Waiapu Anglicans welcomed Māori and Pākehā delegates to Napier in a powhiri for today's General Conference. 

The focus of the two-tikanga conversation was new directions for resource-sharing in ministry across Aotearoa New Zealand.

The General Conference opened with a challenge from Archbishop Brown Turei for both Māori and Pākehā to practise God's radical hospitality and manaakitanga with one another. 

"God’s hospitality knows no limits and plays no favourites," he said. "God’s hospitality is fearless and tireless.

"There have been times in our past when manaakitanga and hospitality has been abused. We have not always lived up to the example set by our forebears, let alone the example of Christ.

"That’s what makes God’s manaakitanga so compelling. Even though we are unworthy, God keeps extending the invitation." 

Archbishop Philip Richardson followed with a call to recognise that being Anglican in Aotearoa New Zealand makes sense in the light of who we are in Christ here and now. 

Three things, he said, bind us together: Gospel, Treaty and Constitution – Te Rongopai, Te Tiriti, Te Pouhere.

"They bind us in a way that means we cannot let each other go. 

"They bind us in a way that means that we must seek each other’s good.

"They bind us in a way that means that when one part of this body is suffering or unable to live out their potential, then we are all weakened and diminished." 

After General Conference winds up this evening, Taonga will bring you snippets from the day's conversations.