rural ministry
Rural Conversations
Bishop Philip and the Venerable Sue Burns are co-leading a series of rural conversations across the Diocese. This reflects our diocesan commitment to rural ministry and research. Sue has collected an enormous amount of data and compiled reports for every rural meeting. This research will inform the meeting that takes place in Te Kuiti on May 29 (beginning at 10am with morning tea and concluding at 3pm).
Representatives of all ministry units are warmly invited to this workshop which will reflect on the findings of the consultation process. The workshop will also draw on a number of examples of rural development in mission and ministry.
Please rsvp Bishop's PA bishopspa@Wtanglican.nz
resources
Theology of the Land
In May 2021, our Diocese hosted the Tikanga Pakeha Ministry Council Rural Ministry Conference. The keynote speakers' presentations were recorded and are available below. We urge you to explore these excellent resources in your communities.
Biblical Theology of the Land
A theology of the land rooted in Hebrew Scripture (with specific reference to the theology of Jubilee in Leviticus).
Rev Dr Jekheli Kibami-Singh (May 2021, Kirikiriroa-Hamilton)
He mana Whenua, He Mana manaaki
Toward a Maori theology of Jubilee.
Atipihopa Don Tamihere (May 2021, Kirikiriroa-Hamilton)
Land as the Embodiment of Woundedness
Reconciliation is the foundation for mission: the relationship between land, wealth and power.
Archbishop Sir David Moxon (May 2021, Kirikiriroa-Hamilton)
Rural Economics and Demographics
Preparing for the Future
Ms Sehfali Pawar (Senior Waikato University Researcher) and Prof Frank Scrimgeour (Headof School Accounting, Finance and Economics), present an analysis of rural demographics and economics.
rural research and analysis
The following research has been provided with the express permission of the author, Ann Pomeroy. Ann has done considerable research across the rural sector out of the Centre for Sustainability: Agriculture, Food, Energy and Environment at the University of Otago. Much of this work was sponsored by the Bashford Nicholls Trust or BAF, and considers Taranaki explicitly.
Rural Taranaki
This socio-economic profile of rural and minor urban area in Taranaki and the analysis of trends, changes and differences between people living in Taranaki’s rural districts, rural centres and minor urban areas (see definitions in Annex 3), and rural areas elsewhere in New Zealand, is sponsored by the Bishops Action Foundation.
Reframing the Rural Experience in Aotearoa New Zealand
A scan of social research about rural New Zealand from the 1980s reveals power divisions which have muted the voices of ‘others’. Listening to these voices could transform how we manage the economy, sustain the environment and promote social well-being in future. Rural sociological attention in New Zealand has focused on the people and communities associated with land and resource-based assets, with little attention to the rural majority not engaged in primary production. Indigenous voices are also missing. As Jessica Hutchings argues, decisions on economic development, the environment and social services continue to uphold colonial hegemony as the dominant worldview in Aotearoa New Zealand. By being open to the perspectives of people normally ignored and particularly engaging with indigenous approaches, application of capital and power in development can be rethought and structural inequalities addressed.
Rural Taranaki compared with a selection of other rural areas in New Zealand
This second report looks at the rural components of ten territorial authorities from a perspective similar to that taken in the first report. Emphasis is on population change, age structure, work force and industry engagement (including comparing the industry engagement of people who work in each area against that of people who reside there), unpaid work, education, income, deprivation, ethnicity, and access to the internet, cell-phones and motor vehicles. This report provides an opportunity to see what these ten territorial authorities convey about rural New Zealand, as well as providing the Bishop’s Action Foundation with a comparison of their rural constituents with those in like locations.
Seminar on Rural Social Research in New Zealand
This report, the third in the series, is sponsored by the New Zealand Geographic Society and Massey University’s School of People, Environment and Planning. Initially it was intended to include a contextual section tracking the progress of social research on New Zealand’s rural communities since the 1900s, as a background to the seminar presentations. Unfortunately, the time it is taking to provide this background context has led us to split this report into two parts. This document is now just the proceedings of the seminar held in February 2017, that is, a summary of current research on rural New Zealand from a social perspective, plus updates since the seminar. The context /background will appear in a fourth report. It will include a review of research literature on farm, rural and smalltown communities, people and living conditions.
Rural Areas of Twenty Territorial Authorities
This project (analysing published statistical data rural New Zealand) arose as part of work to address the National Science Challenge brief to improve understanding of the experiences of people living in rural New Zealand and support local efforts to make rural New Zealand more attractive for living, visiting, working and doing business.
Insights from past and present social science literature on the (unequal) development of New Zealand's rural communities
A review of social research on rural New Zealand undertaken as part of the National Science Challenge (NSC 11) “Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities” allows a fresh look at rural development within the context of New Zealand's colonial history. The research suggests that government development programmes and legislation privileged those responsible for producing the bulk of New Zealand's export income. Cultural attitudes, structural inequalities and a failure to understand how the character of, and social relations in, rural areas have changed has impeded particularly Māori economic growth, the participation of women, and non-farm sectors of rural society, to the detriment of all.
More resources coming soon ...
Over the next few weeks additional videos will be added. They include an important rural demographic and economic analysis completed by Waikato University Senior Researchers. In addition, we recorded a series of short presentations from rural ministry representatives in each diocese.
Taranaki Office - Tikituterangi House
566 Mangorei Road
RD 1
New Plymouth
Phone: 06 759-1178
Waikato Office - Charlotte Brown House
104 Morrinsville Road
Te Ara Hou Village
P O Box 21, Hamilton
Phone: 07 857-0020
