Introducing Our New Māori Evangelist

Jun 28, 2023 | News

By Troy Nathan, NZCMS Māori Evangelist

How I Met Jesus

I met Jesus in Waikeria on July 26 in 1982. While inside the Waikeria prison, after I phys­ic­ally abused a white man, he later came back to see me with a chocol­ate and Bible. I thought he was a nut case in all honesty. It made me ques­tion, who comes back to gift someone who has phys­ic­ally hurt them? In my world before Christ, nobody did this.

It was later that night when I opened the Bible and came to a verse in Romans chapter 12 verse 20 which says:

“Na, ki te mate hiakai tou hoa riri, whan­gainga; ki te mate wai, whakai­n­u­mia: ki te penei hoki to mahi, ka pur­anga­tia e koe nga waro kapura ki runga ki tona mātenga.”

“But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.”

I cried and felt a heav­i­ness lift off of me, a heav­i­ness I didn’t know I even had. This led me to seeking who Christ was. Years later I met Wally Haywood who even­tu­ally became my spir­itual father and nur­tured and guided me in my faith in Ihu Karaiti.

Why I Love Jesus

The word of God is what allows me to fall in love with Jesus con­stantly and every day. My Love for Christ is an every­day per­sonal rela­tion­ship as I know that I would be lost without him. I believe in the for­give­ness that Jesus gives to me because of what he did on that cross. He suffered for me, died for me and rose again to victory for me. That’s why I love him!

My Back­ground

Ko Tuta Moe te Maunga
Ko Mamaranui te Moana
Ko Mahuhu ki te rangi te Waka
Ko Ngati Roroa te Hapu
Ko Ngati Whatua te Iwi
Ko Taita te Marae
Ko Kia Mahara Koutou te Tupuna Whare kei Kaihu
Engari hoki tonu koe ki roto ia Ngapuhi he iwi nui tonu

Tuta Moe is the mountain
Mamaranui is our sea
Mahuhu ki te Rangi is our Canoe
Ngati Roroa is our Subtribe
Ngati Whatua is our main tribe
Taita is the name of the meeting place
Kia Mahara koutou is the name of our Ances­tral house in Kaihu
But we are still part of the larger tribe of Ngaphui.

My Call into the Role of a Māori Evangelist.

It is through whakawhanaungatanga (the process of rela­tion­ship) that my min­is­ter Matua Les has walked with me for over a year within the Māori Anglican church in Te Tai tokerau. He has sat down with me to listen and under­stand some of my back­ground and walk with God. This promp­ted him to ask me if I would con­sider a role with the Māori Evan­gel­ists in Te Takiwa o Manukau partnered with the NZCMS, to which I respon­ded pos­it­ively to. I have accep­ted that this is a calling from God for me and where I am able to con­tinue to serve God and his people.

Learn more about the Māori Evan­gel­ist Initiative 

9 Comments

  1. Liz Hay

    Thank you, Tessa. I remem­ber Ray (and Jean) very warmly from our time at St Tim’s before we left for St John’s College at the begin­ning of 1987, and was excited many years later to learn of their visit to the Elli­otts in Uganda. (We visited them in 1997 on study leave.) That visit, and a later one, showed their quiet growth in faith and mission during the years. I praise God for Ray’s life and service, and pray for the Com­fort­er’s pres­ence to be so close to Jean.

    Reply
  2. Caleb Croker

    Hey there,

    A friend of mine told me about you guys and I’d love to come along on Monday!

    Cheers,
    Caleb Croker

    Reply
    • Rosie

      Hi Caleb, I’ve just seen your message. I apo­lo­gise that this was missed. I assume you’re talking about the Ser­i­ously Inter­ested in Mission group? The next one is August 11 and we’d love you to join. Can you email us at office@​nzcms.​org.​nz (Rosie writing here)

      Reply
  3. Pamelq

    Thank you Tessa

    Reply
  4. Katherine

    Thank you Arch­deacon Fran. Mothers Union appre­ci­ated your input when we visited the Far North recently. Your wisdom and wise counsel made it a mem­or­able weekend. God bless you in your new role.

    Reply
  5. Rosie Fyfe

    Rev Fran, you and Rapiata are a gift to the Church. May the Lord bless you as you serve in this next season

    Reply
  6. Pauline Elliott

    With ref­er­ence to the article ‘By invit­a­tion not inva­sion’. My husband and I were involved with CMS from the 1960s onward and this was always the atti­tude of CMS lead­er­ship. They deferred to the church lead­er­ship opin­ions whenever pos­sible, wherever there was a local church. I’m not aware if this has change. It isn’t some­thing new.

    Reply
    • Rosie Fyfe

      Hi Pauline,
      I agree with you!! I don’t think this has changed, just good to re-iterate why and we send mission part­ners. This is Rosie writing — hope you’re doing well!

      Reply
  7. Pamela McKenzie

    Yes Pauline it was the same for Alan and me. When we went to Singa­pore 1966–69 it was in response to a request from the Bishop oof Singa­pore and Malaya.

    Reply

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