Te Kare o Ngā Wai
Indigenous Theological Research Centre
Na, ko te wāhi e whakaminea ai te hunga tokorua, tokotoru rānei, he whakaaro ki tōku ingoa, kai reira ahau kai wāenganui i a rātau.
“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them”
Matiu 18.20
Traditional Maori Whare Wānanga (houses of learning) were often given names that were esoteric and metaphorical more than literal. This enabled them to live into the space of the name, exploring its meanings and edges, its possibilities and creative nuances.
Te Kare o Ngā Wai is a name that reminds us that at the beginning of creation – always at its essence a profoundly good project – the Spirit hovered, God dreamed, and the Creative Word was spoken.
Te Kare o Ngā Wai Indigenous Theological Research Centre is committed to living out the Te Rau College mission through deliberative and collaborative inquiry by developing, critically examining, communicating, or otherwise engaging the rich resources of Mihinare thought and imagination. Te Kare o Ngā Wai serves as a hub for scholarship, interdisciplinary research, innovative pedagogy, and creative outreach and teaching.
INNOVATIVE PROJECTS
Te Ātea o Te Auaha
Te Kare o Ngā Wai is committed to creative and innovative activity that critically examines and advances our programmes, events, initiatives, and pedagogy.
THE POWER OF MUSIC
Waiata Tira
“Releasing the Power of the Poetic Voice and the Prophetic Imagination
Our history shows that whenever there have been successful movements for spiritual change and renewal within Te Tairāwhiti they have been led by the poetic voice and the prophetic imagination.
Waiata Tira is used to denote choral singing and choir groups, but more simply means singing together or as a group. It is used here to call to mind and evoke the power and inspiration that comes through people of faith singing as one.
Waiata Tira is a pilot project to identify how the archetypes of prophet and poet have been formed over time in Te Tairāwhiti, what it is that they evoke in the communities within which they operate, and how they elicit such powerful and lasting spiritual and emotional responses such that it inspires hope and transformation.
Alongside this research, this project will identify and nurture new composers, tira leaders, and tira, or singers and singing groups, in the tradition of the poets and prophets of Te Tairāwhiti—as tools for ministry and evangelism, education and inspiration, and the expression of unity and common purpose. This will include traditional choirs, Māori cultural theatre and performance, and modern and innovative expressions of song and performance, creating in turn a tūrangawaewae or standing place within which this ministry can thrive.
GARDENING-DISCIPLESHIP
Tipu Ora
“Thriving whānau growing high-quality kai sustaining communities”
Tipu Ora, literally means a “living seedling”. As the name of this project it refers both to the activity of caring for creation, tending to and nurturing life through gardening, and nurturing the abundant life of whanau and communities.
Tipu Ora is a pilot project to create Christ-centred communities of gardeners as sites of active-reflective wānanga – an innovation and shift of our current theological educational offering, in the Church more broadly and in Te Tairāwhiti, from theoretical learning in the classroom to intentional, transferable, and active-reflective learning in our homes and communities.
Teaching love of neighbour and radical manaakitanga by doing, gardeners will be discipled and gardens established in homes and churches through fundamentally transferable practice – making ‘Gardener-disciples’ who make ‘Gardener-disciples’ – as learning experiences and tools tying theological education to practice. This will realise the use of God’s gift of creation in Te Tairāwhiti as the Whare Wānanga or classroom.
THE VOICE OF CREATION
Taonga Pūoro
“E ngā mea katoa e whai manawa ana, whakamoemititia a Ihowā. Whakamoemititia a Ihowā.” – Waiata 150.6
From its inception, when “the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy” (Job 38:7), to its consummation, when “every creature in heaven and on earth…and all that is in them” will sing to the Lamb on the throne (Rev. 5:13), creation is musical. Human music-making participates in the music of creation and reflects the order, beauty, and diversity of God’s creation.
Taonga Pūoro, traditional Māori muscial instruments, sing with the voice of creation – of the elements, of creatures, of forests, of the mountains, rivers, land, and sea.
Through the exploration of Taonga Pūoro, as makers and practitioners, Te Rau College brings together its wānanga on creativity and creation through its exploration and use of traditional Māori muscial instruments. From the melodic instruments–such as kōauau and pūtōrino, pūkāea and pūtātara–to rhythmic instruments–such as pūrerehua, poi awhiowhio, and tumutumu–TRC’s Taonga Pūoro project explores the use of Taonga Pūoro in prayer, meditation, devotion, and liturgy, as well as being a space to wānanga a an indigenous theology of creativity and creation.
EDUCATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
Ngā Hikuawa
Te Rau Theological College enhances the development and delivery of its theological education and ministry training through several strategic educational partnerships.
FEATURED PARTNERSHIP: LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY
TRC has worked with the Department of Theology of Loyola Marymount University (LMU), Los Angeles, for the better part of 20 years. In that time, it has welcomed and led over 250 LMU undergraduate and postgraduate students on its Kawea Te Rongopai pilgrimages through Te Tairāwhiti.
TRC has also partnered with teachers from LMU in delivering intensive seminars immersing students in the historical and present context of Catholic and Episcopal indigenous ministry within Southern California.
Advancing our efforts to establish “Ko Te Tairāwhiti Te Whare Wānanga” – that is, the environment, ancestral gathering places, and people as our classroom – these initiatives serve the ongoing capacity development of our teachers and communities to maintain and share our story of whakapono and to continue to be inspired by, and add to, an intergenerational vision for our people.
I hangā e ia ngā mea katoa kia ātaahua i tōna wā anō: ā i whakanohoia e ia te ao ki ō rātau ngākau…
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart...
Kaikauhau 3.11
CONTACT US
Whakapā Mai
Tūranganui ā Kiwa / Gisborne, NZ
+64 (9) 867 8856
enquiries@teraucollege.ac.nz