Old Relationships Made New

Feb 7, 2023 | News

Te Hauoter­angi (Howard) and Gladys Karaka serve as Māori Evan­gel­ists with Te Pīho­patanga o te Manawa o te Wheke in the Port Waikato area. The Māori Evan­gel­ist ini­ti­at­ive was an invit­a­tion for NZCMS to renew the old rela­tion­ships the first CMS mis­sion­ar­ies had with Māori in the 19th century. Howard was the first ‘new’ evan­gel­ist to partner with NZCMS in 2018, and his wife Gladys has recently joined him in this ministry.

In Decem­ber 2022, Howard and Gladys came to the NZCMS office with a taonga (gift). They wanted to give NZCMS some­thing that rep­res­en­ted this part­ner­ship and rela­tion­ship that has been formed between two people that had been divided; a ‘tying together’ of Te Puaha o Waikato (Port Waikato) and NZCMS.

Intend­ing to give a taonga to NZCMS, Howard went to one of the ladies in his con­greg­a­tion and asked her to make some­thing for us. Her name is Rereoke Shaw. He explained what he wanted the gift to rep­res­ent, this part­ner­ship, and she sug­ges­ted she hand make a Korowai (feathered cloak). This took her months to com­plete as she inten­tion­ally and pray­er­fully chose each element of the Korowai and hand-sewed them together.

“The korowai is very sacred to Māori,” Howard said. “It represents love, peace, unity and restoration. This Korowai represents the broken relationship being restored by God between NZCMS and the people of Te Puaha O Waikato, as we truly stand in unity.

 

“I believe God is bringing healing to Tangata Whenua and Pakeha. This gift represents this healing between two peoples. It represents the act of God putting NZCMS and Māori back together again. That we are now made one people, covered together by the love and presence of God.”

New Zealand Church Missionary Society
Our National Dir­ector, Rosie Fyfe, pic­tured wearing the Korowai with Howard and Gladys Karaka. 

We have a vision to partner with ten full time Māori Evan­gel­ists across New Zealand. Learn how you can support Māori Evangelism.

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

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *