This article was first published in eMessenger in September 2020.
I have had a few queries lately about what it is the Methodist Alliance does and I thought it would be useful to go right back to basics and explain what the Methodist Alliance is, what it does and what it doesn’t.
The Methodist Alliance is the formal alliance and umbrella group for:
Methodist Missions
Methodist and Cooperating Venture/Union parishes who are engaged in social service or community work
Trusts and community based social services associated with a Methodist or Cooperating Venture/Union Church (with a Methodist component).
The Methodist Alliance replaces Methodist Mission Aotearoa (MMA). However its scope is wider than MMA as it incorporates parishes and they work they do.
Each Mission, Trust and Parish remains independent, with their own governing boards. However the Methodist Alliance provides the structure and support where members can work and cooperate together more intentionally on common issues. One way we are doing this is through the work of the five communities of practice. These are:
1. Building Stronger Communities – this creative, enthusiastic and energetic group is hard at work organising a video illustrating the five principles of community led development and showcasing these projects throughout Aotearoa. The facilitation by Margy Jean Malcolm from Inspiring Communities has helped shape and guide how this work is being done. It is hoped that the premiere of this video will be at Conference in November this year. It may not be a red carpet event, but it will be creative, inspiring and informative.
2. Children & Families – this passionate group recently held a wānanga for practitioners about how to bring Te Tiriti O Waitangi into their daily practice and the relationship with s7AA Oranga Tamariki Act. Robyn Pope, from Wesley Community Action, & Linda Dockrill, from Christchurch Methodist Mission, led this and it was well attended. Some of the collective learnings from this wānanga included:
We are all at different stages in this journey and can learn from each other.
There are challenges working with marginalised Māori who do not connect with their Iwi.
We have real strength in our Māori staff and their leadership.
How do we look at leadership and structures that encourage and support Māori voices?
It’s OK to be uncomfortable and challenged, that’s where the learning occurs.
As a national grouping there is room for us to voice our concerns and challenges to other institutions, including Oranga Tamariki.
3. Fundraisers & Communication Staff – this small hardworking group have drafted co-branding guidelines for members to use a Methodist Alliance tagline with their own logo. Co-branding is important as all the Missions have their own names: Lifewise in Auckland, Methodist City Action in Hamilton, Palmerston North Methodist Social Services, Wesley Community Action in Wellington, Christchurch Methodist Mission and Methodist Mission Southern in Dunedin. Members of the public don’t know that these organisation are connected and do not know some are Methodist. Some of the Government funders and officials I have spoken with do not realise that these are Methodist organisations. Parishes will also co-brand and if you can remember back to when we were able to fly on planes you will remember Air New Zealand talking about how they are a member of the Star Alliance – it is like that. This will raise the profile of all the work the Methodist Church is undertaking under many different logos and make the work undertaken by Methodists more visible.
4. Housing – with the housing crisis showing no signs of letting up, this group is sharing their knowledge and skills about the various projects that are underway around the country, like Christchurch Methodist Mission’s Guild Street development where 15 relocatable homes will be used for long-term social housing and an additional house will be a community house on the same site. You would have read about it in the August edition of Touchstone.
This community of practice has also drafted guidelines on how to set rental for social housing, and advice on interactions with people experiencing homelessness. Staff members who support people to find a home to live in and to sustain that tenancy, have been really busy before and during lockdown moving people living on the streets into motels and supporting them there. Lifewise and the Christchurch Methodist Mission lead the Housing First initiatives in Auckland and Christchurch, supporting people who have been long-term homeless. This is not easy work and it is often a long term commitment to ensure people have the knowledge, skills, strength and courage to live in a home that suits them and to address the complex issues which often keep their lives in chaos.
5. Te Amorangi Tangata – the cultural leads and Māori staff in our organisations are meeting via ZOOM, which they call Zui, to strengthen their bonds, share the various cultural practice frameworks and to plan a kanohi ki te kanohi hui which we hope will take place soon. It is very hard to plan when we don’t know when we can meet in person, but Zui are the next best thing. We thank Rev Dr Arapera Ngaha and Haehaetu Barrett for their leadership of this Community of Practice.
The Methodist Alliance celebrates the work done by the members and one way we do this is at our national forum which is held every second year. At the last forum which was held in Wellington in November 2019, a work group was formed to campaign for the increase in benefit & abatement rates. This group has collated background material, drafted media releases, wrote to potential collaborating partners, drafted questions for election meetings with candidates, and is collecting stories to get this message out there during the election campaign.
One of the myths out there is that the Methodist Alliance has pots of money to give away and every week I get requests for funding from a wide range of people. Sadly, the Methodist Alliance does not have pots of money to give away. The Methodist Alliance is a local donation manager for the Tindall Foundation who give us the responsibility of distributing an annual grant in accordance with their principles. This is a very limited resource and has strict criteria which we need to comply with as well as their reporting requirements.
The Methodist Alliance also administers some estate funds for the Methodist Church – Te Hāhi Weteriana. These funds come from bequests made by people with strong connections to the church who have set very strict criteria for what these funds can be use for. The estate funds are very small and distributions are only made every five to six years and are mainly for work undertaken by the Missions. We are thankful for our ancestors who have generously gifted this money to ensure that the most vulnerable in our society may have some of their needs met.
Members of the Methodist Alliance pay annual fees which funds our work and my salary. It is a very small budget and like most non-government organisations and not for profits, we run on the smell of an oily rag. There is no fat in our budget. I have looked for it and I got other people with more financial savvy to look too – they could not find any fat to trim either.
We make submissions to government and since the Methodist Alliance was formed by Conference in 2016, we have made submissions on:
Charities Act Reform
Child Poverty Reduction Bill
Child Wellbeing Strategy
Children, Young Persons & their Families (Oranga Tamariki) Bill
Reform of the Residential Tenancies Act
Residential Tenancies (Prohibiting Letting Fees) Amendment Bill
Welfare System
The work of the Methodist Alliance is overseen by a Steering Committee with Jill Hawkey as convenor. Other members of the Steering Committee are:
Rev Anne Preston, Christchurch North Parish
Rev Dr Arapera Ngaha, Te Taha Māori
David Hanna, Wesley Community Action
Kathleen Tuai-Ta’ufo’ou, Siaola, Vahefonua Tonga Methodist Mission Charitable Trust
Kim Penny, Palmerston North Methodist Mission
Marion Hines, Methodist Mission Northern, Airedale Property Trust, & Lifewise. Marion is also a member of Auckland Central Parish which is also a member of the Methodist Alliance
Jo Denvir, Lifewise
Olive Tanielu, Sinoti Samoa
Rev Peter Norman, Northcote Takapuna Parish
Rachael Masterton, Methodist Mission Southern. Rachael is also a member of Dunedin Parish which is also a member of the Methodist Alliance
The Steering Committee guides the direction of the Methodist Alliance and we meet quarterly usually on ZOOM, so we were all very practiced doing business this way even before the lockdown. I appreciate their attendance at meetings, their sage advice and their constant support.
COVID 19 has changed the way we work and how we interact, however the principles underlying what we do have remained constant. We are all striving to make Aotearoa a just and inclusive society in which all people flourish. I acknowledge and appreciate the increased and more difficult workload that people are working under during this time. The digital age meant that we could keep working, but it has not always been easy. Some people have managed to navigate their way through working from home to support the people they serve, and at the same time schooling their children. I have been impressed and thankful my children are adult!
If I have not answered those questions that you have been wanting to ask, or you would like more information about how you can support the Methodist Alliance please contact me.
Carol Barron, Methodist Alliance National Coordinator, Carol@MethodistAlliance.org.nz