RODNEY HIDE - Betraying the Lambs: The Methodist Church’s Dangerous Surrender on Sex and Safety

The Methodist Church of New Zealand has formally opposed the

Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill -- a modest

attempt to restore biological clarity to New Zealand law. In doing so,

it has abandoned its most basic pastoral duty: protecting the

vulnerable, especially girls and young women entrusted to its care.

This is not abstract theology. It is a direct threat to the safety and

modesty of daughters at church camps, youth events, changing rooms,

and overnight stays.

The Bill simply states what every previous generation understood: a

woman is an adult human female; a man is an adult human male. Opposing

this is not compassion -- it is the institutional erasure of sex-based

boundaries.

In the name of “inclusion” and “lived experience,” the Church now

treats biological reality as optional. A biological male who declares

a female identity must be affirmed and granted access to female

spaces. The girl who objects, or the parent who raises concern,

becomes the problem to be re-educated. This is not love. It is the

abandonment of the weak to the demands of the strong.

Church camps have long been places of spiritual formation, friendship,

and safety for young people. Girls have a fundamental right to privacy

and bodily modesty when changing, showering, or sleeping in shared

accommodation. That right is now subordinated to adult feelings. A

father or mother who says, “My daughter should not have to share

intimate spaces with a biological male” is cast as intolerant, while

the institution preaches about its progressive virtue.

True Christian love has never meant sacrificing the innocent on the

altar of inclusion. It has always included fierce protection of the

vulnerable. When the Church prioritises the validation of adult

identity over the physical and psychological safety of girls, it

inverts the Gospel. It becomes complicit in creating environments

where predators can exploit the new rules.

By rejecting objective biological definitions, the Church disarms

itself. Staff are effectively told they cannot question self-declared

identity without committing an act of “harm.” This naivety about human

brokenness is staggering for a denomination that once preached

rigorously on sin and the need for moral guardrails.

Bad actors exist. Opportunists exist. The Church’s policy framework

assumes perfect good faith from every claimant while stripping parents

and leaders of the language and authority to say “no.” That is not

hospitality. It is institutional recklessness.

Girls on church camp should never have to weigh their discomfort

against the risk of being labelled bigoted for wanting single-sex

spaces. Parents should not have to choose between trusting their

church and protecting their daughters.

The Methodist Church claims its stance flows from the Gospel of Jesus

Christ. Yet the historic Christian witness -- rooted in the clear

teaching of creation in Genesis and the embodied reality of the

Incarnation -- has always affirmed the goodness and objectivity of

male and female bodies. A Church that cannot define what a woman is

cannot credibly claim to protect women and girls.

Leadership must recover its senses. Restore biological clarity.

Reaffirm sex-based boundaries in all single-sex spaces, especially

those involving children. Prioritise the safety and modesty of the

young over the comfort of prevailing cultural ideology.

Until then, the Methodist Church of New Zealand is failing the very

lambs it is called to shepherd. Parents have every reason to think

twice before entrusting their daughters to its care in church camps or

in any private facility.

The sanctuary should never become a place of risk.

Rodney Hide is a former minister and ACT party leader