Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia | |
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Classification | Anglican |
Polity | Episcopal |
Archbishops |
vacant (Aotearoa) Philip Richardson (New Zealand) Winston Halapua (Polynesia) |
Region | New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the Cook Islands |
Headquarters | Wellington, New Zealand |
Branched from | Church of England |
Members | c. 580,642 |
Other name(s) | Church of the Province of New Zealand |
Official website | anglican |
The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, formerly the Church of the Province of New Zealand, is a province of the Anglican Communion serving New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the Cook Islands. Since 1992, the church has consisted of three tikanga or cultural streams: Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia. The church's constitution says that, among other things, it is required to "maintain the right of every person to choose any particular cultural expression of the faith". As a result, the church's General Synod has agreed upon the development of the three-person primacy based on this three tikanga system. The church has three primates (leaders), each representing a tikanga, who share authority.
The Anglican Church is an apostolic church, tracing its bishops back to the apostles via holy orders. The Book of Common Prayer (BCP) and its companion, A New Zealand Prayer Book (ANZPB), containing traditional rites, blessings and liturgies, are central to the church's worship. Since the 1960s and 1970s, the church has pursued a decidedly more liberal course and is LGBT-affirming.
The church has decided that three bishops shall share the position and style of archbishop, each representing one of the three tikanga. The three archbishops sharing the title of Archbishop of New Zealand are: one vacancy (following the death of Brown Turei, Bishop of Aotearoa) for the head of Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa which oversees churches for the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand; Philip Richardson, Bishop of Taranaki, representing the dioceses in New Zealand; and Winston Halapua, Bishop of Polynesia.