Mahi a te hui o te Hahi Maori o te Takiwa o Tauranga i te Pihopatanga o Waiapu

I tīmata te whakatūranga o te Hāhi Mihingare ki Aotearoa New Zealand i te taenga mai o Te Mātenga ki Te Pēwhairangi i te tau 1814. I pōwhiritia a Mātenga, te minita Mihingare ki Niu Taute Wēra, ki Aotearoa e Te Pahi rāua ko Ruatara, he rangatira ēnei nō Ngāpuhi  ā, ka whakatūria e ia te teihana o te Church Missionary Society (CMS) i Rangihoua i raro i te maru o Ruatara. Nā Thomas Kendall, tētahi o ngā kaikauwhau i te rongopai tuatahi ki  Rangihoua i whakaputa te momo putanga tuatahi o te reo Māori, ‘A korao no New Zealand; or, The New Zealander’s first book’, he mea tā ki Poihākena i te tau 1815.

Ahakoa tokoiti noa te tokomaha o ngāi Māori i huri ki te whakapono hou i te tuatahi, nō te taenga ki ngā tau mai i 1830 me 1840 ka tere kē atu, otirā nō te huringa o ētahi Māori hei kaikauwhau i te rongopai ki ētahi atu iwi, ka tino pērā. Ko tetahi o ēnei ko Piripi Taumata-ā-Kura, he tangata i ako i ngā pūtake o te Whakapono Karaitiana i a ia e noho ana hei mauhere mō Ngāpuhi, nāna hoki aua kōrero i whakahoki ki a Ngāti Porou i tōna tukunga noatanga. I whakatūria hoki he teihana hāhi e ngā kaikauwhau CMS puta noa i te Ika ā-Māui, i Tauranga (1834); i Rotorua (1835); i Ōpōtiki (1839) i Tūranga (Gisborne) anō hoki i te tau 1840. Ko tētahi hua o ēnei mahi kauwhau i te whakapono, waihoki, te ekenga o ngā manene Ingarihi tuatahi kia noho ko rātou te nuinga o te hunga manene kia noho mai, nō te taenga ki 1858 he neke atu i te haurua o te taupori o Aotearoa, he Mihingare, e ai ki te whakaaro.

I poua mai te Rohe Pīhopa o Waiapu i te tau 1858, ā, i te tau o muri mai, ka whakawahia a Pīhopa Wiremu Wiremu (1800-1878) hei Pīhopa tuatahi mō te Rohe. I te tuatahi, i kapi katoa te Moana a Toi me te Tai Rāwhiti mai i Tauranga kiTūranga, ahu whakaroto ki Rotorua me Taupō, i te rohe Pīhopa nei, ā, he Māori te nuinga o te hunga whakapono me ngā minita. Ko ngā hīnota tuatahi (ngā huihuinga o nga minita me ngā kanohi o te hunga i tae ake ki ngā karakia) i whakahaeretia ki te reo Māori, ā, i karanga tētahi mōtini, nā Hēnare Pōtae (?-1895) rāua ko Mohi Tūrei (?-1914) i whakaara i te hīnota tuatahi, kia tāia ngā whakatau o te hīnota ki te reo Māori, kia tohaina whānuitia hoki. Nā reira i tahuri ai te Rohe Pīhopa ki te whakaputa pūrongo mō ana hīnota mō 1861-1865, me ngā pūrongo o muri mai, (1870-1914), ki te reo Māori.

I te hīnota o te tau 1868 nā Wiremu Rēnata Wiremu (1829–1916), tama a te Pīhopa kua tū hoki hei ātirīkona mō Waiapu, i whakaara tētahi mōtini kia taea te whakatū Poari Hāhi Māori (i kīa te ingoa i tērā wā he Hui Nō Te Hāhi Māori). I pērā ai ia, nā tana āwangawanga mā te tini o ngā manene Pakeha i te rohe, e maha haere ana, ka tāmia te reo o ngāi Māori i te taumata o te Rohe Pīhopa. E toru ngā Poari Hāhi Māori i whakatūria i te Rohe Pīhopa o Waiapu: Ko Waiapu (i kīa rā ko Tūranga taea noatia te tau 1907), ko Heretaunga, ko Tauranga. I whakatūria ētahi atu poari hāhi Māori i te Rohe Pīhopa o Tāmakimakaurau (mai i 1872) me Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara (mai i 1901).

I noho ki ngā Poari nei ko te Pīhopa (tana kanohi rānei), ngā minita (he  Māori ētahi, he Pākehā) whai haepapa mō ngāi Māori, me tētahi atu tangata, neke atu i te kotahi rānei, mai i ia pāriha Māori. Ko tō rātou aronga ko ngā take nui o te hāhi Māori, koia ēnei i taua wā, ko te whakatū whare karakia Māori, ko te whakapiki i te utu me te hora whare noho mō ngā minita Māori, me te whakaara moni mō ēnei hiahia.

I tu pūputu tonu ngā huihuinga, ā, ko te tuatahi i tū ki Turanga, i whakatūria ai he hui ki Tūranga i 1870. I whai i muri ko tētahi hui i Te Hātepe i te tau 1871, me tētahi atu ki Ūawa i te tau 1872. I tū te hui tuatahi o te poari o Heretaunga i Pākōwhai i taua tau anō.

I te tau 1890, i tū te hui ngātahi tuatahi mō ngā rohe o Tūranga, o Heretaunga  me Tauranga i Manutūkē. I tū tonu ēnei hui ngātahi o ngā poari e toru o Waiapu ia toru tau i ngā tau o muri mai, ā, i noho ēnei hui hei tīmatanga mō ngā Hui Tōpū i tū puputu i raro i te maru o te Hāhi Mihingare i ngā ngahuru tau o muri mai, i te rau tau rua tekau.

I whakaputaina he pūrongo mai i ngā huihuinga takitahi, hui tōpū hoki ki te reo Māori taea noatia te tau 1914. Kāore i te mārama te take i mutu ai.

The establishment of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand began with the arrival of Samuel Marsden to the Bay of Islands in 1814. The Anglican chaplain in New South Wales, Marsden was invited to visit Aotearoa by Ngāpuhi chiefs Te Pahi and Ruatara, and he established a Church Missionary Society (CMS) station at Rangihoua under Ruatara’s protection. It was Thomas Kendall, one of the first missionaries at Rangihoua, who produced the first written version of te reo Māori, ‘A korao no New Zealand; or, The New Zealander’s first book’, printed in Sydney in 1815.

Although the number of Māori converts was slow to begin with, numbers increased over the 1830s and 1840s, particularly as some Māori became evangelists themselves and spread the Christian message to other iwi. One such was Piripi Taumata-ā-Kura, who learnt of Christianity while a captive of Ngāpuhi and took it back to Ngāti Porou when he was released. Mission stations were also established by the CMS missionaries throughout the North Island, including Tauranga (1834); Rotorua (1835); Ōpōtiki (1839) and Tūranga (Gisborne) in 1840. This missionary work, and the fact that the majority of early colonists were English, meant that by 1858 more than half the population of Aotearoa was believed to be Anglican.

The Diocese of Waiapu was founded in 1858, and the following year, Bishop William Williams (1800-1878) was ordained as its first Bishop. The Diocese initially covered the Bay of Plenty and East Coast from Tauranga to Tūranga and inland to Rotorua and Taupō, and the congregation and clergy were predominantly Māori. The early synods (meetings of clergy and representatives of church goers) were held in te reo Māori and a motion raised at the first synod by Hēnare Pōtae (?-1895) and Mohi Tūrei (?-1914) called for the decisions of the synod to be printed in te reo Māori and widely distributed. As a result the Diocese did publish both the reports of its synods for 1861-1865, and the later reports of the Native Church Boards (1870-1914), in te reo Māori.

At the 1868 Synod William Leonard Williams (1829–1916), son of the Bishop, and by then archdeacon of Waiapu, put forward a motion to allow for Native Church Boards (Hui No Te Hahi Māori) to be established. He did so because he was concerned that that the growing number of Pakeha settlers in the region would swamp Māori voices at the Diocese level. There were three Native or Māori Church Boards established in the Waiapu Diocese: Waiapu (called Turanga up to 1907), Heretaunga, and Tauranga. Other Māori church boards were established in the Diocese of Auckland (from 1872) and in Wellington (from 1901).

The boards consisted of the Bishop (or his representative), local clergy (both Māori and Pakeha) with responsibility for Māori and at least one lay person from each of the Māori pāriha or parishes. Their focus was on the concerns of the Māori church, which at that time was focused on the building of Māori churches, on increasing the stipends and providing accommodation for Māori clergy and on raising money for these needs.

Regular meetings were held, the first by Turanga who held a meeting at Tūranga in 1870. This was followed by a hui at Te Hātepe in 1871, and one at ūawa in 1872. The first meeting of the Heretaunga board occurred at Pākōwhai in the same year.

In 1890, the first joint meeting between Turanga, Heretaunga and Tauranga was held at Manutuke. These joint meetings of the three Waiapu boards subsequently occurred every three years and were the precursors to the Hui Tōpū that became a feature of the Anglican church later in the twentieth century.

Reports from both individual and joint board meetings were published in te reo up until 1914. It is unclear why they stopped.