'Korero tuku iho,' mission to merger : [electronic resource] : exploring the stories of Māori-Baptist engagement in the Lower Waikato / Caleb Tangaroa Haurua.

Thesis (M.App.Theol.)--Carey Graduate School, 2017.

Includes bibliographical references.

This study focuses on the historical interactions between Māori and Baptists through the Lower Waikato Baptist Māori Mission in the mid-20th century in Aotearoa New Zealand. It was unique in that it was the first mission amongst Māori supported by the wider Baptist Union of Churches and would precipitate an outburst of multiple works across the country. However much of its progression, eventual conclusion and overall impact has been largely undocumented - forgotten except by those who experienced it directly.An attempt to fill the gap in the literature, this qualitative study positions mātauranga Māori at the centre of the research using oral narratives from Māori. Knowledge held in Māori communities about Māori-Baptist engagement in the Lower Waikato is explored, as is, the significance of these stories for the Baptist Movement generally. Utilising Kaupapa Māori methodology, the various phases of the mission and other significant events that followed are historically and theologically interpreted from Māori perspectives as a counterbalance to other forms of telling and writing history. By doing so, the study weaves together unique Māori Christian perspectives providing a timely contribution to local and national dialogue about Christian mission and ministry in Aotearoa New Zealand today.