This website is best viewed with CSS and JavaScript enabled.

Home > new zealand

News Stories


new zealand

New Zealand's only Anglican friary to close

After almost 50 years in New Zealand, the Anglican Franciscan brothers at the Friary of the Divine Compassion have decided they need to close.

08 June 2016

Debate continues on Confirmation in New Zealand

The traditional Anglican initiation rite of Confirmation has “lost its pivotal role” for many Anglican churches in New Zealand, a report to the province's General Synod said.

26 May 2016

Anglican-Methodist ministry exchange delayed

Moves towards the mutual recognition and acceptance of Anglican and Methodist ministers in New Zealand have been delayed by at least two years after the Province’s General Synod heard that their Council for Ecumenism had not considered a report from the Anglican-Methodist Dialogue Group.

19 May 2016

Reaping the benefits of Anglican - Roman Catholic talks

About 23 years ago, says Archbishop David Moxon, formerly of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, he and the local Roman Catholic bishop made an agreement that still makes him feel hopeful. The two church heads decided to share the rite of imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday – a tradition that continues in New Zealand today.

16 May 2016

NZ Anglicans commit to equal gender representation

The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia has decided to press for equal gender representation in its highest decision-making bodies. Archdeacon Mere Wallace moved a General Synod motion that sets the Province on track to meet the UNCSW goal of 50:50 gender representation.

13 May 2016

New Zealand postpones decision on same-sex blessings

The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia has postponed a decision on whether or not to permit the blessing of same sex marriages until 2018. The proposal had been made by the Church’s “Way Forward” group which had been established by it’s 2014 General Synod.

12 May 2016

Church to develop disaster strategy as Pacific islands disappear

The Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia is to establish a “clear resilience strategy” to strengthen its response to future natural disasters in the pacific islands; as researchers announced that five Pacific islands have completely disappeared as a result of rising sea levels.

11 May 2016

New Zealand debates "Way Forward" on same-sex relationships

The week-long biennial meeting of the General Synod of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia gets underway tomorrow (Friday) and amongst the items for debate is the report by the “Way Forward Working Group” on the blessing of same-sex marriages.

05 May 2016

Easter Message from Archbishop Winston Halapua

Archbishops Brown Turei, Bishop of Aotearoa; and Philip Richardson, senior bishop of the New Zealand dioceses, asked Archbishop Winston Halapua, Bishop of Polynesia, to prepare an Easter message to the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, on their behalf.

25 March 2016

"An ordeal of the most grievous kind" - Fiji cyclone update

The Missions Board of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand & Polynesia (AMB) and the Diocese of Polynesia are formulating the next stages of their response to the destruction wreaked by Cyclone Winston on Fiji and Tonga. Archbishop Winston Halapua spent two days last week visiting some of the most remote Anglican communities on Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu. 

14 March 2016