Evangelists street preaching, playing music, holding indoor events and distributing leaflets should be aware of the role of local councils.
Local councils make bylaws to address nuisance, protect public health and safety, and to minimise the risk of bad behaviour in public places, and they are empowered to enforce them. Some bylaws set rules about the activities allowed to occur in public areas.
Local councils are bound by the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act when making decisions. When approving use of public spaces or enforcing bylaws, the council and its staff must consider rights to freedom of expression, manifestation of religion, and freedom of assembly. These rights may be limited, but councils must carefully weigh any reasons why a limit may be necessary in the circumstances.
What should an evangelist know about powers of local authorities?
There is no single approach that applies everywhere. Evangelists should check the rules for the areas in which they wish to work by calling the local council or checking its website.
Local rules may require an evangelist to obtain approval for some activities such as events, busking, markets or parades by applying for a permit or licence.
Where approval is granted, evangelists must comply with all approval conditions, including any bespoke requirements to address special risks related to the location such as requirements to reduce health and safety risks. Where approval is required but not obtained there may be a breach of a bylaw. Where a bylaw is breached the council can take enforcement action including issuing warnings, seizing property and in some cases prosecution.
Councils are often the legal occupier of public land and hold power under the Trespass Act to issue warnings or formal trespass notices if there is bad behaviour on or around public land. A trespass notice can require a person to stay away from a property for up to two years.
Councils also enforce noise rules and may take enforcement action where noise is unreasonable or excessive. Noise enforcement may include seizing property involved in the commission of an offence or issuing an infringement notice.
How might powers of local authorities apply to evangelists?
Scenario - approval for an event
A church wants to hold a free public event on a reserve in central Auckland between 7 pm and 10 pm on a Saturday night in January. There will be a stage, musicians (including amplified equipment) and a guest speaker from Australia who wishes to preach the gospel. In Australia, the same speaker held similar events in public parks where 5,000 people attended, blocking roadways.
In this scenario early engagement with the council and Auckland Transport is crucial to manage the range of issues which might arise from this large event. The details council and Auckland Transport may need to consider include health and safety, how entry to the event and parking will be managed, the topics the speaker plans to address, if there were problems when similar events were held in Australia and whether there is a likelihood of damage to the park. Depending on the assessment of all the impacts there might be conditions associated with approval, payment of fees and bonds and event monitoring by council staff.
Disclaimer: This information sheet is produced for general purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice or advice of any other kind and should not be relied on as such.
The information sheet summarises material in Evangelism: Legal Guidelines, a resource to inform evangelists about the laws likely to affect public ministry. If this topic is relevant to your ministry, we recommend reading the relevant section in the full guidelines, which are available here.
If you are involved in evangelism and have a question that our guidelines don’t answer, feel free to get in touch by emailing contact@ethosalliance.nz.
