The Nature of New Zealand Methodism

Te Hahi Weteriana claims and cherishes its place in the Holy Catholic Church which is the Body of Christ. It rejoices in the inheritance of the apostolic faith and accepts the fundamental principles of the historic creeds and of the Protestant Reformation. Its doctrines are based on God's self-revelation as recorded in the Old and New Testaments, and focus on Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. While these doctrines are shared with other Christians, Methodism particularly emphasises both personal spirituality and a concern for social action as responses to the gospel. Tradition, stemming from the ongoing life of the Church, contributes to the understanding of faith and practice, but this needs continual reconsideration in the light of Scripture. The doctrines on which the preachers and teachers of the Methodist Church, both ordained and lay, are pledged to base their teaching, are contained in Wesley's Notes on the New Testament and in the first four volumes of his Sermons. Under its constitution the Conference has no power `to revoke, alter or change in any doctrines of the Church' as contained in these documents. Conference, however, is the final authority within the Methodist Church on all questions concerning the interpretation of its doctrines.

The Methodist Church welcomes into membership all who sincerely express their faith in Jesus Christ, who give evidence of that in their daily living, who seek to have fellowship with Christ and his people, and who are prepared to take up the duties and privileges of the Methodist Church under its discipline. The Methodist Church holds the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, giving it new expression in the phrase `every member a minister.'

In the exercise of its corporate life and worship, the church authorises some persons to carry out specific tasks of leadership, proclamation, and caring, and examines, tests, and approves these persons before authorising them. For the sake of church order, presbyters are set apart by ordination to the ministry of the word and sacraments, and deacons to special ministries shaped by the communities they serve. The Methodist Church holds that the ministries of presbyter and deacon depend upon the call of God, are vocations accepted from God, who bestows the gifts, graces, and fruits of the Spirit. Those whom the Church recognises as called of God are received into the presbyterate or diaconate by ordination and by the laying-on of hands, thus expressing the Church's seal on that call.

The governing body of the Methodist Church is the Annual Conference. Its decisions are final and binding upon both the ordained and lay members of the Church. Within the Methodist Church, its Conference and its subsidiary courts, presbyters, deacons, and laypersons together possess certain powers and privileges, as set out in the Laws and Regulations, including the exercise of discipline. These powers and privileges are exercised at every stage under the judgement of God. Presbyters, deacons are responsible to God as they seek to interpret the mind and will of God in every situation.