Tō tātou Tiriti (our Treaty)

But Te Tiriti is not just for Māori (tangata whenua) and those with British ancestry. Rather, Te Tiriti is for all Tauiwi (non-Māori, tangata tiriti) who have come to – and whose offspring have given birth to generations of diversifying iwi in – Aotearoa New Zealand.

Tauiwi have come from ngā hau e wha (the four winds), in the footsteps (or bootstraps) of the British Empire – owing in large part to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Te Tiriti has played a significant role in the formation, development, and preservation of Aotearoa, New Zealand, as a nation and society.

Te Tiriti is formative, but many in the diverse, modern Māori and Tauiwi communities are unaware of and even unconcerned with, the roles and impacts that Te Tiriti played in the formation, development, and preservation of Aotearoa, New Zealand as a nation and society.

Te Hāhi Weteriana and Te Tiriti

Te Tiriti has played a key role in shaping the bicultural partnership imbedded in the culture of Te Hāhi Weteriana / Methodist Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand. It is central to how we are and do church. This is evident clearly in two places:

(1) the declaration in the mission statement of Te Hāhi Weteriana: ‘The Treaty of Waitangi is the covenant establishing our nation on the basis of a power-sharing relationship, and will guide how we undertake mission’.

(2) and the decision at the 1983 Methodist Conference (Takapuna) that affirms the vision to be a bicultural church for the purposes of, among other concerns, ‘sharing of power’.”

Te Tiriti is formative for Te Hāhi Weteriana, but some members of Te Hāhi Weteriana are not aware and even refuse to see the impact of Te Tiriti in how we are and do church in Te Hāhi.

Tō tātou Tiriti

At the Conference in November, we will launch a collection of essays that encourages engagement with Te Tiriti, inviting all members of Te Hāhi to treat Te Tiriti as our treaty.

The impetus for the book has also come as a response to a growing desire to revitalise our connexional relationships, to know and live into our shared whakapapa as Te Hāhi. The energy was consolidated after a panel on Wesley Day 2024 (25 May) that discussed the relationship between Te Hāhi and Te Tiriti.

The members of that panel were Arapera Ngaha, Nicola Teague Grundy, Susan Thompson, and Sylvia ‘Akau‘ola Tongotongo. The panel was facilitated by Tara Tautari, with an audience of both Māori and Tauiwi.

The presentations by the members of the panel, together with the framing narrative that the facilitator provided, were revised, updated, redirected and included in this book – to provide the pou and frame for the conversations that this book seeks to inspire.

Other participants at the Wesley Day 2024 celebration, as well as some diehard friends of Trinity Methodist Theological College, were invited to contribute short reflections to complement the concerns raised by the panel. This book is, therefore, a collaboration, calling on all readers to “listen up” to and be responsible for Te Tiriti.

Tō tātou pukapuka

Tō tātou Tiriti (our Treaty) is the second volume of Kōrero mai – a book series by Trinity Methodist Theological College. There is a preface, foreword, and 15 short chapters in this pukapuka.

Each contribution has its objectives and drives, but together, they share the desire for readers to take Te Tiriti o Waitangi seriously. As (members of) Te Hāhi Weteriana, we are who we are, and we do what we do in the shadows of Te Tiriti.

Te Tiriti is our treaty, hence the title for this edition of Kōrero mai – Tō tātou Tiriti (our treaty). This is not about ownership and being possessive but about being responsible and accountable; and more importantly, it is about ‘setting the table’ and inviting kōrero / talanoa (conversations).

We invite congregations and communities to use the contributions to this book as starting points for group study and kōrero / talanoa on critical matters to our church and society. We draw special attention to matters related to bi- and multi-culturalism, power-sharing, Bible, theology, climate justice, and worship.

We suggest taking a chapter each week for members of your congregation and community to read and then come together to discuss your observations and responses. You do not need to agree, but to open up to the wisdom of the gatherings!

You may start with the questions for further reflection at the end of each chapter, together with he inoi / prayer. But you should not end with those. Rather, you should raise your questions relevant to your settings and concerns.

2024+

It is our dream that there will be a follow-up collection in the vernacular languages – te reo and sister tongues. Watch this space!