In his Bishop’s Charge to open the hīnota (synod) for Te Hui Amorangi ki Te Tairāwhiti, Te Pīhopa o Te Tairāwhiti, the Most Reverend Dr Don Tamihere, has called on the Hui Amorangi to renew their love for faith and mihinaretanga, a message  he extends to the wider Tikanga Māori Church. 

Archbishop Don's kauwhau, delivered from the sanctuary of St John’s, Ōmāhu, centred on the whakapapa of the hāhi in Aotearoa, with particular focus on the role tīpuna Māori played in its spread. 

“Our tīpuna fell in love with the faith, and with the idea of being church. They did not see church as something provided by some other person from somewhere else… They chose to be the church that they loved. They were the oranga ake that the church needed to thrive and flourish,” he said. 

His Charge was delivered under the watchful eyes of renowned Heretaunga chiefs Renata Kawepō, Tareha Te Moananui and Paora Kaiwhata, immortalised in the stained-glass window of the reopened St John’s Ōmāhu, the oldest whare karakia in the Hawkes Bay, that has reopened after renovations were completed repairing Cyclone Gabrielle damage.  

Each tipuna is credited and remembered for establishing a trinity of ‘great churches’ in the Heretaunga district. Kawepō funded, built and opened the Church of Ōmāhu in 1879 for his people. At the consecration, Kawepō told his people, “Behold, may the Church be for you a bountiful garden to nourish and sustain you.” 

Archbishop Don sees these whakapapa stories, familiar to many hapori Māori, as key to renewing love for faith and Mihinaretanga. 

He also challenged the perceived notion that the conversion of tīpuna started with the arrival of the Pākehā missionaries in the early 1800’s. He offered a prophecy by a Tairāwhiti tipuna, Te Rangitauatia, in the 1730’s “kia toro rawa te pakiaka hinahina i a au ka rongo ake au i te kihi e hoihoi ana.”  

Loosely translated, Te Rangitauatia references the slow-growing hinahina tree, saying that by the time the roots of that tree had spread over his final resting place, a new sound would reverberate across the land.  

It is believed the prophecy foretold the arrival of a foreign language and worldview – Christianity. 

“This reminds us that the story of our faith did not start simply with the arrival of Pākehā Anglicans. It began in the hearts and mouths of our Māori prophets, long before Pākehā arrived. Thus begins our whakapapa as Mihinare,” Archbishop Don preached. 

He acknowledged the growing discontent Māori communities are expressing toward Christianity, especially in relation to decolonisation. Archbishop Don affirmed the importance of decolonising Indigenous communities, but reminded those present that Jesus himself was Indigenous — and urged them not to conflate his teachings with the actions of English colonial powers.  

“Some of our own whānau see the church as irreversibly foreign and colonial, and therefore something to be rejected and even despised. They, and we, forget that it was our tīpuna who first encountered the indigenous Christ, encountered his Gospel, and chose intentionally to draw it into themselves as a truly indigenous Māori faith. 

“When we weave and wānanga scripture together with our Māori world, we find what our tīpuna found. We know who we are. We know what we do.” 

The theme of the weekend’s hui was Ka Tipu, Ka Hua, Setting the Foundations for Future Flourishing. The charge sets a tone that will resonate across all Hui Amorangi to renew a love of faith, whakapapa and mihinaretanga.