Passing an NSManagedObjectContext
Ok, I think I've found an answer that I can appreciate. From Marcus Zarra's blog:


  A view controller typically shouldn’t retrieve the context from a
  global object such as the application delegate. This tends to make the
  application architecture rigid. Neither should a view controller
  typically create a context for its own use. This may mean that
  operations performed using the controller’s context aren’t registered
  with other contexts, so different view controllers will have different
  perspectives on the data.


source: http://www.cimgf.com/2011/01/07/passing-around-a-nsmanagedobjectcontext-on-the-iphone/

Look's like I'll go back to passing the managed object context via Segue.