About Church Clarity NZ

This website has been created and is curated by a small group of volunteers who believe in transparency about important issues. Church Clarity NZ documents the publicly stated positions of New Zealand churches on two topics: LGBTQ+ inclusion andwomen in leadership.

The church database has been created with the assistance of AI. While every effort is made to be as accurate as possible, we appreciate any feedback regarding specific church listings.

Our goal is not to advocate for any particular position, but to help people make informed decisions about faith communities by making these positions visible and easily searchable.

How We Score

Churches are scored across two dimensions. Each dimension has five possible ratings:

LGBTQ+ Position

• Clear Affirming— The church's own website explicitly states they are welcoming and affirming of LGBTQ+ people
• Unclear Affirming— Evidence suggests affirming (e.g. listed on an affirming directory) but the church's own website does not make this explicit
• Undisclosed— No public statement or evidence found on this topic
• Unclear Non-Affirming— Denominational affiliation or indirect evidence suggests a non-affirming position, but it is not explicitly stated on the church's own website
• Clear Non-Affirming— The church's own website explicitly states a non-affirming position toward LGBTQ+ people

Women in Leadership

• Clear Egalitarian— The church's own website clearly shows women in all leadership roles including senior pastor
• Unclear Egalitarian— Denominational policy supports women in leadership, but the individual church's website does not make this explicit
• Undisclosed— No public statement or evidence found
• Unclear Non-Egalitarian— Denominational tradition or indirect evidence suggests women are restricted from senior leadership roles
• Clear Non-Egalitarian— The church's own website explicitly restricts senior leadership to men

“Clear” vs “Unclear” — What's the Difference?

The key distinction is where the evidence comes from:

• “Clear” means the position is explicitly visible on the church's own website. A visitor to that specific church's site could find this information themselves.
• “Unclear” means we have inferred the position from external evidence — such as denominational belief statements, directory listings, or network affiliations — but a visitor to the local church's website would not easily find a clear statement.

For example, a denomination may have a published belief statement defining marriage as “between one man and one woman,” but this does not necessarily appear on the website of each local congregation. Since most visitors will only see the local church's website, we classify these churches as “Unclear Non-Affirming” rather than “Clear.”

If churches wish to advise us of their position, we can update the database — but email advice alone can only result in an “Unclear” rating. To obtain a “Clear” rating, the information should be publicly visible on the church's own website.

Methodology & Data Sources

This database contains information on approximately 1,860 churches across New Zealand. Positions are determined using multiple data sources, combined through an automated pipeline with manual verification:

1. Affirming Church Directories

Churches listed on the Diverse Church NZ affirming directory are classified as “Clear Affirming” if their own website contains explicit affirming language, or “Unclear Affirming” if the listing is the primary evidence.

2. Conservative Church Networks

Churches affiliated with CCAANZ (Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa New Zealand) or Presbyterian Affirm are classified as “Unclear Non-Affirming” based on their network's stated positions.

3. Website Scanning

Church websites are scanned for explicit keywords and belief statements related to LGBTQ+ inclusion and women in leadership. Churches where relevant keywords (such as “lgbtq,” “rainbow,” or “same-sex marriage”) are found on their own website receive a “Clear” classification.

4. Denominational Inference

Where a church has not made an explicit statement, we may infer an “Unclear” position based on their denomination's official stance. For example:

• Denominations with official marriage belief statements defining marriage as between one man and one woman (such as Assemblies of God, Brethren, Elim, Reformed, and Seventh-day Adventist) result in an “Unclear Non-Affirming” LGBTQ+ classification. Note: a traditional marriage statement implies but does not explicitly state a position on LGBTQ+ relationships, which is why this is “Unclear” rather than “Clear.”
• Denominations that formally ordain women (such as Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist) result in an “Unclear Egalitarian” classification — but individual congregations may differ in practice.
• Denominations that formally restrict ordination to men (such as Catholic, Brethren, and Reformed) result in an “Unclear Non-Egalitarian” classification.

We do not apply blanket rules to denominations with congregational polity (such as Baptists) or where there are known internal divisions on these topics, as individual churches within these groups may hold diverse views.

5. Undisclosed

Churches where no public information could be found — either because they have no website or because their website does not address these topics — are classified as “Undisclosed.”

Limitations

This database has been created with the assistance of AI-powered tools. While every effort is made to be accurate, some limitations apply:

• Church websites change over time — our data may not reflect the most recent updates
• Some churches have minimal or no web presence, making classification impossible
• Denominational positions do not always reflect individual congregation practices
• A traditional marriage statement does not necessarily indicate how a church treats LGBTQ+ individuals in practice

Contact

If you believe any information is inaccurate or would like your church's position updated, please email us at [email protected].

Church Clarity NZ is a project of the Diverse Church Charitable Trust. This site was inspired by churchclarity.org but has no organisational connections with churchclarity.org or the people behind it.