Ngā Here - The Many Connections

Ngā Here - The Many Connections is a project funded by The Wilberforce Foundation in partnership with Scripture Union NZ (Seasons 1 and 2) and A Rocha Aotearoa NZ (Season 3). Produced by James Beck, with creative direction from the Revered Spanky Moore.

Haerenga Tuatahi

Over the years we’ve noticed that there are a lot of us who can see that our planet is a bit broken and that how we live as a people in Aotearoa is a bit broken too - and we’ve got some pretty big questions.

Questions about what the Bible might have to say about the way we live and care for creation. Questions about how we can deeply connect with the world around us and each other. Questions about why the church seems so useless when it comes to caring for God’s creation. And questions about how Māori and Pākehā can learn from each other, and grow together.

So if you’re keen - we would love to invite you to come along on this crazy, beautiful, journey with me, Waiora Te Moni, and Dr Andrew Shepherd - as we explore Ngā Here - The Many Connections that exist between creation, the Bible and living in Aotearoa.

Haerenga Tuarua

In Season Two we explore some important questions about our relationship to land and to place. Questions like, how we can feel more connected to the places where we physically live when we are also living in an online, disconnected, concrete-covered world. Questions about how we should care for and respect the whenua - when the economic system we’re in seems to see it as something to be used and abused?  And as weird as this might sound… Questions about the difference between dirt and soil - and how so much of the stuff that we take for granted, might actually hold the key to living a truly abundant life here in Aotearoa.

So if you’re keen -  we would love you to come on another crazy, beautiful, journey with us - as over 6 episodes we explore Ngā Here - The Many Connections that exist between Creation, the Bible and living in Aotearoa.

Haerenga Tuatoru

For the first couple of seasons of Ngā Here, we went to a secluded hut on Te Pataka o Rakaihautū - Banks Peninsular so that we could be surrounded by ngahere to talk about Ngā Here - the many connections and the many questions that so many of us have. Questions like what does the bible have to say about the state of our planet? How do we live faithfully in a nation that is working through the impacts of colonisation? And how is the Church called to respond to our aching world?

As we talked we realised that our land, our whenua has more stories to tell us, and that we would need to go on a haerenga to pay attention to those stories and hear what the whenua is trying to say to us. So this season we decided to travel from Te Puke to Taranaki, to listen to the land, to hear it's groans, and to see what the Spirit might be saying to us through the painful history of our whenua.

So if you’re keen - we would love you to come on another crazy, beautiful, journey with us - as we continue to explore Ngā Here - The Many Connections that exist between Creation, the Bible and living in Aotearoa.

Special Episodes

Peter Harris is the co-founder of A Rocha, a Christian environmental organisation - and the organisation behind Eco Church. Hear a bit of the story of someone who has spent their life following Jesus exploring the intersections between Christianity and conservation.

Tony Rinaudo is an agronomist and Christian missionary who developed a method that has restored millions of hectares of degraded land in Africa. Known as "The Forest Maker," Tony has spent over three decades working in the field, primarily in Niger, where he pioneered FMNR to combat desertification, improve food security, and enhance livelihoods. His innovative approach leverages the power of local communities to restore native vegetation, sequester carbon, and boost biodiversity. His work has earned global acclaim, including the Right Livelihood Award.