

In his address, Bishop Ellena urged the clergy and church representatives to be creative in addressing a decline in congregation numbers.

The diocese's annual report showed there were 2265 active parish families in 2007, down from 4395 in 2006.

The diocese stretches from Greymouth to Kaikoura.

The annual synod, which saw 100 clergy and representatives gather in Nelson, finished on Friday.

Bishop Ellena said that while the situation of declining numbers was not critical, the church needed to come up with new ways to take its responsibility to grow God's kingdom seriously.

He gave the synod examples from England, where one ministry had opened a cafe that was a church, while another church's changes included opening for coffee after nightclubs closed.

Bishop Ellena said concepts such as a "cyberchurch" on the Internet, or a cafe church, could be formed in an existing community. Forms of worship relevant to that environment could then be developed.

Full story:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/nelsonmail/4706785a6510.html

Like all birthdays worth celebrating, Nelson marked its 150th with crowds, cake, drama and music.

However, unlike most, this sesquicentennial at 1903 Square on Saturday will last eight months, marking the time between when Queen Victoria deemed Nelson to be a city and the first bishop being installed in Nelson on April 28, 1859.

Even 150 years on, Anglican Bishop Richard Ellena was heard to tease Mayor Kerry Marshall at the weekend's celebrations that if it wasn't for him, the mayor would be governing a small provincial town.

Nelson was one of the first declared cities in New Zealand. Although it only had a population of 5000 people in 1858, there was a provincial push for it to get its own bishop and once the town gained permission from Queen Victoria to establish a cathedral, it was able to claim city status.

Full story:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelsonmail/4709822a6007.html