Unity (3) Community

Stolen Community
British settlers left behind whatever community they had when they came to New Zealand. They did not understand that they could learn about community from Maori. Pakeha were restless people without community, so they presumed that Maori were the same.

In the 1950s and 60s, Pakeha persuaded Maori to leave their remaining land and communities and move to the cities to work in the freezing works and car assembly factories, so they could share in Pakeha wealth. They would find a good home in state houses in Porirua and Otara, and they would be able to afford a Holden or Ford V8 in which to drive back to the marae if they needed to. Of course, that soon became too hard for people who worked long shifts. Unfortunately, these jobs disappeared twenty years later, and Maori dropped into urban poverty, without the support of their traditional communities.

I once thought that that the worst thing that the Pakeha did to Maori was stealing their land, but in some ways destroying their communities was an even greater evil.

Norm McLeod said,

When the settlers stole the land, they took the soul of the people.

I say,

When they took their community, they destroyed the heart of the people.

Religious Colonisation
Because they had no understanding of community, the Pakeha settlers brought an Old Testament priest/temple concept of church here. Build a mini-temple, go there once a week on the Sabbath (three times a year if you are slack) to meet with the priest and during the rest of the week, you can get on with making money.

Going to a building where the Holy Spirit dwells is an Old Testament model. The Israelites had to operate that way, because the Holy Spirit had not been poured out on all flesh. Jesus changed that on the day of Pentecost by pouring out his Holy Spirit on his people, outside of the temple where everyone could see. Under the New Testament model, the Holy Spirit is with the people of Jesus, so they carry him out to where people live in darkness and dwell with them, allowing his light to shine in the darkness.

When Jesus sent out the twelve and seventy apostles, they went into a village or a street and stayed in the home of the person of peace. They discipled the people in the street or village who chose to follow Jesus when they saw the sick healed and the demons cast out. They became a community bound together by their love for Jesus and each other that brought social transformation to that village or street.

The land over which they had authority became territory that belongs to Jesus. This expanded the Kingdom of God on earth, by giving authority of this territory to Jesus.

Once a Kingdom Community was in place, they then went out to another street or village and repeated the process. In this way, communities were strengthened, society was transformed, and the territory where Jesus had authority expanded.