WHO WE ARE
We exist to facilitate opportunities for Māori to explore being authentically Māori and authentically Christian. We are the official Aotearoa entity in partnership with NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community, and desire to support tangata whenua and tangata tiriti to engage with formal theological, intercultural and community development education. We also co-create and facilitate a wider community of interest which focusses on ongoing theological learning through the creation of online and physical resources, hui, wānanga and community gatherings.
Vision
For Māori to be authentically Māori and authentically Christian
Mission
To support tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti in Aotearoa who wish to engage with theological education through partnership with NAIITS: An indigenous learning community;
To provide education through the facilitation of a community of interest which focuses on ongoing theological learning and understanding.
Our Whakapapa
From the late 1970’s through to the early 2000’s Māori from around Aotearoa with a faith in Jesus hosted gatherings which were non-denominational, inter-generational and which facilitated contexts that encouraged the exploration and celebration of their shared faith in Jesus Christ, within the context of Māori identity and culture.
Simply named Hui Karaiti, these gatherings operated largely outside the priorities and contexts of mainstream churches in New Zealand. The environment and relationships nurtured through Hui Karaiti birthed generations of leadership and were an encouragement to many who went on to create new and innovative expressions of faith outworked in their cultural and local contexts. The World Christian Gathering on Indigenous Peoples (WCGIP) is one such example.
Founded in 1996 by Monte and Linda Ohia, and supported by indigenous Christian leaders from a multitude of nations, the WCGIP inspired generations of indigenous people around the world to experience the freedom of worshipping Creator God within our God-given languages and cultural expressions. The inaugural WCGIP was held in Rotorua in 1996 and it was at this gathering that the indigenous representatives from North America birthed the vision of NAIITS. The connections between the participants and faith communities involved remain strong to this day.
These historical movements were an outworking of God amongst our people and in this land and we believe that God is again, doing a new thing. At a hui held in October 2019 over 50 Māori Christians from around Aotearoa gathered once again. The same heartfelt, collective desire to be authentically Māori and Christian was again affirmed, but with a point of difference. This time, the specific focus was for the establishment of a Māori led pathway that would enable and prioritise for Māori to undertake theological education as Māori in Aotearoa and to do this in partnership with NAIITS – An Indigenous Learning Community.
Thus, Ngā Wai Hōhonu was created to help facilitate the realisation of this dream.
Critical aspects of these historical movements which make them distinct from other initiatives, has been their rootedness in a collective pan-iwi, pan-denomination Māori voice and like-mindedness – distinctions which will continue to shape, focus and drive the Ngā Wai Hōhonu kaupapa. Our name Ngā Wai Hōhonu was gifted to us by the late Huikākahu Kawe of Tauranga Moana. We are blessed and honoured to carry one part of the immense legacy he left for us all and those yet to come.