Issue 25: 23 February 2006
Nga Rangatahi o Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa News

Challenge to Change
Raymond Hina joins the Te Māra Team as Manu Kokiri (Youth Enabler) in Te Wai Pounamu

Ko Taranaki te maunga, ko Waitotara te awa, ko Pakaraka te marae, ko Nga Rauru Ki Tahi te iwi, ko Ngati Maika te hapu. Raymond (31) is the eldest of 5 children and he attended Wanganui Boys College and then Massey University. At Massey Raymond gained a Bachelor in Applied Science (Horticulture) and followed that with a Diploma in Business Studies majoring in Public Relations.

Raymond’s passions are gardening and politics. Raymond has started a community garden “Te Māra o Kehe Mane” which is an outreach ministry to people in the community. Raymond often has rangatahi working in the garden, getting closer to God’s creation and developing life skills and disciplines.

Raymond’s other passion, politics, is about “empowering people”. At the age of 20 Raymond stood for New Zealand First in Rongotai, losing by a huge margin but learning a lot in the process. Nowadays Raymond is committed to making a change through the Maori Party, and is currently the Rangatahi representative for Te Tai Tonga.

As half-time Manu Kokiri in Te Wai Pounamu Raymond works alongside Reverend Terry Timutimu to plant the seeds of an effective and sustainable rangatahi ministry across the Hui Amorangi. A large part of the work is to identify and nurture a new generation of diverse and dynamic rangatahi leadership within the Church, in the form of Manu Karakia. This mahi takes the form of anything from organising rangatahi ministry programmes such as the Summer and Winter Schools through to mentoring the Manu Karakia.

In his role Raymond works both with the Te Māra team and reports to Bishop John Gray as part of the ministry life of the Hui Amorangi. Raymond feels “inspired” by the Bishop, and really looks forward to working with the rest of the Hui Amorangi ministry team.

For the future, Raymond sees “many opportunities and challenges in this Haahi.” He feels “fortunate to be chosen to help revive and empower our rangatahi… my challenge is to challenge myself and others to look at things from a different perspective, to look at things from another person’s eye. Only together can we see clearly the path that God has made for us all.”

TE KUPU NEWS

One of the exciting workshops held at the Tikanga Youth Exchange 06 was a Creative Workshop that brought together talented young people from across our church. They combined their skills into a selection of songs that have been recorded and are now available on the TORU: Anglican Centre For Youth Ministry website at  http://www.toru.org.nz/tyemusic.htm

Te Māra Calendar 2006
To find out what’s up around the motu this year, visit the Te Māra Calandar at the Te Māra website
http://www.rangatahi.org.nz/temara/CALENDAR.HTM

Important Coming Events

TE KUPU LINK


Youth Yeah!
http://www.youthyeah.com
Youth Yeah! is a celebration of the young people in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The Youth Yeah! website has everything you need to know for Youth Yeah!, including resources, visions, events, and even 100 good and crazy ideas for Youth Yeah! Check it out!



TE KUPU INFO

Te Kupu is published fortnightly by Te Māra Rangatahi Ministry School. Feel free to copy this and distribute it to your networks. For more information visit the Te Kupu website at RUIA, www.rangatahi.org.nz. Contact the editor Hirini Kaa on hirini@rangatahi.org.nz