Religious institutions are facing increasing scrutiny, evolving legal obligations and growing expectations of governance, leadership and accountability. Join leading practitioners as they examine the key legal developments affecting faith-based organisations, including religious freedom, employment, governance and organisational risk. Designed for lawyers, trustees, board members, executives and leaders across religious and faith-based organisations. Gain the practical strategies you need to keep your orangisatons and clients safe.
Tuesday, 3 November 2026
11.30am to 12.25pm Church Governance, Revising Rules and Procedures and How to Stay Safe in Leadership
Charities Services now requires that all charities certify that their rules and procedures are “fit for purpose”.
- What to look for in a Church rules and procedures review
- How governenace play into this?
- Consider practical tips for Church advisers and leadership about the role of the Chair, the place for strategic thinking and how this all might be different for religious organisations
Presented by Steven Moe, Partner, ParryFields Lawyers; Author, the Start-ups Legal Toolkit, Social Enterprises in New Zealand; Capital Raising for Founders; 2024 NZ Lawyer’s Most Influential Lawyers Changemaker Award
12.25pm to 1.15pm Called to Serve, Employed to Work? Employment Status, Employer Identity and Good Process in Faith-based Organisations
Faith-based organisations often describe ministry as a calling, but employment law asks what the relationship is in substance and who carries its obligations.
- Case Study: Using the recent Bread of Life v Chen and Gloriavale decisions you will examine:
- when pastors, ministers and volunteers may be employees
- how to locate the employer among trusts, boards, committees and denominational bodies
- and how governance rules affect appointment, discipline and dismissal
- Practical steps for investigations and dispute management in this context
Presented by Mark Donovan, Barrister, Mark Donovan Barrister; Certified workplace investigator (AWI-CH)
Learning Objectives:
- Navigate the issues of abuse in care, redress and safeguarding obligations for Religious Institutions
- Understand religious freedom and the concepts included in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act
- Gain a practical understanding of using contract law to help solve “church” property disputes
- Examine the employment law issues particulary encountered in faith-based organisations
Chair:
Alex Penk, CEO, Ethos Alliance
10.30am to 11.15am Religious Freedom and the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act: What Faith-Based Organisations Need to Know
Presented by Grant Illingworth KC, Grant Maxwell Illingworth
11.15am to 11.30am Break
9.45am to 10.30am Using Contract Law to Help Solve “Church” Property Disputes
Church disputes can quickly escalate into disagreements involving governance, leadership, membership rights and control of organisational assets.
- Explore how New Zealand courts approach church property disputes, the role of constitutions and governing rules,
- Navigate how contract law principles can assist organisations in resolving conflict and reducing legal risk
Presented by Dr Richard Pidgeon, Barrister & Solicitor, Integritas Law Firm; Author, Laws of New Zealand Religion and Religious Institutions
Description
Attend and earn 4 CPD hours
9.00am to 9.45am Abuse in Care, Redress and Safeguarding Obligations for Religious Institutions
Presented by Judith Bullin, Partner, ParryFields Lawyers; Chair, Stepping Stone Trust
Presenters
Mark Donovan, Barrister, Mark Donovan Barrister
Mark is an Auckland barrister specialising in employment law. He holds BA and LLB(Hons) degrees from the University of Auckland and is an Association of Workplace Investigators Certificate Holder (AWI-CH). Mark began his career at Buddle Findlay before establishing his practice at the independent bar in 2009. He represents employers and employees in mediation, the Employment Relations Authority and the Employment Court, and conducts independent workplace investigations.
Judith Bullin, Partner, ParryFields Lawyers; Chair, Stepping Stone Trust
Judith is Partner at Parry Field Lawyers, She enjoys advising on a wide range of matters in a timely and pragmatic manner, but specialises in subdivisions, right from advising on the acquisition of land through development to the sale process. Judith also regularly assists clients in relation to many other commercial matters including leasing, commercial property acquisitions, business acquisitions and commercial agreements. She provides private clients with guidance in relation to asset structuring, succession planning and trusts. Taking the time to understand a client and their business is important to Judith, as is helping clients find practical and effective solutions.
Grant Illingworth KC, Grant Maxwell Illingworth
Grant Illingworth KC has practised as a barrister for over 50 years. He has appeared at every level of the New Zealand legal system and has a deep interest in fundamental rights and freedoms, including: Freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief, including the right to adopt and hold opinions without interference; Freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and opinions of any kind in any form; The right to manifest a person’s religion or belief in worship, observance, practice, or teaching, either individually or in community with others, and either in public or in private.
Alex Penk, CEO,
Steven Moe. Partner, ParryField Lawyers
Steven Moe has a focus on “for purpose” organisations and is a Partner at Parry Field Lawyers which has 100 staff across 5 offices and a focus on impact. He is the Chair of the Community Housing Funding Agency which has raised $550 million for social housing, is on the Charities Services sector group, the XRB Advisory Panel and has worked as a lawyer for 25 years including 11 years overseas based in Tokyo, London and Sydney, and since 2016 has been based back in New Zealand. Steven hosts seeds podcast which has a focus on people doing inspiring things which has 500+ episodes and another on governance for the Institute of Directors called Board Matters.
Dr Richard Pidgeon, Solicitor, Integritas Law Firm
Dr Richard Pidgeon is a solicitor practising at a boutique general practice, Integritas Law Firm in central Auckland. He had a PhD conferred in 2022 by AUT for his thesis “Using Contract Law to Help Solve Church Property Disputes” and is the editor of Laws of New Zealand text Religion and Religious Institutions. The key case in Richard’s thesis was Matamu v Si’itia [2018] 348 which was an early direct antipodean confirmation of Shergill v Khaira [2014] UKSC 33. He was admitted in 1998 and began practice at Dyer Whitechurch and Bhanabhai as a civil litigator and became the legal advisor to the Auckland and North Shore Presbyteries from that time until 2016. He is an elder at Forrest Hill Presbyterian Church, Auckland. Richard combined starting Sinisa Pidgeon Law in Otahuhu and study at Auckland University for a Master of Commercial Law (hons)(2005) which practice involved peripheral work in Palu v Conference of the Methodist Church (2003) then Fortune Manning which involved work on the Samoan Assemblies of God Schism. From Thorne, Thorne, White and Clark-Walker with its strong Congregational Church connections to partnership in Pidgeon Law, Richard became a barrister in 2014 and joined Integritas in 2025.
