MAORI PROBLEMS OF TODAY THERE IS AN ANSWER

White Ribbon, Volume 30, Issue 4, 1 August 1958, Page 2

MAORI PROBLEMS OF TODAY THERE IS AN ANSWER

By Daphne Brown (City Worker for thr United Maori Mission)

Much couhl he written of the problems confront ing the Maori race. The.problems are apparent and present a very dark picture, unless one can see shining through the darkness the light of a glorious hope, and the evidence that there is a solution adequate to the need. It is this evidence that I would seek to set before you now —the evidence of lives transformed by the power of Christ, set free from the bondage of sin and the curse of drink, to live now for God. Yes, in Christ there is the answer. He alone can meet the need. The United Maori Mission The one aim of the United Maori Mission, since its inception 22 years ago, has been to make this fact known, and over the years thousands of Maori people have heard the Gospel. The Word has gone forth at huis (gatherings) and tangis (deaths), in cottage meetings, Sunday Schools, Bible Classes, Crusader groups, open-air meetings, hospital services, Bible in Schools, Easter and Children s Camps, and in the homes. Then, too, numbers of young people, who have cqme to the city for employment, have come to know Christ through living in our hostels. These Christian homes have not only been a shelter from the snares and temptations of the citv arid the many haunts of Satan, but have helped many on the Christian pathway to noble manhood and womanhood. Many of these Christian young people take pait in Sunday School work, in mission and open-air services, and now’ seek to reach their own people with the Message. Some have gone forth to set un Christian homes, and others in different spheres ot service. The Call Answered One, w’ho is now doing deaconess work, tells of coming to Auckland to seek its pleasures, and because it was difficult for a Maori to find board, she found herself in one of our Mission homes. After a week she intended returning home, but on attending a Mission service heard the call of God, and knew that what she needed was Jesus Christ. She writes, “l know that He has a plan for my life and, as He leads each step of the way, I can claim the word of the hymn-writer, ‘Take my hand and lead me, Father’.” Another, who was for some years in our hostel, is now’ on her third year of nursing training, and maintains a radiant witness for her Lord. In some of the settlements in the North there are those whose lives are further evidence that Christ is the answer. One evening a service was being held in a hui house in one of the settlements. A young man stood outside and listened. His life had its problems Sin held sway. He went home and as he knelt in his room committed his life to Christ, and knew His forgiveness. Today he is respected by the Maori folk for his Christian witness. He teaches in Sunday School, takes services, and uses his home for the glory of God. The Broad and the Narrow Way Maori folk love to be together—the community life is so often spoiled, and sin and sorrow come because of the drink.

I think of one home where parties were once held and a crowd of worldly friends used to gather. The wife writes, “We thought we had happiness, but we were mistaken. Parties were held in the home. One Sunday we went out to my own home, tor one of the missionaries was going to have a service there, and that day he had a large poster of the ‘Broad and Narrow Way’, and as 1 looked at that poster 1 saw the wickedness of our own lives. Our home no more entertains the things of the w’orld \\ e have asked the Lord to use it. On Sundays wc hold a Sunday School for the children round about, and on Thursdays a Bible Class for the older folk. The building that wc live in is not just a house hut a HOME, because Christ is the Head, the unseen guest at every meal, the silent listener to every conversation. Much has been written on the problems of Maori youth. As a Mission we are aware of the fact that 49% of our Maori population is under 16 years of age. Our missionaries seek to bring the message to hundreds of children through our Bible in Schools in 23 Maori schools in the North Mission Stations, and our Sunday SOioo’ classes total more than 30 weekly. Recently two tiny children went home from Sunday School and recited the Memory Text to their parents. Both parents were brought to think on spiritual things. Another boy went home from • our Children’s Camp with a Bible, which in turn caine into the hands of an adult who had never read its message. Auckland W.C.T.U. Hostel In conclusion, I would like to speak of the very vital work being done by your own movement through the W.C.T.U. Hostel for Maori girls in this city. 1 had the privilege of spending 10 days there with the girls last year. What glorious possibilities there are through the work there! One girl is helping at present in the Maori Sunday School and Girls’ Life Brigade. May this tiny glimpse of the evidence in lives that Christ is indeed the answer to the need, fill us all with new hope and challenge us to pray without ceasing for the setting free of thousands of Maori folk still in darkness.