Atuatanga describes a practical ministry discipline, or a process, of formation-in-Christ that is a movement towards and in justice. It nurtures, encourages and equips ministers such as minita a iwi etc., to participate in and engage with their communities in a way that allows people to see the Gospel ‘through’ them. Atuatanga is the practical ‘lens’ of ministry that allows ministers to ‘see through’, that creates and forms people as lenses through which other people can see the Gospel.

Social service/justice are part of all of ministry training and practice, and is integrated through the whole-ministry based learning environment, grounded in karakia, worship, whanau ministry, rangatahi and the proclamation of the Gospel.

This means that service, justice, atuatanga are imbedded in the spiritual lives of Christians in their ministry in the world, and that this is what it means to be church – for this is the meaning of discipleship. Atuatanga is ‘threaded’ through the whole curriculum, and the curriculum is threaded through practice throughout the hui-amorangi, not just what goes on in taapapa as we know it now.

Whakawhanaungatanga

Biography is at the heart of our engagement with Atua, and is best captured in the practice of whakawhanaungatanga. The process of engaging with our memory, life story and others, whakawhanaungatanga, is central to our life together, and places Atua and our transformative experience of Atua at the centre of that life together. Whakawhanaungatanga is our account of Atua encountering us throu gh the every day. It is the story of us experiencing Mauri Ora. It enlarges our biography by locating us and our social framework in the Gospel.

Whakapapa locates us, and in a real sense the past is laid out before us as the pathway to life – our tupuna lead the way. Atua is unchanging, and yet forever experienced as new and so our experience of Atua reflects both a place to stand and a journey – made up of many hikoi – huarahi mo te whakapono of faith, hope and love. The practice of listening is the foundational task of atuatanga: listening to culture, to Atua, to social context, to Gospel, to others.

Atuatanga Education

Learning to listen, deeply, to tupuna, to context, to the struggles of the last, the least and the lost, and to those with no voice, is the primary purpose of atuatanga education. Learning to respond, through karakia, worship, loving care, and prophetic transformation, is the accompanying task, and requires us to draw upon tradition and wisdom, as well as inspiration and context. It requires us to be biblical people, well versed in our story as people of the Gospel. Atuatanga and atuatanga education, particularly as they are expressed through engagement with our social context, are te matapuna o te whakapono.

It is often thought that training people for social work is a separate task, or a parallel task, to ministry education. However, for the Christian social service and the pursuit of justice can never stand alone, and yet exist as the primary practical witness of the Christian life. Like any profession, the life of work is the life of worship in the world. The church often has a hard time understanding and embracing this because it doesn’t adequately engage with the real practical nature of atuatanga.

For the Christian any act of work is an act of service and transformation and is wrapped up in the life of worship – of praise and thanksgiving. Therefore, there can be no separation of service from other aspects of ministry – they go together and require one another for our Christian ministry and witness to be truly authentic.

Atuatanga is woven into all aspects of our life together. There is no ‘discreet discipline’ called atuatanga. Ministry education has turned reflection on atua into a specialism, but in actual fact if we look at the whakapapa of talk about atua we will see that it arose first and foremost as a way of talking about our experience of atua encountering us in the world through time. This is its most authentic expression.

Atuatanga concerns the spirituality of all of life, and particularly all of normal life. It is therefore political because it concerns how we order life, and how people order themselves within it. Biography and whakawhanaungatanga is obviously really significant because it is a process of talking and listening, and therefore a process through which people collectively understand the place in which they stand and how that place is ordered. Atuatanga is anthropological yet it is not humanistic. It concerns people in relationship to atua, and first and foremost atua in relation to us. Maintaining relationships that are tika in the process of personal and social transformation is crucial because tika relationships are at the heart of Atua, and tikanga whakapono.

The need to maintain conversation in transformation.

Clearly, atuatanga deals directly with one of the most pressing human and organisational issues – identity. Identity is what we might call ‘our place to stand’. That issue of identity traditionally relates to how we relate ‘unity’ and ‘difference’, ‘self’ or ‘selves’ and ‘other’. It has often been thought that some kind of correlation between unity (e.g. ‘self’) and difference (e.g. ‘others’) is the means to achieving identity.

The need for relationships to be maintained and conversation to continue while transformation takes place is vital to living te whakapono.

One way for dealing with difference and identity that affirms unity (in Christ with each other and all of creation) as the primary basis of identity and ensures relationships are therefore maintained is through a process of a kind of correlation between differing perspectives and experiences expressed through semiotic creativity.

Semiotic creativity involves the creative use of signs and symbols in order to harmonise between perspectives. This relies on creative words, actions, and the performance of Christian life as the basis for both identity and its communication, and communication with others across cultures and other divides. Weaving signs and symbols that are engaged and down to earth, drinking deeply from the well of our own cultures connects biculturally.

Such communication cannot happen in a vacuum, but must be empirically grounded and shaped. That is the nature of the incarnation. Sacred signs and symbols (which might look like ‘caring’, ‘healing’, ‘the cross’, ‘solidarity’, ‘support’ etc) have the power to transcend their narrative faith base, and literally such creative acts (which are the signs and symbols of faith) communicate (Christian) identity and are therefore evangelistic and missional.

They are, if you like, the ‘lens’ through which the Gospel is seen. If they are going to be effective, we must recognise that they are disciplines that must be taught. Being trained in such a way that being able to create and utilise meaningful signs and symbols in such a way is the purpose of ministry education and Christian formation. Christian ministers and laity are all a bit like ‘method actors’ in this regard. They don’t so much need a script for life as the tools (signs and symbols) to draw upon so that they can engage with it missionally in ad-hoc and creative ways. Learning to become ‘actors’ in this way requires practice embedded in the worshipping life of the church. That is the call of the Gospel, and it’s practice is te matapuna o te whakapono.

Ministry Education as Social Justice and Service

We have identified the strategic missional signifcance of te matapuna o te whakapono to Te Upoko o te Ika. So now we must ask, what is needed to seed te matapuna o te whakapono?

The task of ministry education is to develop the church as a movement for social change, which draws its strength from worship, karakia, and te whakapono. It reflects an investment of human capital in the hikoi of creating a more just society, and building capacity and strengthening relationships among whanau, hapu, iwi, and nation to that end. Those relationships are not delimited by being inside the church or outside of it.

We believe Te Upoko has an opportunity to revision ministry education as a practical discipline that reflects a truly indigenous appreciation of our life in Christ. This authentically indigenous approach encourages us to rethink social service and justice as the lens we ‘see through’ rather than simply an issues-based ‘entity’/‘agency’ that addresses various social issues. This ‘lens’ is te whakapono – it reflects the biblical account of the incarnation of Jesus Christ and Christ’s transformation of the world through death and resurrection, and grounds those firmly in this whenua. Any physical social services agency is therefore a part of a wider, ministry based strategy for formation and discipleship.

Academic rigour is an important part of the education process, but it would be a mistake to assume that this is what makes ‘quality’ education. It is also a mistake to assume “academic” equates to “theory” (although sadly it has come to in many circles).

Ministry education is first and foremost about formation of people –tino rangatiratanga that is certainly about whanau, hapu and iwi, but primarily is about each person and our identity as Maori in Christ where we stand.

Academic rigour arises out of a consequence of excellent methodology and flows from the consequence of our practical transformative engagement in the world.

Engagement with our social context is the missional gospel imperative and wellspring, and so it is right that our ministry education would reflect that imperative – te matapuna o te whakapono.

He Haka Hei Tautoko

In conclusion, we have adopted the first sentence of this tribal dance that follows as our preparation for an assault on a seemingly impregnable castle.”

The second sentence is our faith statement, to show that with God leading all things are possible.

“ka eke i te wiwi, ka eke i wawa, ka eke i te papara huai rangi tumu huie, e ka eke, e ka eke.”

“ka ekengia nga patu me nga taiapa kei mua i a matou, e te Atua aroha pena ko koe kei mua e arahi ana i a matou.”

Na maua he kaitonotono na te Hahi, te Iwi mo te Atua.

This paper was originally prepared by Bishop Muru Walters and the Venerable Dr Anthony Dancer

In March 2012 the Global Poverty Project NZ will identify, train and mobilise 30 ‘Global Poverty Ambassadors’ to champion the message that extreme poverty can be eradicated.

Inspired by Al Gore’s successful ‘Inconvenient Truth Climate Crisis Ambassador’ model, this programme will equip influential individuals with the skills and resources to deliver this message of progress to their community, and promote actions and spearhead campaigns that can create real change.

Don’t worry if you are already busy saving the world… this program is designed to enhance the work you are already doing, not add to the burden.

Participants will be trained over a 3-day weekend in cutting edge communication skills, campaign strategy and social change theory. They will then be given tangible, winnable campaign/advocacy tasks throughout the year, each one slightly bigger than the last in order to stretch the group and build their skill base and confidence.

The long-term vision? To do whatever it takes to end extreme poverty.. permanently.

To apply, or find out more, go here.

* International Women’s Day: Women Say NO to War, at 5.30pm, Thursday, 8 March 2012: Come along to add your voice to the call of women around the world who are saying NO to war and YES to peace – our theme this year is alternatives to military spending, eg ~ welfare not warfare ~ education not militarisation ~ Join us at 5.30pm at the NZ Defence Force Headquarters, corner Aitken and Mulgrave Streets, Wellington. 

Please wear black if you can, and bring black streamers / ribbons / wool, photos, messages, cardboard or paper peace doves to decorate the Defence Force HQ, something to make a noise with – pot and spoon, drum, your voice – during the time of anger, flowers or candles to leave there during the time of mourning, and a poem or reading to share during the time of reflection … and your own banner or placard if you wish. All women and children welcome. Organised by Peace Movement Aotearoa and Wellington Women in Black, for more information contact email pma@xtra.co.nz or go to http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/iwd12.htm Please help distribute the poster athttp://www.converge.org.nz/pma/WomenSayNoToWar2012.pdf and publicise the Facebook event page athttp://www.facebook.com/events/112844222177439

* Wellington Women Walk For Peace, from 12.30pm to 1.30pm, Thursday, 8 March 2012: Women Say NO to War will be part of the Wellington Women Walk For Peace “to raise awareness of our interconnectedness and interdependence in our hope and work towards the attainment of peace. We invite all women from all walks of life, from different religions and diverse beliefs, from different ethnicities and cultures to join the Walk ~ walk to support the protest against violence on women and children ~ walk to support protest against wars ~ walk to support empowerment of women”. 

Gather at parliament at 12.30pm, then walk to Civic Square – more information is available on the Wellington Women Walk for Peace site at http://women4peace.weebly.com and the WWW4Peace Facebook page athttp://www.facebook.com/events/315238248526362 If you would like to join Women Say NO to War on the walk, please wear black if you can and look out for the Women Say NO to war banner.

In my role as Social Justice Commissioner I am fortunate to attend a number of varied and unique gatherings around our church in all three tikanga. Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend an awesome gathering in Gisborne – namely the national Kauhi Wahine gathering.

Kahui Wahine is a group set up in Te Pihopatanga for women to be able to work together to develop our church’s engagement around the five fold mission statement.That means at its heart is social and personal change. The group is a bit like AAW only different. And the differences are many. I was especially impressed with the way the strength of women in leadership is seeded, nurtured and grown by this group.

At the hui Dr Moeawa Callaghan gave the closing sermon, and she agreed to make it available to us here. Tena koe Moewa.

Kauwhau delivered at Kahui Wahine Runanganui, 12 February, 2012 on the theme of the hui:

The Past Legacy, the Growth, the Present and the Vision for Kahui Wahine.

First of all I thank the organizers of this hui for the privilege of being able to offer some words of reflection. This kauwhau draws on conversations and discussions in recent years with Tairawhiti women in the Mihingare Church and some of the themes that emerged from yesterday’s presentations.

I begin with a poem written by Mother Theresa in her book “All this for God”

Joy and woe are woven fine,

A clothing for the soul divine;

Under every grief and pine

Runs a joy with silken twine.

It is right it should be so;

Man was made for joy and woe;

And when this we rightly know,

Through the world we safely go.

Mother Theresa’s theme of weaving is a theme appropriate for The Past Legacy, the Growth, the Present and the Vision for Kahui Wahine. Weaving presents an image of community and the way community is shaped, strengthened, and interconnected. Community brings together into one body separateness and diversity and thus provides strength and support, just as a woven piece is, in itself, strong and supporting. Weaving is an appropriate image for community because it is an image of actuality and possibility. In actuality, it is connected to the earth, to the cycles of life and death, and to power and creativity. In possibility, it seeks to symbolize in powerful ways these natural elements of creation. Thus it symbolizes a world view, and as feminist theologian Christine M. Smith suggests, it is a way of living sacramentally, of worship, a way of affirming and proclaiming wholeness and integration in the life of faith.[1] Significantly, within a life of faith weaving can be powerful symbol for justice because it embodies difference, tensions, and stresses with hope and vision.

A much loved Taapapa colleague and skilled flax weaver whom many of us new, sadly, passed away last year. The previous year she had taught me something very important about being a weaver. She taught me to appreciate the imperfections found in the woven flax piece   – and by extension our own human imperfections. Through the art of weaving we are taught to accept those imperfections as a part of who we are as community and as individuals, with a love so unconditional that we cannot separate the imperfections from the whole piece. Thus weaving symbolises the way in which community is imperfect yet whole, where not only is everything a part of everything else it is everything else. Likened to the bringing about of the peace of te rangatiratanga o te Atua we discussed in Bible study yesterday, weaving requires concentrated effort.

Consider for a moment the preparation alone required for weaving a flax taonga. The weaver learns the art of weaving from someone who has the knowledge already – knowledge passed on, old knowledge. She has to grow or find the particular type of flax provided in and by the natural environment. Then she prays, cuts and skillfully and patiently strips the flax for the strong fibre that will form the foundation of her piece and hold it together, using the appropriate tool, usually a muscle shell, to be able to do the job as best it can be done. Then she prepares the dyes for her flax in the colours she has imagined. She tests and tests until the right colour applied to the fibre is the exact colour she has imaged. Then she is ready to weave. Through imagination and vision a woven article comes into being. It is a creation of the hands, the spirit, the mind, working in harmony to form a taonga of colour, texture and meaning. In my observations, the preparation, the planning, the vision takes time, utmost care and love. Yes, it is labour intensive. In fact, in the ancient biblical world flax was widely cultivated and used for garments.[2] Its disadvantage was that it was indeed labour intensive. So much so that in Zechariah, and also the First reading this morning, it is ranked with gold and silver in value. “And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected – gold, silver, and garments in great abundance” (Zechariah 14:14). Because of the labour intensiveness of working with flax, textiles that required less work, like wool, were more widely used in those times, so we understand how much more valuable a woven flax garment was.

Weaving the Legacy of the Past

In weaving past legacy we have acknowledged all those whom we knew and loved, as well as those whom we didn’t know but who made significant contribution to our family of faith. Those known and those unknown who travelled the ‘dark night of injustice’[3] (a term used by the grandfather of Latin American Liberation theology Gustavo Gutierrez) – those who struggled and sacrificed something of their lives to contribute to the well being of the family, and of the community. We celebrate not just those whom we have come to know about but also those who have anonymously given their lives for love of their people, those who have experienced the ‘grief and pine’ Mother Theresa wrote about. After all, the passage through the dark night of injustice is part of the journey toward te rangatiratanga o te Atua. In the weaving of community of which the ‘dark night of injustice’ is intimately interwoven, we are instructed in the way the Psalmist wrote: ‘in the night my heart instructs me’ (Ps.16:7). The Psalmist’s teaching calls to mind Maori Marsden who wrote when analysing religious philosophical and metaphysical attitudes upon which Maoritanga is based: ‘It is important to remember that Maoritanga is a thing of the heart rather than the head.’[4] Taking up those teachings, weaving community likewise is a matter of the heart – ‘ngakau aroha’[5] as Bishop Muru and Lorraine explain in their popular Taapapa Awhi Whanau booklet.

This weekend we have acknowledged those who have left their legacy of the ‘weaving’ of relationships. We have spoken of the centrality of whakapapa and whanaungatanga in the lives and legacy of those tipuna of faith. When we think about such persons in the history of the Mihingare Church we might also wonder about the legacy of those women at the point of contact with the early CMS missionaries. What did they do and think as this new religion impacted on their lives? What were their joys and woes? From various records of the early mission in the Wairoa District, for example, we can gather that the young mission women were very clear about what was important to them – their families and their communities. Responsibility for their whanau and their community was of the utmost importance, over and above their domestic involvement with the mission stations. They actively engaged with the Bible and with church tradition, and were involved in teaching and leadership in the Mission schools. But they held firm to what we might call their cultural principles. As such, whakapapa and whanaungatanga obligations were interwoven with their new found faith. The cultural principles formed the interconnectedness and strength of their communities of faith.

Because of the centrality of the principles of whakapapa and whanaungatanga (and related values) to the faith of our tipuna and ourselves, they can be claimed as ways of understanding the work of Jesus in those times and today. They are appropriate faith principles because they involve the weaving of relationality and connectedness. They acknowledge the strengths of women’s ways of knowing. Further, they are the means for addressing important aspects of religion and spirituality for us because they are embedded in a particular worldview with its sustaining values, ethics, morals, and beliefs. Both principles are about maintaining identity and connectedness with creation.

Present

Jesus’ ministry was also centered on identity and connectedness with creation. He was profoundly aware of the strands that connect people to each other and to the world. His actions and his words were grounded in a ministry of ‘presence’ in which everything he did and all that he suffered was grounded in deep solidarity with all creation. His love and relational work in the world point to the threads of a strong and rich christology of presence. Through an awareness and understanding of Jesus’ life we are informed on how we might create our own weaving in response to God’s activity in our own lives and in the world. Jesus’ struggles for justice, his healing work, and his relational presence embody and reveal God in our world. Further, Christ as the resurrection and the life points to the weaving of community, and embraces loved ones who through memory come into the ‘present’ as a part of our community of wholeness. The ‘wairua’ element of whakapapa means that when we consider past, present, and future, there is that aspect of whakapapapa that transcends time and place so that the ‘present’ is a synthesis, or a symphony, of the past and the future. Wairua binds the spiritual and the physical aspects of whakapapa and therefore the many layers and threads within a Mihingare faith.

In our discussions and conversations of the past legacy and the present, a deeply embedded spirituality is revealed, a spirituality that enables us to cross the barriers of time and space to achieve an understanding of both the continuing wairua presence of not only tipuna but also of Christ – a way of understanding resurrection.  Christ’s presence means that Christ is with us as we struggle to understand the possibilities arising from that awareness that Christ actually is with us.

Future Vision

Isaiah

The image of weaving reminds us that community relies on the natural environment and the creatures we share that environment with. The Bible offers images of how that reliance should be understood. For example, Isaiah’s vision (Isaiah 11:6-9) provides an image of what the journey to ‘te rangatiratanga o te rangi’ will look like. But he also instructs in 11:3-5 that the road to peace will not be an easy one. We will need to be righteous, work for equity for the meek, and be faithful. The road to te rangatiratanga o te Atua of the New Testament will be found through the difficult task of the weaving of human identity and giving. Yesterday we had some wonderful interpretations of Isaiah’s visions for the future and we compared those to Jesus’ Kingdom of God. The visions of each Hui Amorangi provided the whole group with shared visions for the future based on practical ‘mustard seed’ steps.

In summary, who is our community? Today we remember that it is those who have passed on and whose presence is captured in memory, together with those with whom we live with and share in the world, all bound together in the weaving that holds the hope and vision of the community – that something of the heart for wholeness and healing. It is our presence with each other, with all our imperfections, through woe and through joy that brings healing and ultimately human wholeness. Jesus taught this truth through his words and actions. That is why for many Mihingare he is known as healer, tipuna, and loving presence – all ways of knowing and being known that lead to moments of human transformation and empowerment. ‘Wherever people live in community in the power of relation, or perform radical acts of love, or give witness to a transforming love, there is the Christ.’[6] There is the Christ resurrected, there is the Christ who saves by being really present in the weaving of the life of the community and of the individual.

This fact sheet looks at the Ports of Auckland and Maritime Union dispute and in particular the impact it has on families.

Download the fact sheet here: Fact Sheet – Families, Port Strike and Workers

To view all our fact sheets, click here.

To accompany the wrist band are some prayer resources produced by our friend Mark Pierson at World Vision have produced – and these can be accessed here: www.lentenreflections.org

Another great lenten initiative is “Fast for Life“. Aimed at Ash Wednesday you can find details and resources by clicking here.

In addition, you might want to get your hands on our latest Just booklet – Just Lignite. It’s a very well researched and presented account of lignite mining in the Southland region, and well worth a read.

You can get wristbands or booklets (as few or as many as you would like) from us directly, by emailing us or calling us. Give us your postal address and we’ll get them right out to you.

Of course, if you go on our mailing list you will automatically get them sent to you – while we wait for our website to get updated the easiest way is just send us your details and you will be added to our address list.

Download it here: Vulnerability Report

In 1962 Karl Barth visited America for his first and only time. He engaged in a q&a with emerging highly regarded “young theologians”. By some miracle William Stringfellow was on the panel as one of these (and by virtue of being a good friend of Markus Barth, and Barth senior learning of Stringfellow, and liking what he had to say). The result of Stringfellow’s involvement resulted in some excellent questions on the principalities and powers. But here you go – two recordings of all the questions and answers. Also, when Barth tells people to listen to this man, it’s to Stringfellow he points – staggering perhaps when you think that Hans Frei was also on the panel.

I’ve lowered the quality a bit to make the file size relatively small.

Finally, keep in mind that the publish transcript differs from the recording at some major points. The transcript was edited and some of the real conversation obscured, no doubt motivated by the politics of Princeton at the time.

Download the fact sheet here: Just Facts – Fracking

View other fact sheets available for download.

Nicky Hager thinks the reality is more complicated, and pretty much I think his analysis is accurate.

Here’s the bullet-point version, to begin:

• National won about the same number of votes it did three years ago (it got a higher percentage of the total vote owing to falling voter turnout)
• National has an almost unmanageably thin majority in Parliament; party insiders are not at all happy
• Winston Peters is back as a fly in the National Party’s ointment, in a large part because John Key and Steven Joyce mucked up over the Epsom tea party
• MMP is here to stay, meaning governments need to win a real majority and not just a high single party vote
• 50% of voters voted against National, despite its popular leader
• Many National votes were won because of its apparently easy-going and centrist leader, not because people necessarily support its policies
• Well over 50% of the public opposes key National Party policies such as privatisation (‘asset sales’)
• The ACT Party, National’s most important coalition partner, died on election night
• There are signs that National has passed the high point of its popularity and will now start to decline
• There are signs that National leader John Key has passed the high point of his popularity and will now start to decline.
• The coming three years will be the playing out of these things. It is going to be very different to National’s first three years in government.

That’s the summary. If you’d like the long version, read on and click this link.