New Maori Moderator appointed to Presbyterian Church

Tu Tangata, Issue 15, 1 December 1983, Page 10

New Maori Moderator appointed to Presbyterian Church

By Lois Turei

-r- wo years ago the Rt Rev. Tame I Takao began theological training. Recently he became the head of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. An ordained minister just a couple of months, Mr Takao became the Moderator, his election being a double achievement in that he is the first Maori to attain the post. His installation took place during the opening day of the church’s annual

General Assembly at Christchurch. He succeeded the Very Rev. David Steedman. More than 1100 people packed into St Paul’s-Trinity-Pacific Church, appropriately a church which has a large number of Polynesian members, for the installation. About 400 Maori supporters attended, many of them from the Tuhoe area in the Bay of Plenty. Mr Steedman told the Assembly that the occasion was a very important moment in the life of the Church.

“It should be clearly understood that he is elected by the whole Church for his particular gifts. What we do here is a big step forward in our relationships between Maori and Pakeha,” he said.

Before the installation ceremony Mr Takao said he would face demanding challenges during his year in office. One of these would be relaying to people the importance of accepting Christ not just as a supreme being but as a person much closer. Another was building more bridges between Maori and Pakeha cultures.

He hoped to be part of the “machinery” in bridging some of the misunderstandings between the two cultures. He also hoped his election would encourage more Maori people to take interest in the church, “not just in the Presbyterian Church but in the church as a whole,” he said.

Addressing the Assembly Mr Takao said the Church was often seen by two different groups of people with different views.

‘‘The idealist sees the church as the church of God: pure, spotless, blameless, and wholly concerned with the salvation of people for the glory of God. The realist sees the church as an institution of people opposed to freedom and greedy for power, immersed in the finance and politics of this world.”

Any change from the status quo to an idealist was a waste of time and unnecessary, and to the realist, it was an impossibility.

‘‘The church therefore is made up of human beings and where there are men and women, there is always a tendency for human failure, and where there is failure there is need for improvement,” he said.

Ministry today was just as demanding as it was in the past but perhaps the outward expressions and approaches differed. However, the challenge and message was still the same, he said.

“I believe that the key to a good ministry is firstly through commitment and obedience to God, and secondly through a good and thorough theological training.”

Mr Takao recently completed two years theological study at Knox College, in Dunedin, where he was ordained in the ministry. Before that he spent six years as the first lay Moderator of the Church’s Maori synod which he said had given him considerable confidence to carry out his role as Moderator of the whole Church.

As a lay Moderator he represented the Church overseas. In 1970 he led a mission to Vanuatu, then called the New Hebrides, and on his return formed the New Hebridean Association. He led two other groups, in 1971 and 1973, on working missions. In 1978 he was the church’s representative at the Ecumenical Conference of Christians of

Asia, in the Phillippines. He has also been an active member on the Board of Turakina Maori Girls’ College, in Marton, since 1975. His daughter has just completed'her fifth form year at the school. A member of the Tuhoe tribe, Mr Takao was raised as a Ringatu, before joining the Presbyterian church when he was 21. Although a bachelor, Mr Takao has adopted four children, three nephews and a niece. Another issue Mr Takao was concerned about was the “barriers” Christians created around themselves and prevented them from communicating with other people. This was a dangerous indication of their increasing isolation and insulation. “What we often ignore or turn away from as ‘distasteful’ or irreligious in modern life only increases our isolation and makes it less possible for people to understand our message. “A way must be found through the barriers of self-satisfaction and false confidence which many of us have built around us.” Creative change was also important, he said. Change in the church was always necessary as the church was not only a divine institution, but also a socialogical human structure. After his year in office, Mr Takao will settle in his parish in Hawkes Bay.