Commoners CPF Decisions

Kia ora koutou,

After consultation with the congregation of Commoners and the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, it has been decided that the presentation of a valid vaccine certificate will be required for entrance into our Sunday services in accordance with government guidelines.

As a faith community we have always approached the various restrictions as a health response to the pandemic. This has guided our decisions and will continue to do so. We are satisfied that government authorities, guided by health experts, have done their utmost to work for the good of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Underpinning our decisions are our Commoners values of worship, simplicity, hospitality, and mission. Alongside this we have used the lenses of pragmatism, theology, biblical examination, and pastoral concern. In weighing theological, biblical, pastoral, and pragmatic considerations we have listened to the voice of Commoners as a community. There was a clear call for the leadership of the church to make decisions in a way that protects our vulnerable people – our elderly, those who are immune compromised, and our children.

We recognise that in the shifting nature of the pandemic, plans could change at any time as official information changes, and as we continue to assess what is best in our particular context.

COVID Protection Framework / traffic light system

Commoners will require vaccine certificates at our main Sunday gathering at all stages in the COVID Protection Framework (Green, Orange, and Red). With the use of vaccine certificates, at our current numbers we can physically meet in accordance with government guidelines at all stages (Green, Orange, and Red).

Presentation of a vaccine certificate will be compulsory for physical entry to the main Sunday gathering. Sign in will also be mandatory via use of the contact tracer app or using the available sign-in register. This will ease the work of any contact tracing if it is required. Masks are optional at Green but will be required at Orange and Red (unless there is a medical exemption). At Orange and Red we will use individual communion servings. At Red we will be mindful of 1 metre social distancing.

Online Services and Holy Communion

We will be improving our online services for Sunday in order to better support people who are engaging online. Because we use Zoom, if you would have genuinely planned to visit us, please get in touch to let us know you wish to attend and we will supply a link. We trust in good faith that you would be asking because you would have been with us in person if you were able to be.

Online pastoral catch-ups are available for those who are normally a part of Commoners and may be isolating for any reason. Our liturgy also reflects the unity (the communion of saints) between those who are physically present and those who are not. We see these measures as working to include all in our community, particularly those who cannot be physically present.

We offer pastoral visits to those who would normally be with us who cannot attend a Sunday service (and who are not in self-isolation) so that they can receive Holy Communion. We have always expressed that the taking of Holy Communion is an act of unity – unity with those who are physically gathered, unity with the historical Church through the ages, unity with the body of Christ present around the world, and unity with the Church of the future. That meal unites us with all followers of Christ at all times, everywhere, whether we are physically together or not.

Reflections on this process

The Servant Leadership Team of Commoners is aware that there will be those who disagree with our response to Covid and our decisions as outlined above. We acknowledge the pain any decisions regarding meeting together and upholding health guidelines are causing for many people and faith communities. These are not decisions we envisaged having to make when we began Commoners! That said, pandemics, plagues, and restrictions on services are not unprecedented events in the history of the Church.

What we wish to subvert and counter is any sense that our decision-making contributes towards a “second-class citizenship” within the Church. Changes for Commoners will mostly impact possible visitors. Nevertheless, we take up the challenge Paul presents about the nature of the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12:22-26. Where wider society might see those who cannot be physically present as being somehow of lower status than others, the challenge exists for the Church to go out of its way to give special honour to those parts of the body. For this reason we have made decisions around ways people can feel included at the table and united with us, even if they are unable to be physically present with us on Sunday morning.

No matter what choices individuals make and have made, we aim to live into Paul’s vision of the Church in 1 Corinthians 12 in every way we can, rather than being shaped into the rhetoric of divisions swirling around us. Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, gentleness, and self-control are what we wish to embody as individuals and as a community.

We recognise the tensions between the desire within our Commoners DNA for a physically open table in our Sunday gatherings, and the need to protect our vulnerable members. As we take on the guidance of medical and scientific experts, we need to weigh those tensions. We emphasise that there is no right or wrong answer here, there is only what we determine to be best as we seek to humbly walk with God and to honour each other. It is our aim that our decisions reflect the words of the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15:28 ‘It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…’ We mirror the humility of those words.

He maha ngaa manaaki,
Rev. Frank Ritchie

For some of the information that has informed our thinking, please see this paper compiled by a group of ministers from the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, and others.

For more official detail on each setting in most aspects of life under the Covid Protection Framework (traffic lights) see here.