The Tikanga Pākehā Conference (TPC) convened in Auckland yesterday, with seven bishops and Synod delegates representing the Anglican Dioceses of Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Nelson, Waiapu, Waikato - Taranaki and Wellington.

The day opened with an extended time of whanaungatanga, as delegates mixed across dioceses to share stories on how they came to faith, what sustains them in faith and spent time reflecting on the gifts of life in a broad church.

After forty minutes of lively conversations, many delegates returned to their own diocesan tables with foundations laid for new friendships round the country.

The heart of Tikanga Pākehā Conference 2026 came next in a session introduced and led by Archbishop Justin Duckworth, who shared a request from Tikanga Māori, that asked Pākehā dioceses to articulate what it means for them to be a flourishing church.

Diocesan delegates discussed three key areas for understanding what flourishing may look like including:
- Hopes and dreams for flourishing churches
- Resources: burdens and blessings? and
- Collaboration across Dioceses 

For Bishop of Taranaki Archbishop Philip Richardson the answer was clear.

"Our future and our flourishing are inextricably linked with the flourishing of Tikanga Māori and ngā iwi Māori." he said.

Bishop Andrew Hedge said that for his Waiapu Diocese there are five areas of mission that focus their work towards Te Oranga Ake (human flourishing) which are: Discipleship, Vocation, Koru (children and families ministry), Whakapapa and Connection. 

Once all the bishops had spoken, delegates heard from Dioceses of Wellington and Nelson registrars Chris Ward and Ben Pringle. The two registrars shared their innovative system of mapping diocesan and parish resources to reveal how the status quo of resource management enhances or impedes both mission and partnerships across tikanga. 

The Conference later heard a motion for the diocesan registrars to develop a similar analysis tool suitable for use across all seven dioceses, which now remains on the table.

Prof Peter Lineham proposed another vehicle to help dioceses underpin mission and ministry by developing denomination-specific data within the Church Life Survey. 

In response, the TPC decided  to bulk fund this Church's participation in the survey to enable more Anglican churches to collect their own data through the survey, and help the survey better serve the Anglican Church by adding questions most relevant to our hāhi. 

The Tikanga Pākehā Conference concluded with Bishop of Auckland Rt Rev Ross Bay presiding at a Eucharist held in St Margaret's Anglican Church in Hillsborough, the venue for the day. 

In his sermon for the closing Eucharist, Archbishop Justin called on Tikanga Pākehā to judge its success at Te Hīnota Whānui this week on the quality of relationships built, rather than only on outcomes achieved.

"This week as we pivot to governance and decision-making at the General Synod, we have the call of Jesus on us as to how we go about that." he said.

"Will we treat people transactionally, or will we weave people together?" he asked.

"I think if we get there by weaving people together, by caring for people, by seeing people in their lostness and pain and taking the time to weave people together, then I think we'll be a better church for it."