Hamiltonte Háhi Weteriana O Aotearoa
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ONFERENCE ANDBOOK C H Methodist Conference 2014 HamiltonTe Háhi Weteriana o Aotearoa CONTENTS Welcome to Conference 2014 .................................................. Page 2 Where We Gather ..................................................................... Page 4 Powhiri: Welcome to Conference ............................................. Page 6 The Names of Those Who Have Died During the Year ............ Page 7 General Information Introduction to Conference ..................................................... Page 8 Directions to Venues ............................................................. Page 8 Parking ................................................................................. Page 8 Registration/Information/Help Desk .......................................... Page 9 Conference Arrangements Committee ..................................... Page 9 Telephones and Fax .............................................................. Page 9 Bank & Postal Facilities ........................................................... Page 10 Meals .................................................................................. Page 10 Transport ............................................................................. Page 10 First Aid ............................................................................... Page 10 Medical Clinics & Pharmacy ................................................... Page 10 Fire and Emergency Procedures .............................................. Page 10 Other Enquiries ...................................................................... Page 10 The President & Vice-President ................................................ Page 11 Chaplains of Conference ......................................................... Page 11 Conference Hosts ................................................................. Page 11 What Will Happen at Conference? .......................................... Page 12 Other Events During Conference ............................................. Page 14 Roles of People & Groups at Conference ................................ Page 15 Conference Contact Numbers ................................................. Page 17 Location of the Conference Venues ........................................ Page 20 Page 1 WELCOME TO CONFERENCE 2014 Tena koutou katoa Talofa lava Mālō e lelei Ni san bula vinaka Greetings to you all Welcome to the Methodist Church of New Zealand, Te Haahi Weteriana o Aotearoa 2014. For this Conference we have chosen as our theme: “A time to sow, a time to grow” Conference 2014 will be held in Hamilton and the Claudelands Events Centre on Heaphy Terrace will be the venue for our weekend celebrations. Our business sessions of Conference will be held at Wintec, Tristram St, Whitiora, Monday to Wednesday. Conference will begin with the Powhiri and Welcome on Saturday 15 November at 10.00am, followed by a short break. The Opening Worship and Service for a time of remembering and honouring those who have served the Connexion and who have died since Conference last year will follow at 11.00am. Lunch for all will follow after the service. Families of the deceased will be hosted by President Rex and Vice President Jan served in Heaphy 1 room and all others will have lunch in the upstairs lounge area. The Induction Service for President and Vice-President will take place at 2pm. Later in the afternoon there will be a service for the Celebration of Life and Leadership of those Connexional appointments, presbyters and lay people who retire at this Conference and in the evening a Conference Dinner will be held with a celebration of 30 years of our church’s Bicultural Journey. On Sunday morning we will all join together in morning worship led by Tumuaki Diana Tana and Director Mission Resourcing, Aso Samoa Page 2 Saleupolu. Te Taha Maori and Tauiwi meetings follow morning worship, Te Taha Maori in the Oakley Room and Tauiwi in the Claudelands Arena. The Ordination Service will commence at 2:00pm Sunday afternoon and will conclude with the Commissioning of the Tauiwi Chidren, Young People and Families Ministry National Co-ordinator. There are a large group of Ordinands this year and so from the conclusion of this service there will be free time to allow family time for everyone. Business sessions will take place from Monday to Wednesday. During the Conference we will welcome visitors and special guests on Tuesday evening from 7:00pm. Each day will begin and close with worship. Our Chaplains Rev Joohong Kim and Nicola Grundy will take our devotions on Monday, Sinoti Samoa on Tuesday and Te Taha Maori will lead the morning worship on Wednesday. Conference will conclude on Wednesday afternoon with the Covenant Service. It is our hope that this Conference will provide opportunities and challenges that will move us forward into the future, a future that embraces and celebrates our bicultural journey and the diversity that is Te Haahi Weteriana o Aotearoa, the Methodist Church of New Zealand. May we continue to grow our faith, to grow our unique and individual gifts and to contribute to the growth and development of this, our Church here in Aotearoa. Rev Tovia Aumua, President Dr Arapera Ngaha, Vice-President Page 3 WHERE WE GATHER The Waikato Waiariki District: Brief Historical Overview Waikato Maniapoto peoples belong to the tribal area called Tainui, who recognise King Tuheitia Paki as the current head. Te Wherowhero of the Waikato was chosen to be the first Maori King in 1856, at Pukawa on the western shore of Lake Taupo. Waiariki (Bay of Plenty) which is part of the District comprises many tribal groups. In Maori whakapapa (genealogy), mountains and rivers are uniquely linked with the tangata whenua and iwi. In the Waikato, the mountains Pirongia, Taupiri, Maungatautari, Te Aroha and Karioi are especially significant. The Waikato River provided physical and spiritual sustenance for large populations of Maori living along its catchment. It was also an important waka route. A well-known saying about the Waikato River uses taniwha as a metaphor for chiefs: ‘Waikato taniwha rau, he piko he taniwha, he piko he taniwha’ (Waikato of a hundred taniwha, on every bend a taniwha). This saying attributes the power and prestige of the Waikato tribes to that of the river. With the arrival of European settlers in the 1840s and 1850s the Waikato River was the main access route inland for traders and missionaries. This year also marks the commemoration of a number of battles in Waikato, Maniapoto with the British army where many lives were lost and large scale land confiscations resulted. Of particular note is the sacking of the Mission Church in February 1864 at Rangiaowhia where the elderly, women and children took shelter from the battle and were massacred. Respected academic and Ngāti Apakura kaumātua, Tom Roa, notes that on Anzac day we say ‘lest we forget’ but for us, Ngāti Apakura, Ngāti Hinetū, we urge that for all New Zealand ‘we must remember’. Influential Maori leaders who helped the establishment of Wesleyan missions in the Waikato-King Country include Tarawhiti, Hamiora Ngaropi, Wiremu Patene and Wiremu Nera (Te Awaitaia) The District has its roots in Maori Mission work from the 1830s on. The work begun by the Revs Woon, Whiteley and Wallis and Maori evangelists such as Wiremu Neera, stretched from Port Waikato to Mokau and inland to the Waipa River. After the New Zealand wars of the 1860s Waikato Methodism shifted its focus to founding and developing congregations among colonial settlers. One of the pioneer ministers of this early period in the Waikato was Rev Joseph Berry, appointed to the Waikato in 1867. The first churches in the District were built initially in Hamilton, Cambridge, Pukerimu and Te Awamutu. The Thames goldfields were opened in 1867 and by 1870 Thames became a separate circuit. For many years the Waikato-Bay of Plenty was called the South Auckland District, extending Page 4 from Taumarunui in the south to Huntly in the north, and Raglan in the west to Opotiki in the east. The boundary of the District as it is at present was decided by Methodist Conference in 1963. The Synod stretches from Huntly to Turangi and Taumarunui and from Raglan and Kawhia on the west coast to the Coromandel Peninsula and Opotiki in the east. The District name was changed from South Auckland (with the Rev Bill Laws as the last Chairman) to Waikato-Bay of Plenty District, with the Rev Roy Jamieson MBE, E.D., minister at Te Aroha, as the first District Chairman; the Secretary was the Rev Robert H Allen B.A. (Tauranga) and the Financial Secretary was S V Leach. In the same year (1963) the Women's Guild Fellowship and the Women's Missionary Fellowship were combined to form the Methodist Women's Fellowship. The District is now known as Waikato-Waiariki, and contains some 33 parishes and about 50 regular Sunday congregations. Only 6 of the parishes in the District remain Methodist, the other 27 are Union or Cooperating parishes with Methodist as well as Presbyterian/Anglican/Church of Christ/ Congregational membership. A variety of ministries are exercised within this area including those of local congregations (English-speaking, Tongan, Fijian and Samoan), hospital and tertiary chaplaincies, Methodist City Action, Tamahere Eventide Home and the Epworth Camp. Epworth Camp was developed on gifted land on the banks of the Waikato River, with the first camp held there in 1951. Previously, separate boys and girls bible class camps were held throughout the district after