Congress is over, and my overall sense, confirmed by comments from many others, is that people found the time spent to have been worthwhile.  We will be asking a broad spectrum of leaders for detailed feedback, but in the meantime, here are my initial reflections.

5^th Congress (3-6 March 2008) - Initial Evaluation

by Glyn Carpenter, 9^th March 2008

Congress theme: "One Faith, One Head, One Voice"

Overview / Structure

Congress consists of (a) the Congress event, (b) the Congress book, and (c) follow-up work.

(a) The Congress event. 215 delegates met at Congress for all or part of the time between 4.00pm Monday 3^rd and noon Thursday 6^th March.  Flight disruptions on the first 2 days and major road works on the last 2 days necessitated a hasty re-organising of transport between the airport and Waikanae.  Otherwise, things went generally as planned.

The event itself was structured into a number of Full and Small group sessions:

Full group:

• - 3 Bible studies ("One Voice", Leadership, and Environment)
• - 6 plenary sessions (Community ministries, Discipling a New Generation, Biblical Economics and Finance, Strengthening Kiwi Families, Missions for the 21^st Century, "Christians, Crime, and Punishment"
• - 2 special focus evenings (Youth Showcase and Politicians night)

Small group:

• - 7 streams - parallel sessions, approximately 3-4 hours presentation and conversation, on City Church, Discipling, Biblical Economics, Environment, Missions, Crime and Punishment, Families - as above)
• - 13 workshops - 1hour presentations (options included topics above plus Mission through Arts&Sports, Nationhood - What it Means to Iwi, Christians and Politics, Interfaith, Disabilities, Emergent Church, Faith in the Marketplace, Intercession, and NZ Statistics)
• - there was a time given for some of the workshop presenters and stream leaders to make a brief comments to the full group

There were also times of corporate worship and prayer, and of course the very important aspect of communal living and eating.

(b) The Congress book, with 25 chapters covering a wide range of topics of relevance to the Church and wider New Zealand society, was described at Congress by Rob Yule (former Presbyterian moderator) as "the best yet". There will be little disagreement that it truly is a quality world-class publication, and should be read by everyone in a position of leadership in the Church.  Rob's suggestion that people provide a copy to their local library has obvious benefits.  Congratulations are due to all the contributors and the editing team.

(c) Follow-up work.  Many important conversations were begun or advanced at the Congress event and in the book.  Progressing these further through meetings and web-based discussions will be a significant focus of Vision Network's activity between now and the next Congress.

Highlights

From conversation with a number of delegates it seems that the major highlights were:

• - Just being together. The joy of just being together, meeting old friends, and making new ones, was evident. There is clearly great value in building this basis of relationship in terms of Christian unity
• - The diligence and professionalism of the Congress team (sound technicians, music leader, musicians, MC, helpers), and especially the event co-ordinator, who handled the travel disruptions mentioned above as well as general administration with great skill
• - The Congress book. This will be a valuable resource for many years to come
• - The "real-ness" in the sessions. Some of the stream discussions got into emotionally-charged areas. The Christian parties discussion in particular revealed some very raw emotions. Ad hoc comments from delegates indicate these were generally handled with sensitivity and wisdom. This "real-ness" extended to comments raised in a full-group session about why "internally focused (bonding)" optional sessions were better attended that "externally focused (bridging)" sessions.
• - The encouragement, demonstrated by all delegates standing in support, for those working especially in the areas of the environment, criminal justice, arts and sports
• - The variety of perspectives on different issues. These are always interesting, and Congress provides a special opportunity to hear these and seek areas of greater agreement
• - The calibre of the presentations. This was hardly surprising given that they were made by some of New Zealand's top Christian leaders and experts on particular topics
• - The Youth Showcase, which involved - and had input from - a broad range of youth leaders. As a first-time effort to showcase Christian Youth, they demonstrated great zeal and passion and energy for the Kingdom
• - (and for me personally) the joy of singing together - especially the national prayer/anthem before the politicians sessions

Areas for future consideration:

• - The Congress programme was too "busy". There needs to be more gaps in the programme for structured and informal conversation. (NB - The challenge here is that this is the general view immediately after a Congress, but as the next Congress draws near, people seem to expect a full programme. If we could commit to the idea and value of Congress itself, this would free up pressure on the programme).
• - Not all streams of the Church were as well represented as they might have been. This may relate to the challenge of communicating the purpose or potential of Congress. While Vision Network is the host of the event, I think there is an opportunity for Congress to be adopted as an event for senior leaders across the spectrum. There are many areas where it is possible for the Church to come closer together, and the environment of Congress makes it one event in the Church calendar which can play a part of this process.
• - At the end of the 4^th Congress in 2005, the need for more women, youth, and ethnic leaders was raised. We did request assistance from those who raised the matter as well as national Church leaders but the situation was little changed this time round. The one exception was in the Youth area where we were able to use our own contacts to organise a Youth Showcase evening. Unfortunately, this evening was not well supported, and the leaders who raised the importance of this back in 2005 were not even at the Congress.
• - The cost aspect of Congress will be reviewed, but there may be little that can be done in this area. When the organisers' time is taken into account, Congress runs close to a balanced budget, and meal and accommodation costs are part of creating the "community aspect" of Congress.
• - A large number of delegates were unable or unwilling to be at Congress for the whole time. This makes the building of relationships more difficult, which is one of the key outcomes of Congress. If leaders believe Congress has a value in the Church calendar, we will need to think about how we can more people be present for the whole time.

Conclusion.

The theme of Congress was "One Faith, One Head, One Voice".  While Congress did not produce a single position statement on any one topic, a wide range of views was heard, and my sense was that people were genuinely engaging with each other and seeing the value of each others' positions.

As we continue the work started at this Congress, I hope we will see statements from a number of the areas covered at Congress which will gain widespread support from the Church.

- Glyn Carpenter, 9^th March 2008

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