She recognised something intimately familiar in the liturgy. “I remember sitting there and thinking, this feels like home,” she recalled. “It was the first time I realised church could look like the way I prayed.”

She now trains at St John’s Theological College from the Diocese of Christchurch, where she pursues a master’s thesis. The project is a theological inquiry into the disruptive nature of spiritual formation, spiritual maturity and spiritual growth – how we come to mature and grow in faith.

Ciru studying inside her cloister at St John’s Theological College

Much of contemporary discourse, she argues, assumes that growth in faith is linear, a steady ascent toward greater strength, stability, and certainty. “But the Christian life does not move in a straight line,” she said. “It moves in cycles. It looks more like dying and rising again, patterned on Christ.”

This theological conviction is grounded in personal experience. Like many young adults, Ciru’s faith faltered under the weight of existential questions: Does God exist? Why Christianity and not another tradition? 

In many ecclesial contexts, such questioning was interpreted as doubt, regression, or even failure. “The church’s message was: hold firm, do not question, pray harder,” she said. “But what if doubt is not the enemy of faith? What if it is the threshold through which God leads us into deeper life?”

Her framework is unapologetically Paschal. The mystery of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection is not merely historical but paradigmatic. “Jesus did not only die and rise for us,” she explained. “He also walked ahead of us, showing the path of discipleship. Death, disruption, and renewal are not anomalies in the spiritual life, they are its very shape.”

For Ciru, this cyclical understanding of spiritual maturity is illuminated through indigenous traditions, which in turn strengthens both. At thirteen, she underwent a rite of passage, an amalgamation of practices drawn from several Nairobi tribal customs that demanded, in her words, “the death of childhood so that adulthood might emerge. You begin to live moving from a girl to a woman.” 

It was a process of pain, responsibility, and communal accountability. “No one tried to save you from it,” she recalled. “They supported you through it, so that something new could be born.”

On the balcony of the Tuia Building, General Synod Offices

Immersion in te ao Māori has sharpened this theological lens. “Māori have had to articulate and defend the value of their culture in the face of colonisation,” she said. “That process made me ask the same of my own. And I realised there is wisdom in indigenous Anglicanism for the whole church that could enrich our spiritual lives.

Ciru reflects on how disruption can become a path to spiritual growth. She draws on scripture to explain this unfolding: “Paul blesses the Ephesians and says that you may know the height and width and depth of the love of God, so that you may be filled to the fullness of God. 

“Every time we think we’ve grasped it, we discover we haven’t, and we have to let it go and pick something else up. In Matthew, Jesus says, unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it cannot come to life. Something has to be given for something new to come up.”

The post The Disruptive Nature of Spiritual Growth with Ciru Muriuki appeared first on Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa.

October 10, 2025, marks the 50th anniversary of Te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi – the Waitangi Tribunal. 

Established in 1975 under the Treaty of Waitangi Act, the Tribunal offers Parliament a legal avenue to investigate Māori Treaty claims. 

Te Pīhopatanga, and indeed the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, has a long-standing connection with te Tiriti o Waitangi. Church leaders were involved in the formation of the Treaty in 1840 and continue to advocate for Treaty principles through ministry and mission.  

In 1992, the Hāhi revised its constitution, Te Pouhere, to embed a Te Tiriti o Waitangi framework that reflects the principles of partnership and bicultural development. This revision created a Three Tikanga model (Tikanga Māori, Tikanga Pākehā, and Tikanga Pasefika), enabling each cultural stream to express its unique Anglican identity while ensuring equal representation and voice at General Synod.

1992 Anglican General Synod

Anglicans have played an active role in key inquiries, serving both as Tribunal members and as witnesses. 

Senior Māori clergy members, Canon Wi Te Tau Huata and Pīhopa Manuhuia Bennett served as Tribunal members in the 1980s, bringing a wealth of theological and mātauranga Māori insight into the Tribunal’s deliberations.  

Bishop Bennett’s description of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in the 1992 Te Roroa Report (WAI38) as a “promise of two peoples to take the best possible care of each other” is often repeated, some 33 years later when issues around Crown-Māori relations are discussed. 

A prominent former Chair of the Tribunal is Sir Eddie Taihakurei Durie. Sir Eddie has a long association with the church, dating back to his great-Grandfather, Hoani Meihana Te Rangiotū, a lay reader and Christian teacher within his Ngāti Apa, Ngāti Kauwhata and Rangitāne iwi.  

Sir Eddie has also served the Hāhi as a Synodsman in the Diocese of Waiapu and a General Synodsman, and as a member of Te Rūnanganui, the Standing Committe of Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa. 

The tribunal continues to have a strong Mihinare connection in 2025. Former legal advisor to Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa, Rev. David Williams is a current member of the Tribunal. 

Waitangi Tribunal | 40th Anniversary

Professor Emeritus Williams, a noted legal historian and experienced lawyer, has written an article for The Spinoff sharing his personal reflections on the Tribunals impact on Aotearoa since 1975. 

He reflects on how the ‘toothless tiger’, as it was once called, helped reimagine Māori roles and Treaty significance in Aotearoa, and allowing for the Māori voice to be heard in the telling of this country’s history.  

“Māori wanted to speak truth to the Crown, to hold Crown officials to account for past actions, and to let the world know what hurts had been suffered to indigenous peoples in the colonisation of Aotearoa from 1840,” Williams says in his writing. 

As we mark this milestone, the intertwined legacy of the Tribunal and the church reminds us that justice, faith, and whakapapa remain central to our shared future. 

Toitū te Hāhi, toitū te Tiriti, Toitū te Oranga Ake o te iwi, o te Ao! 

The post Honouring 50 Years of the Waitangi Tribunal and the Church’s Enduring Witness appeared first on Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa.

In the historic chapel at St John’s, hearing te reo Māori has become a familiar experience, reflecting the colleges effort to honour and nurture the language. 

Watson, originally from Christchurch first felt a yearning to learn te reo Māori as a youth worker in 2014.  

“I encountered an alternative education school that we were doing some mahi with. They invited us to a prize giving, and I heard the prize giving being presented in rumaki reo (full immersion). It was the first time I think I’ve been in an environment with that much reo. I didn’t understand a thing, but it sat in my heart like something special, and I felt this sort of sense of desire, a longing to learn te reo,” he says.  

He “naively” enrolled into the reo Māori course at CPIT – now Ara Institute in Christchurch and hasn’t looked back. 

“I’ve recently become aware of the beautiful invitation and grace extended to me. Starting at that whare, starting at Te Puna Wānaka, and the kaiako there, and in the way the community was very kind and gracious, and accommodating to the Pākehā fella who had so many blind spots,” he says. 

There, he quickly realised that the reo was a ‘beautiful gift ki ngā iwi katoa’. That was reaffirmed when he was introduced to a karakia composed by Ven. Sir Kingi Ihaka. 

“And as I learnt this karakia at Te Puna Wanaka, this wasn’t a Hāhi Mihinare type thing – I felt really encouraged as a tauiwi, as a Pākehā coming in, realising āe, he tino taonga te reo. 

“I think languages are beautiful, and they carry people, whakapapa, story, connections and aroha. So, I hold it as someone who’s received a taonga from other people. I start giving acknowledgement to the space that started and held me in that journey, it’s not my reo, it’s a reo that was given to me to see it flourish and grow.” 

At the time, Luke was attending Pentecostal churches, but he is now part of the Diocese of Christchurch. He says his journey into te reo Māori has offered a different perspective on the scriptures, conversely, having a like-minded community around him has helped grow an understanding of te ao Māori. 

“The moment you step into a community to learn te reo, you are also stepping into a worldview, and that starts to shift massively. You start to shift into a whole experience, that is completely encompassing of everything.” 

He started studying at St John’s earlier this year with the intention of ordination. And, while he admits being a bit overzealous at times in his pursuit of te reo Māori, he has found comfort and safety to continue practising his faith in te reo Māori at the college.  He has the help of Tikanga Māori students and kaiako such as Rev. Dr Wayne Te Kaawa and Victor Mokaraka.  

“It comes back to the flourishing of people and language. So, to be in a space around people who are just giants in the way they have, hold and care for this taonga, I find that really comforting.  

“I’ve been continually and reminded that it’s okay to make mistakes, but how do I respond to being hit up is the big learning curve.  

“That fear of making a mistake or offending is massive. But having people gently give validation or a wee whakatika is beautiful. It will help me a lot in going back to Ōtautahi, and trying to learn how to weave that in with the way we share gospel and see people thrive and flourish.” 

The post ‘Not My Reo, But a Reo Given’: Te Wiki o te Reo Māori at Hoani Tapu appeared first on Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa.

It’s not about leaving. Ihu didn’t just walk off into the sunset. He didn’t pack up and say e noho rā. No. He rose. Not away from us, but with us. With our kōiwi. With our toto. With our hā. Our tinana—hale, strong, broken, tired—were carried with him. Into the very heart of te Atua. That’s what Te Kakenga means. Not less human. More. Glorified.

So, it says something to us, all of us. That this tinana of ours, this weariness, this grief, is not beneath heaven. It belongs there. It’s not escaped. It’s lifted. The whenua too. All of creation. Our whakapapa. Our scars. They are taken up, not left behind.

We want an Atua who sits with us. Who stays close. Who doesn’t flinch when we cry. We want a Karaiti who walks beside the sick, the poor, the weary. And we have one. Te Kakenga doesn’t change that. It makes it truer. Now te Karaiti is not just in one place. He’s in every place. At the pā. In the hohipera. In our kāenga. At our mahi. In the waiting rooms. In the dark. Everywhere.

And for us, that matters. When our reo is silenced, when our taonga are taken, when the weight of colonisation still presses hard, Te Kakenga says this: none of it is lost. Te Karaiti has carried our whole selves into the heart of divine aroha. Our pōuri, our hari, our tapu, our mana. Lifted. Never cast aside.

Te Kakenga then is a call to action, not to sit passively gazing into the clouds. As the ānahera said to Ihu’s ākonga, “He aha tā koutou e tū, e mātakitaki atu na ki te rangi?” This is a time to move. To carry that vision—clear and true—into the world. To see with the eyes of heaven. To know this whenua, its people, are already part of the rising.

Kua kake ake te Karaiti. Our story continues. And so, let us rise too.

The post Ven. Michael Tamihere Explores the Heart of Ascension Day appeared first on Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa.

Te Rūnanganui launched into a session focused on Mihinare-led education on Friday afternoon 29 September, uplifted in waiata and prayer by Rev Keri-Ann Hokianga.

Dr Hirini Kaa introduced three panels on education for the day, starting with Archdeacon Susan Wallace, who chairs Te Kotahitanga (the Anglican Church’s policy oversight group for theological education) and Dr Emily Colgan, Manukura of St John the Evangelist Theological College in Auckland.

“We are in rough waters,” Dr Kaa told the room. “We have been for some time now. So we need to consider not the small details, but the big picture, and how mātauranga Māori informs us and shapes us – how we understand, explain and share the Gospel.”

The panel discussed kaitiakitanga, the obligation and rights of tangata whenua to protect mātauranga (knowledge of and held within te ao Māori), as well as who has the right to access it.

Susan shared an update on Te Pae Tawhiti 2040, the Te Kotahitanga and St John’s College Trust Board-backed theological educational research project, which is now in its final reporting stages. Susan proposed its research findings could act as one guide for Gospel-centred, mātauranga-led theological education going forward.

“The whakaaro behind this is to lean into what we as indigenous people have been doing for a long time, and that’s about thinking generationally, rather than in annual lots, in three-yearly lots….

“….and also, how do we test ourselves to be innovative in the future of our education?”

Dr Emily Colgan shared her hopes of seeing mātauranga Mihinare embedded at the centre of College life at Hoani Tapu St John’s: in theological education, in formation, in worshipping life and common life as a community.

The panel went on to discuss everything from how students’ learning could be assessed (say, via essays and exams, versus other forms of identifying mātauranga) to what the advent of Artificial Intelligence might mean for the future of Māori theological education.

Dr Kaa asked Te Rūnanganui members to suggest areas where growth in ministry skills would strengthen the life of the Church. Responses from across the Hui Amorangi included calls to support minita with skills for communications in ministry, connecting rangatahi with the treasures of the Church, and resourcing more people to offer pastoral ministry.

The idea of an Aotearoa-wide accredited mātaraunga-based diploma that would reflect iwi and amorangi diversity also found broad support.

Widening the net on the subject of indigenous theological education, a second panel welcomed overseas indigenous leaders Archbishop Chris Harper (National Indigenous Archbishop of Canada), Bishop Chris McLeod (National Indigenous Bishop of Australia), Kahu Rev Haaheo Guanson (Dean of Waiolaihui’ia Center for Ministry Hawaii) and Rev Dr Ray Aldred (Director of Indigenous Studies Program, Vancouver School of Theology).

The visitors shared their perspectives on indigenous education, noting many challenges facing Aotearoa are similar to those abroad including issues of multi-generational trauma, boarding school survival and redress.

Other similarities included the challenge of leading in churches where the majority of indigenous clergy are unpaid. Archbishop Harper explained that in Canada 90% or more of indigenous clergy are non-stipendiary, so have to work in non-church jobs to bring in an income.

And in Hawaii, indigenous ministry is tightly regulated.

“It touches my heart to see so many people here who have been ordained as priests in so many different ways,” observed Kahu Guanson. “In Hawaii, we must follow the US national church canons, and we have an additional one around being culturally competent. But it’s very rigid. So please know that as you sit here, you are making an impact on not just the people here, but on a global scale, of what theological education means.”

Finally, kōrero turned to the special character of the two Anglican indigenous boarding schools – Te Aute College and Hukarere Girls College, both based in Hawke’s Bay.

Amelia Kaui, hostel manager for Hukarere (who is currently interim hostel manager at Te Aute College) gave a moving account of evacuating the school premises as Cyclone Gabrielle slammed into the region.

She described how the school’s special character, its values of aroha, kotahitanga, tautoko and whakapono – so firmly embedded in daily practice – had allowed them to move to safety quickly, displaying enormous support for one another in the following days and weeks.

“I’m so proud of the girls for showing such resilience, and overcoming losing their kura. We didn’t know the huge importance of our values, until we lost our school.”

“We can say a school value is aroha, but if we don’t lead with aroha, and nurture with aroha, what are we?”

Simon Heath (Te Aute Trust Board) and Wiremu Paenga (Te Aute Chaplain) completed the panel, each sharing how special character manifests within the two schools.

“With Oranga Ake we can deliver the very best education to our students through an indigenous lens,” Simon told the room.

“And the future is very exciting, because as you have witnessed this week, some of the best talent in Aotearoa comes from these two kura. But for too long, these kura have not had the  resource, the support and the governance to flourish. Our New Zealand education system has not been good for our Māori students or our Pasifika brothers and sisters.”

Finally, he issued a wero.

“Now is the time to take control and be the architects of our own future.”

“We need to drive our own ecosystem with our own Māori worldview, strong Mihinare principles, so that our unique special character becomes our superpower.”

The post Hui scopes out Mihinare education appeared first on Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa.

Hukarere Girls’ College students and staff will start the new school term living together in a refurbished Havelock North hotel after nearly seven months apart.

The Te Aute Trust Board (TATB) bought the former Wine Country Motel in June and has since repurposed and refurbished the building to meet Ministry of Education hostel compliance regulations. The building is now a temporary wharenoho or hostel for up to 80 fulltime boarders and three staff.

While an interim learning hub has been set up at Taradale Anglican Church, the TATB says the school is close to securing a permanent site for a school in central Havelock North. The board  earlier stated it would not return to Eskdale after February’s Cyclone Gabrielle saw flooding and silt destroy Hukarere’s historic school and site.

After the flood, boarders returned to their homes and had been receiving teaching through online learning and in-person classes, where learning hubs were able to be established. Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa General Manager Archdeacon Maui Tangohau was pleased that students, staff and whanau were welcomed to their new wharenoho at a karakia and whakatau at the end of August. “After being at the kura in March and knowing some of the work going on behind the scenes, this is a wonderful milestone.”  The kōhine are the heart of the kura and they need to be housed together in a whare that is warm, safe and that can provide the best environment for them to excel.”

Hukarere Board of Trustees co-chair and Te Aute Trust Board member Joleen Perry said this was an occasion to celebrate despite the huge loss suffered and resulting challenges for the school and board. “We want to start term three with all of the kōhine back. We want to have them all working face-to-face, sister-to-sister with their kaiako and tuahine,” she said. Hukarere acting principal Caren Taana had also remained positive and focused on bringing the girls back together under one roof. This milestone is the result of combined commitment and effort of the Hukarere board and kura, the church, local iwi, government and the community.

About 60 Hukarere Girls’ College students are currently working at an interim learning site set up at Taradale Anglican Church. The school was thankful to All Saints’ Church for this interim learning hub. The board was able to create this learning space from funds given as part of the government allocation of more than $980,000 from the cyclone recovery fund.

Ms Perry said “we have received donations of gifts, uniforms and resources from the wider community and whanau throughout Aotearoa. “There are a lot of people to thank for their generosity and aroha but special mention goes to the St John’s College Trust Board, Te Pīhopatanga o Aoteraroa, Waiapu Diocese and Hukarere Old Girls Association and most importantly our staff, whanau and kōhine for keeping the faith and being the purpose for our future.”

“The journey is not over, we are on a path to rebuild with a purpose-built kura to provide world-class indigenous education for young mana wahine.”

Archbishop Don Tamihere thanked the school whānau for their perseverance through what has been an unprecedented period for the trust.

“We look forward to sharing the continued success of Hukarere Girls’ College with you,” he said.

The post Hukarere kōhine back together for Term 3 appeared first on Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa.

Members of Te Waka Matauranga (Tikanga Ministry Body) held a wānanga in late August in Christchurch at Te Pa o Te Hui Amorangi o Te Waipounamu, hosted by Bishop Rihari Wallace.

Members from each Hui Amorangi (Episcopal Unit) – notably Te Taitokerau, Te Manawa o te Wheke, Te Tairāwhiti, Te Ūpoko o te Ika and Te Waipounamu – were frank around the numerous challenges in their work as educators and leaders of ministry educational training programmes. These included low attendance and numbers, an ageing workforce, lack of people capacity, working in silos, lack of stipends, historic mamae, funding shortfalls and restraints. However, they were also optimistic as to solutions.

Educators will meet again in Wellington this month, on 20 September, to advance their discussions and approve the individual 2024 ministry education funding applications. Te Waka Matauranga is the Tikanga Māori Ministry Body, established by Te Rūnanganui o Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa (TPOA), responsible for overseeing theological education, and ministry and other education and training relevant to advancing the mission and ministry of the Church.

The committee has reporting and relationship functions to other ministry education bodies across the Church such as Te Kotahitanga, St John’s College and Tikanga ministry bodies.  At the August hui, educators agreed to support each other and were committed to collectively working together on the issues identified. The Rev Ruihana Paenga said they agreed that safety was a central and critical priority for the training and licensing of ministers across Hui Amorangi. However, the word safety does not capture the full extent of our ideology and competencies required for training ministers.

“They also agreed that the approach and language of this work needed to be driven by a Matauranga-led perspective embodying concepts such as mana, tapu, tika, pono and aroha.”

An advisory working group was expected to continue this work on safety through the development of a set of concepts and priorities based on feedback from this wānanga, guidance from the working group and input from experts. The advisory group comprises Michael Tamihere, Wiremu Anania, Bishop Waitohiariki Quayle, John Payne, Susan Wallace, and Bishop Richard Wallace with secretarial support from the TPOA office. A second group was to look at professional development.

Rev Ruihana said the work would not replace that of the Hui Amorangi ministry education teams but rather would state a shared vision and provide high level strategic priorities for the training and theological education within TPOA. There was a strong desire from all present to pool the collective strengths and expertise across Amorangi.

Te Waka Matauranga is expected to write an application to St John’s College Trust Board seeking funding for its work and the cost of a three-day wānanga in 2024, open to all educators and administrators, incorporating professional learning and development. There will also be zoom-based professional development sessions in the meantime.

Overall, it was a highly successful wānanga, bringing together the strengths and capabilities of Mihinare educators to create a flourishing future for our Hāhi, whānau and communities.

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