Waitangi

Today should be a celebration of the gospel of Jesus. In all the tension around the treaty, we can forget the massive role that Christianity played. The missionaries were the strongest advocates for Māori. They pushed for British law to restrain lawless settlers. They defended Māori rights and land. They opposed the New Zealand Company’s aggressive colonisation. They urged the Crown to protect Māori from exploitation. They helped both sides understand one another, encouraging chiefs to sign because they genuinely believed it would safeguard Māori wellbeing. Missionaries were trusted by the chiefs more than the Crown itself. Hōne Heke and Tāmati Wāka Nene both cited their Christian faith as a reason for signing. After the signing, Hobson shook hands with the chiefs and said, “We are now one people,” echoing Galatians 3.28.

The Christian worldview of the missionaries shaped the framework of Te Tiriti. They believed people would value honesty and honour agreements because they feared God. The Treaty was signed by believers—Hobson, Busby, with Williams and Clarke present, and 500 Chiefs. At the time, almost half of Māori in NZ were following Christ. But things have changed. Many political leaders now reject God, refusing to honour Him or seek His help, and many Māori are returning to animism. It is unrealistic to reject God in parliament yet expect Him to hear prayers on the Treaty grounds, just as it is unrealistic to expect Maori to find peace without forgiving. The tension we feel today is that a document shaped by Christian thinking cannot be lived out by parties who no longer think Christianly. Covenant thinking requires faithfulness, honouring God, and honouring one another. When that is lost, relationships collapse into leverage and mistrust.

Obviously, what would help the Treaty to work as intended would be for all parties to return God. Reconciliation is not political and not another handout; it is relational. It looks like bowing together before Jesus, receiving God's mercy and grace, humility, listening, forgiving, and rebuilding trust. It means acknowledging pain and also the blessings that came from the arrival of Pakeha. The Treaty matters because people matter. In the meantime, believers can live as one people even when others do not. We can acknowledge progress, pursue justice without hostility, and remember that without the gospel, today’s debate is like arguing over who gets to be captain and who will have the biggest cabin, all while the boat is sinking.