Rivers Apostolic Centre hosts New Zealand missions team for a joint service on friendship, unity, and collaborative mission
A Sunday service at Rivers Apostolic Centre in Logan, Australia, featuring visiting New Zealand missions teams from Bethel Church and Community Church o Tāngare (CCOT), with messages from Aaron Salisbury, Andy Piggott, and Pastor Rob.
Summary
This episode captures a full Sunday service at Rivers Apostolic Centre, marked by the presence of a New Zealand missions team — the "Kahu" — comprising members from Bethel Church and Community Church o Tāngare (CCOT) from Whangarei. The service opens with communion, led by Ps Aaron Salisbury, who frames the Lord's Table as the antidote to the Fall and an open invitation to receive salvation, healing, and freedom from every curse. Ps Aaron Salisbury also introduces a prophetic theme around the opal as a symbol for Australia and invites Neil and Marie to pray over what he calls the "opal heart" of Australia, referencing Coober Pedy and the gem's spiritual significance. Andy Piggott, introduced as a son of the Rivers house who was saved and baptised in the Holy Spirit in the church's early days, delivers the central message, tracing the historical foundations of the Australia–New Zealand gospel partnership through figures such as Samuel Marsden and the Māori chief Ruatara, from 1809 through to the Anzac era. He argues that the gospel came to Aotearoa New Zealand only through divinely orchestrated collaboration between the two nations, and calls the congregation to repent of self-reliance and embrace an era of collaborative mission. The service includes a traditional mihi by Desmond and a kapa haka performance by the CCOT team — including the haka Te Hari o Ngāpuhi ("the great joy of Ngāpuhi"), which Andy Piggott explains is over 200 years old and was originally performed to celebrate the arrival of the gospel — the presentation of a prophetic gift to Rivers Apostolic Centre representing the huia bird, and a prayer altar call centred on unity and interdependence. The service closes with Andy Piggott extending an invitation to receive a hongi, which he describes as a Māori practice rooted in the breath of the Creator and a sign of unity in him.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Opening Worship and Communion
Aaron Salisbury: Worthy is your name, Lord. There is none worthy like the Lord, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last and everything in between. You are the all in all. You are our God. Lord, worthy is your name, Jesus. Great and mighty are you, Lord God. We give you praise today. We thank you, Lord, for the honor and the privilege of just singing to you and singing about you. For you have called us for this purpose. For man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever and forever and forever and forever and forever and then some more. In the name of Jesus. Hallelujah.
Well, I want to welcome you all today, especially this mob over here. Welcome to our country. Welcome to our tribe. Welcome to our house. It's good to have you with us, and others that are visiting today — welcome. Big welcome to you all, because I think there's a few scattered around, especially you, Neil. You're allowed to come back if you'd behave yourself. And a big welcome today to Andy, who's going to bring us the word soon. Hallelujah.
It's going to take a short time for communion today. When I came into the house here this morning, I heard the voice of my earthly father. Now, he's dead and buried a long time ago. But I heard what he said, and I haven't heard it for decades. I heard this sound: "Come and get it." We were pretty wild kids at our house, and we'd be playing cricket on the street or doing whatever all over the place. And at dinnertime, my dad would let out this amazing whistle that all the neighbourhood knew about. And then he would yell out, "You Underwood kids, come and get it!" Which meant dinner was ready. If you didn't come, you didn't get it. Pretty simple.
And I thought about that as I came in. I thought, wow. When I looked at the table and I saw what's on the dinner table — what's on the table of the Lord — not only are you welcome to our nation and our tribe and our house, more importantly, you are welcome at the table of the Lord. Powerful, powerful place, the table of the Lord. For here is evidence of the breaking of history into two parts: before Christ and after Christ. Every time you write the date, you acknowledge that there was a time — when you write 2026, you are acknowledging 2026 years from when the Christ of God came to the earth. And it's not just a historical event; it's an ongoing participation that we have into the fellowship and into the kingdom of his Son.
So today on the table, it's a very simple table — it's bread and wine. The table that Jesus shared with his disciples just before he was crucified. He took bread and he gave it to them, and he took wine and he poured it out: "Drink all of this." Everything that you need is in the table. Everything that you could ever need is at the table. There's salvation, freedom from sin, the influence of sin, freedom to be washed, to be cleansed, to be made whole before God, because God's holy and you're not. So there's cleansing at the table. There's deliverance at the table. There's healing in the table. There's freedom from every curse — the curse of poverty, sickness, and sin. It's at the table. And as we partake today, we partake of what Jesus left for us as evidence.
He breaks the bread and he says, "This is my body. Take it and eat." And they took and they ate. "This is my blood poured out for you." And they drank of the blood. The antidote to what had happened in the garden. The antidote. When Eve took and she ate and she imbibed sin into herself and into the human race, now Jesus uses the same words. He says, "Take and eat. This is my body." This is redemption. This is the answer.
So I want to say to you today: come and get it. Come and get what's been given and prepared. Come and get it.
Father, I thank you that you have invited us to the fullness of who you are and the fullness of what Christ has done for us. I thank you that we can hear the Father's voice saying, "You kids out on the street, you kids that are out doing all sorts of nonsense, or you kids that have been longing for dinner — come and get it. It's prepared for you today." Come and get the salvation. Come and get the healing. Come and get the freedom from the curse that Jesus has dealt with for us. Come and get it. It's his offering. He's the offering and the offerer. Come and get it.
Father, we thank you for the power in the bread and the wine. We give you praise. We give you the head of the table. Take the head of the table today, right now. And we esteem you higher than every other name — higher than Buddha, higher than every other name that can be given. The name of Jesus. And as Australians and New Zealanders today, we stand united as family, as tribes, to declare Jesus is Lord of all. He is the Lord. Praise the Lord.
Welcome and the Season of Harvest
Well, I just want to echo Rory's welcome today and just say with her: welcome, welcome, welcome. It's a joy to have the river full today, and the river is flowing. If you hang out long enough you'll get caught up in it. If you're on the bank, just step out a little bit more. If you're up to your ankles, just go a little bit deeper, until you're taken over by the love of God. Just turn to your neighbor and just say, "Can you imagine what it would be like to just be taken over by love?"
We are so blessed in the house today. This is a marker day. Every now and then in God there are days that he's been accumulating and building things up, and then he does a day where it's a fullness day. It's like harvest. If we had harvest all the time in our seasons, we'd be overwhelmed before the harvest came in. But the Lord is so good that he prepares us for harvest. He's the God of every season, and we just want to declare in this season right now we want to line up with what the season is.
In the church, God's doing some good things, some amazing things. In fact, he's been planning this so well. Everybody say, "God's a good planner." And what he's also good at is fulfilling what he promised and planned to do. I just want to say this over you today: you are the fulfillment of his plan on the earth. You are what he planned, and in Jesus it's possible for you to fulfill everything he's purposed for your life. So if anyone is in here today and you don't have hope, you don't have a purpose — do not leave this place until you know that you're here for a purpose.
The Opal Heart of Australia
Just turn in your word to John 15:15. I'm going to ask Neil and Marie in a minute to pray. Neil and Marie, in a minute you guys are going to pray and release the opal heart of the Lord. Can you do that?
I just want to say a massive happy birthday to my 18-year-old son today. Happy birthday, Evan.
Who's been to Coober Pedy? What's Coober Pedy in Australia known for? Right. This here is an opal heart. Obviously one of the most amazing gems, and it is worth so much more than gold. Yesterday we had a beautiful day with the Kahu team. And out of the Anzac story, we heard and learned about the four attributes of the Anzac story — the four attributes that unite our nations: mateship. Everybody say "mateship." Sacrifice.
And he said something that profoundly burned in my spirit. It came from John 15. I'll just read it from verse 12. "This is my commandment, that you love one another." How are you doing with the most important task? Anybody got room for improvement on this one? "That you would love one another" — not with earthly love, not with your best effort of love — "but just as I have loved you." So the best way for us to love like Jesus is to let Jesus love us the way that he loves us. Awesome.
Verse 13: "Greater love has no man, that one would lay down his life for his friends. You are my..." Who are you? He redefines the relationship. "If you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for a slave does not know what his master is up to. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you."
In the room right here today are probably my most treasured friends in all the world. And I just want to honor friendship right now in the room. I want us to feel the weight of friendship. On your own you can't do much. But with someone you love you can do more. What does the Bible say? One is cold. Two gets a little bit of warmth. But a three-stranded cord no man can break. And when friendship is in Jesus, it's a three-stranded cord, because he came to redefine it. He took away slavery. Even took away that we've got to work for him. But he says, "As my friends, you know what I'm up to. Just continue my work of love."
Turn to your neighbor and say, "We are in the army of love, following King Jesus."
So I just want to speak value and honor onto friendship. From Australia to New Zealand — here is our friendship. We love you, New Zealand. We stand with you, New Zealand. It is an honor to be called your friends. We are not ashamed to say Australia is a friend to New Zealand. We allow for the rivalry. We allow for the moments when we jostle for who is the best. But I can just hear the Father saying, "You're both my favorites." He's okay with us rallying under our tribe.
I want to honor Andy and his son Noah here today — father and son, love one another. The Kahu and the kookaburras. We're flying together this week. We're off to the Bunya Mountains tomorrow. We're going to have a great time together.
I want to honor longstanding relationships. Rory and David, I want to honor the friendship that you've held for longer than decades, and the extension of friendship that you continue to open all the time. I was reading today in Isaiah 60. It says that your gates would never shut because there's so much gold and wealth being brought into your gates 24-7. And that's the gold of the people who come.
I want to honor mateship right now. I want to honor my friend Neil, our friend Neil, to say this house is your house. This is your house. We are your people, and we're crazy and you can't get rid of us. We love you.
I want to honor old friends, new friends. Pastor Rob, new friends — feels like we've known each other for years now. Just look around the room. Tony Rod — friendship. And Enoch walked with the Lord and he just kept on walking, Tony Rod. You just keep on walking with the Lord, Tony, because you are a friend of God. What better title to have on the planet, other than sonship, than to be a friend. New friends. Marie, new friends. Looking at these young adults. Jeremy, new friends. Hans. Great friendship.
Aaron and Wendy, thank you. Yesterday we looked at the 28 line that runs through South Africa and Argentina, China, the tri-nations, revivals — God's lining up stuff.
Offering and Announcements
So I'm supposed to be taking up an offering. It's First Fruits. You know how to give. If this isn't your house and you tithe where the Lord is, that's your home. But if you do want to give today, you are so free. We want to take up an offering for the Kahu team as well. Andy's going to open up the Word in a minute, and we know he's got the heart of the Lord today. So get ready to receive.
I want to invite you next year — we don't have the dates yet — but we're going to take an Australian kookaburra team to Marsden's Cross in New Zealand, where the gospel was preached for the first time in Aotearoa by an Aussie. We want to take a team, predominantly young people, but if you want to come, doesn't matter what age, to where the gospel was preached for the first time in Aotearoa. We are united as a team, Australia and New Zealand. So next year, prepare, get your passport ready, and we're going to take that team. Then the year after that, you guys are coming back. We've set it up for the boomerang to go and to come.
Father, we lift up all of our earthly treasures. We lift up our fruit. We lift up the sustenance that you've given to us. And we say, you're the best Father. You're the best Dad. You supply for every need. And our prayer today is that every need that's not being met, Lord, meet it in your precious name, that no one will go hungry in your house. In Jesus' name. Amen.
This week, if you've got nothing on, I want to invite you to join us on Thursday for Love in the Streets here in Logan. We're going to do a Church on the Streets event. It's at Rainbow Park on Ewing Road. This is not a formal event. This is just a family gathering. Just bring a camp chair, a bottle of water, and we're just going to all happen to be there at the same time. Nine o'clock.
Everybody, Aaron has been doing such a good job with the Kahu team. Bless you, man. We have shirts again — it says "Love One Another." This is our mission team shirt. So if you would like a shirt, I will be standing near the back near the shirts, and you're welcome to buy one.
Just a super quick shout out to Sam Elliott and their team winning the gold on the Sunshine Coast this week.
Michael, you've got an awesome announcement for the men.
Michael: Our next men's meet is coming up on the 18th. Damo's been out busy — he's killed the fatted lamb, he's killed the fatted calf, and the fatted chicken's looking very nervous. It's the 18th of July, which is Saturday week. It's a 6pm start. You've got to bring chairs, anything like that you want. $15 cash needs to be paid this week or next week so we can get it all booked in. We are really privileged to have one of the great speakers going to be there. I've been on this earth a long time and I've met many people — celebrities and intellects and all sorts of people. This man sits right at the top. He's one of the greats. James Hemmitsburg is going to be our speaker. If you want to meet a great guy, come along. He's fabulous.
Introducing Andy Piggott
Aaron Salisbury: Andy, come. I just want to introduce you to an amazing man — Andy Piggott.
I just want to honor Andy for many, many things, but there's one thing I want to honor today, and that is his friendship. Andy was birthed out of this house purely by the Holy Spirit picking this man in the neighborhood of Slacks Creek. He was a bogan in Logan — high on things other than the Holy Spirit and in darkness — but Jesus called him powerfully, and it was in this church that Jesus called Andy, plucked him up.
Do you know that the Greek word for church is ekklesia? Do you know what that means? Eclectic. It's very close to quirky. Eclectic means when you find something you really, really like, you handpick it because it has special meaning. So when you go into people's houses who are eclectic, they've got a lot of stuff. The church means God's handpicked ones, set aside for his pleasure. Andy is one of those guys. And he's got the Father's fingerprints just all over him. You are so guilty of being owned by the Father. And we see his fingerprints all over you. And when you speak, you speak with the heart of the Son. And you've blessed this house. We've treasured your words like they're in the Spirit, like special trophies for us — the words you've brought over the years. So I'm going to give you the conductor's wand. Rivers, can we just appreciate Andy Piggott.
Andy Piggott: Huia — The Call to Unity
Andy Piggott: Ko te mea nui, ko te aroha, tihe wa mauri ora. Glory to God in the highest of heights. Write it in the heavens. Write it in the ground below. Write it in the hearts of all of God's people. The most important thing — it is love. The destiny of the huia bird — it is to unite the people as one together.
So we have come as Kahu, which is the New Zealand native hawk. And the saying goes, the Kahu trusts more in what is beneath its wings than what is beneath its feet — the wind speaking of the Spirit of God. But I want to introduce another bird to you: huia. And some of you will be familiar with the term hui. Who knows what a hui is? A meeting, a gathering. Huia, huia tangata kotahi. The huia — and the punning on the word hui — the destiny of the huia bird is the uniting of the people together as one. And so we have come on a unity mission. We call that word kotahi tangata. We have come on a mission together in unity to be with you, because the love of God compels us.
I feel so privileged and honored to be here. My name is Andy. I am a son of this house. You're looking at Rivers. I was birthed here, baptized in the Holy Spirit in the gravel parking lot at Tomah Place. And marveling that I was immersed in the Holy Spirit — I was soaring for days on end because there's such a concentration of the power and presence of God on this house. So I had a train collision crash with you and the Spirit of God that was over you, that set me up, changed my life, completely transformed me. And now I marvel at Providence that I get to come back and be with you, and that I get to be with beautiful people from our church in Bethel, New Zealand, as well as CCOT and beautiful people from Ōtāngare.
So it's just an honor to be in the house. I just want to extend honor and thanks to you, Andrew and Mia, for your welcome and your hosting and your friendship. Thank you so much to Aaron and Wendy for hosting us. Apostle Rory and Dave — it's such a treat for me. I feel so blessed to be in the house and with you. And just scanning across — Hans and Aaron, you're hosting. So we have this word manaakitanga, which means hospitality and hosting. But in that word manaakitanga you'll find the word mana, which is an expression of your spiritual authority. And you guys have been hosting us amazingly. We feel so blessed and we thank you for your love. Rivers people, we honor you, we thank you for your love.
I'm also seeing some great friends. Fatu, my friend from Auckland is here. Love you, man. That guy is a great evangelist. I want to honor my great friend Joel Shaw, man, and your beautiful family. Just an honor to have you guys here. And I love you. And CCOT — oh my word, what a dream come true for me to have the privilege of being together with you. It means the world to me. I absolutely love you.
I want to read a scripture and then I'm going to actually hand it over to CCOT. They have something special that they want to share with you as a gift of love that will rattle the opals.
Huia. Psalms 133. Huia is named — the bird call — it's onomatopoeia, which means that they named the bird after the sound of its call: huia, huia, huia. They said it was a deep, haunting call, calling people to unite, calling people together. When the English came, because we heard it in English, we heard, "Who are you? Who we are? Who I are? Where are you?" The first question that our Creator asked of us: "Where are you?" We were alone. "Where are you?" We were somewhere where we should not have been. And the huia is calling us back together.
Psalms 133. Are you guys there in your word? "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity." And I'm loving that — united with our CCOT brothers and sisters, Europeans, Māori together in unity, uniting with our Australian brothers and sisters. How good it is. "Like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, coming down upon the edge of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, coming down upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing." Oh my goodness. "Life forevermore."
There is a commanded blessing in the room because unity is in the house. There's so much unity, so much kotahitanga, so much love in the house today. Watch out for blessing. Watch out.
Pastor Robin Niner — Fire Niner — I just want to say I absolutely love you. Such an honor to be with you in the house and partnering together. Love you guys. We have Sister Pate, and I love Pate. I've been right there from the start of your journey into Jesus. What a journey. Praise God for you. Back at the baptism, watching you getting dunked under the waters of baptism, coming up, raising your hands and praising Jesus.
Sister, can you come on up and introduce a little bit of the team, share a little bit about what's going to happen, and then let's unleash Kahu, let's unleash CCOT.
Amongst our mates in church, let's give these guys a massive clap. All the way — massive fundraising. They paid a huge price to be here. Words cannot express the price that these ones have paid to be here. First time out of New Zealand. First time for many of them out of Whangarei, out of New Zealand, and here they are.
CCOT Introduction — Pastor Rob and Naina
Pastor Rob: So we have this thing in CCOT, or Community Church o Tāngare, where there's an 11-second rule. You've just witnessed the 11-second rule — being prepared in and out of season. So this is why we have awesome senior leaders, because I'm going to do the 11-second rule on them.
Tēnā koutou. Kia ora whānau. Kia ora to Aussie whānau. My name is Pastor Rob, and this is my lovely wife Naina. We're just excited to be here. Like everything and everybody, we just wanted to first give a big mihi and thanks to everybody that has hosted us, that has put gazebos up, that has put bread on our tables, that has put the water in our bellies. We just want to mihi to you. And on behalf of our āoropu, our group, we salute you and we thank you for being such awesome hosts. Thank you to each and every one that has just partnered with us and the Holy Spirit to welcome us.
We have come with a lot of aroha — love — from our people. We got sent from a little place called Ōtāngare. But I just wanted to say, if it wasn't for Pastor Andy and Bethel's Church, we wouldn't even be here. The relationship that he has with Pastor Andrew. Last year, when your whānau came over, we were able to receive them and it was such a blessing. We actually didn't want them to come home. We wanted them to stay in Aotearoa with us. And when Pastor Andrew said, "We want the team to come over," I felt the Spirit of God say go. And so we're here.
I just wanted to say this quickly. This house is really tangible. And the love of the Lord is in this place. And I just keep getting reminded — and we got shared this last night — the shortest scripture in the Bible says, "Jesus wept." We've had a lot of challenges, ups and downs. But what I love is God is the God of the valley. And we are the lily of the valley.
Me and my wife are really happy and excited to present to you our team. They've done a lot of work, not only in their kapa haka and preparing to perform, but a lot of them — the first time for fasting was the week before we came. They fasted the week before we came. And it was exciting to see dreams, exciting to see visions, exciting to see what God is doing. So may you be blessed. We haven't come here to be served. We want to serve and serve wholeheartedly. So we bless you in the wonderful name of Jesus. Hallelujah.
I'm going to hand it over. This young guy, his name is Desmond. And he's going to do what we call a traditional mihi, a kōrero from us to you.
On behalf of us, Community Church o Tāngare — Pastor Andrew, to our fire, to our rangatira, to our oama — no reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, katoa.
The Haka and Its Meaning
Andy Piggott: Kia ora, Pastor Eni. Well, that last haka is known as Te Hari o Ngāpuhi, which means the great joy of Ngāpuhi — the tribe of Ngāpuhi, the great joy of their tribe. And in it you heard, "Ka nukunu, ka kaneke neke," which means something like: make room, open up your heart, prepare your heart, there is a seed coming. And the seed spoke to the gospel — the gospel is coming. It was a call to repentance. It was a call to make space in your heart for the gospel of none other than Jesus Christ. It was the great joy of Ngāpuhi.
The Historical Foundation of Australia–New Zealand Gospel Partnership
I want to wrap up a little. I want to share for ten more minutes. And in that time, I want to take us on a story of unity.
We are in the Anzac. And a hundred years leading up to the Anzac charge on Beersheba, foundations between your magnificent nation of Australia and our magnificent nation of Aotearoa were already being laid. And the journey of our two nations was already being woven together through love, through unity, through mateship, and through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it was divinely orchestrated by God.
So in 1809 — 200 years ago, and just over a hundred years before the Anzacs united — in England, on the ship the Anne, a convict ship with 200 male prisoners aboard, was a Māori chief from the lands where Fire Naina comes from, in her ancestry lines. And his name was Ruatara. Turn to your neighbor and say, "Ruatara."
He wanted to see King George. He was cheated of his wages. He was beaten up and mistreated. And he was actually left for dead. He was found under the flagpole of the ship Anne. By divine providence, there was a brother from Australia, your nation — Samuel Marsden, the chaplain of New South Wales, the lead chaplain of the state of New South Wales. And he saw him coughing blood, left for dead, and brought him under his care into his cabin across the six-month-long journey, and nursed him back to health. He made sure he had the care he needed through kindness and care and hospitality. These two began to form mateship, a brotherhood. He was nursed back to health, opened up his house in Parramatta, allowed him to stay at his house, and they ate together, they listened, and they formed the bond of friendship. That was 1809.
Fast forward five years to 1814. So now we're nearly exactly 101 years before the charge on Beersheba with the Anzacs. And the gospel had not yet been proclaimed in Aotearoa, New Zealand. But Samuel Marsden's heart — although he was assigned New South Wales chaplaincy — burned to share the gospel in another nation, and that was our nation. He asked the CMS, the Church Mission Society, of whom he was a missionary: "Can I have some money to purchase a vessel? Because the only way we can get the gospel into New Zealand and build the bridge from Australia to New Zealand is through a ship." They denied him the ship. So of his own finances, and at great financial sacrifice and risk, he purchased the ship, the Active, with his own money, for the sole purpose of mission and gospel proclamation.
And so from your shores, you provided the ship that would go on to carry the message of Jesus Christ to New Zealand. You, from the shores of Australia — the footings of the foundations of the bridge that would eventually come over and bridge our two nations in New Zealand were forged first by you, Australia, at your own expense, at your own resources.
And in 1814, on Christmas Day at Rangi Hoa, under the shadow of Mataka — which means "the mountain whose eyes are ablaze," because Jesus Christ had already shown up there and his eyes were so lit up with fire that they were forever marked and prepared for the gospel — the first gospel was preached. The first missionaries came to that place. They bought supplies, they bought food, they bought gifts, they bought 12 iron axe heads — handleless axes — to introduce iron. And there's Samuel Marsden, Christmas Day 1814, from your shores. And right next to him was Ruatara, whom he had nursed back to health. Ruatara had extended the invitation because the trust was built — built through acts of kindness and care and hospitality and eating together.
And there's Samuel Marsden behind the pulpit. But before he ever had a pulpit, he had friendship. He had trust. He had acts of kindness that opened the door. And he shared the gospel on our shores. But that gospel would have never touched the heart if it wasn't for Ruatara right alongside him, interpreting it. By the divine orchestration of God, Samuel Marsden needed Ruatara. The gospel would not have hit if there was not a collaboration, a partnership, a working together. It would have meant nothing. The strength that was being released could not have been received if it wasn't for divinely orchestrated dependence upon one another.
Are you with me? Weaknesses — the strength of another. And the strength of the other. They're uniting together — kotahitanga, unity — to see the gospel come to Aotearoa, New Zealand. That was 1814.
Early in 1815, as they strategized together — and then that haka that you just saw, by the way, the haka they just did was the way they received and celebrated the giving of the gospel in that land. That haka you saw is over 200 years old, and they just did it for us here in this place. When Samuel Marsden, Australia, had come out to Aotearoa, and you brought your strength to us. Thank you.
He brought the iron axe heads. They needed a base for their missions, with their missionaries. They needed some land. And so Samuel Marsden gave to Ruatara 12 iron axe heads from Australia. But those axe heads were handleless axe heads — useless for really anything other than maybe a paperweight. They didn't have paper. Useless, really. Given to Ruatara. Given to other rangatira chiefs. Handed to their master carvers: "Carve me a handle from the native wood. With your skill. With your creativity. With the story of this nation, Aotearoa. Carve me a handle." And they carved the handles.
The handle on its own — a stick's fairly useful. But a stick is a stick. But when the axe — which is a symbol of what Australia brought to our nation — when the iron axe head was joined to what Aotearoa brought, the handle, it became something useful. An axe that could change, really, the destiny of Aotearoa. It was again a partnership of collaboration for the purposes of gospel.
And those axe heads were given in exchange for the use of the land for a missions base. He brought missions here. And we gave the use of that land for mission. He could not have brought the mission but for the use of the land in Aotearoa.
Fast forward to 1827. In Sydney, the first ever printing of the scriptures in Te Reo Māori language was given and financed by the Australian Bible Mission Society. And then we took those holy scriptures and our evangelists began to spread the word across Aotearoa. But again, a collaboration, a partnership, a working together. You lent us your strength, but it would not have spread without ours.
The Era of Collaborative Mission
We are in an era of mission that I would articulate as the era of collaborative partnerships — working together, covering one another's weaknesses, the gift of strength given to one another, honoring and respecting one another's strengths, and the era where we actually need one another.
All my childhood, I grew up in school and I was taught to become independent. And we need to repent — I need to repent of self-reliance. Because why would I need your strength if I'm fully strong within myself? But what if my weakness gave opportunity for you, Australia, to bring your strength to the table — that Apostle Rory was talking about — where we all have a seat at the table and we all get to bring something of value to the table and it's celebrated? Where your seat at the table is protected and safe and we don't compete against one another, but we complete one another. And that we need you and we need to work together. And that perhaps the gifts of strength that God has given us — he's also given us a gift of weakness, so that I need you, Andrew, I need you, Aaron and Wendy, I need you, Pastor Rob, I need you, Fire Niner. You have strength that I am weakened without. And we need you.
And in the same way the gospel was founded through the shared collaboration of Australians and New Zealanders — and it wouldn't have hit if we were not working together — is the same way it's moving forward, where we're working together into the future to see the greatest harvest of one another's nations and the nations of the world. We will be blessed as we celebrate one another's strengths.
The Gift — The Huia Bird
So we have a gift for Rivers Apostolic Church. And I'm going to invite Pastor Rob and Niner. Can you come and join with me? Because this is our gift from us to you.
Huia e, huia, tangata kotahi. The cry, the call of the huia bird, which would mate for life. That would form a bond for life. It is such an honor for me that I have had the privilege of being together since I found new life in Christ. Until now, over 20 years, we have been united together in friendship and love. And there's something on that kind of friendship.
When the scriptures were given, when the gospel was given to Aotearoa, New Zealand, in 1838, the great awakening began where we went from 0% of our nation bowing the knee to Christ to — by the time 1860 had come — 90% of a nation bowing the knee to Jesus Christ. All of these rangatahi's ancestors — 90% — the chances are high that they had bowed the knee to Jesus Christ in our nation by the time 1860 had come.
The foundations of our awakening in Aotearoa, New Zealand, could only have come to pass because of the foundations and the resources and the strength that you gave to us. Thank you. We could not have entered into awakening without what you gave to us. We recognize that. Thank you.
So, the huia bird. It mates for life. But there's something about the huia that I want to share really quick, and then I'm done. I said ten minutes, and I always lie. I've got to stop lying. Forgive me.
The male and the female pair for life. They call out, "Huia, huia, huia, huia" — gather together as one. The male has a short and stubby beak. The female has a long and slender beak. Their beaks are different. They have different strengths. The male would spy a rotting log and think to itself, "Kai time — food." And it would get its short, stumpy beak and peck at that log and open it up. But then the insects would feel the pecking and they'd go back to the end of the holes in the log. And the female would come in and reach into the log where the male could not reach, and pull out the insects. Their strengths complemented one another. Their weaknesses were covered by one another's strengths, and they had to work together. And we have to work together.
So we want to give this gift to you because we want to make a prophetic declaration. Hans, I'll invite you up too. I know you're on the senior leadership team as well. Can I just have you guys and Hans just come on up?
We want to present to you a gift. And this gift is something prophetic on our heart. You came to Aotearoa. You laid down the challenge, the gauntlet. And we've picked it up. And we realized that the gauntlet that you laid down for us to come, and for the collaboration of missions for the sake of the harvest and the nations and our own nations, is something that God's all over. We have come to realize God's all over this, and that we cannot do what we're called to do without each other. I love you guys, and without you.
Rob, can you open that and just show the church what it is? This is from CCOT and Bethel, New Zealand, as a gift and a prophetic statement of the huia with the different beaks. And it's to say: the era of shared strength and working together — the time is now for us to work together. We need you. So we love you. And God bless you. We hope you can put that up somewhere in the building. And God bless you.
Altar Call — Repentance from Self-Reliance
I would like to ask — Whyata? I'm going to do an altar call. And my altar call is very simple: we need to work together.
Father, we need your strength. We are weak. We are also strong. It's a juxtaposition. We're very strong at some things, and we're God-orchestratedly weak in others. We need you.
So I'm making a call that independence — "I'm strong on my own and I don't need you" — I'm actually making a call to repent from that. Because why would we help one another if we're self-reliant? I'm asking us to repent from self-reliance. To rebuild the bridge that's already there, that formed the foundation for the Anzacs bleeding and dying and fighting together.
So these guys will sing a song. And as they sing, I want to invite you — if you'd like to join with me in this challenge of working together, of being okay with weakness, of repentance from self-reliance, of willingness to work together, of rebuilding the bridge of Aotearoa and Australia working together for the sake of Jesus Christ and the nations — I'm going to invite you to the front. Myself and our team will be praying for you. We love you. And God bless you.
Prayer of Repentance and Blessing
Father, right now, here we stand, and here is our heart. If you want to join with me in this prayer, I'm just going to repent for self-reliance, because I keep finding myself going back to my own strengths only and not needing you.
Father, here I am. Too often I have been on my own strength. I was educated at school to be independent. But Father, you put me in family. And that family is your family. And that includes the nations and ethnicities of the world. And everyone gets to bring strength to the table. And Father, I am incomplete if not for the strength that the nations bring into my world. And so I repent for being self-reliant and a self-made man. And Lord, I just open my heart for the strength that comes from a brother and the strength that comes from a sister.
And representing Aotearoa, New Zealand, I just open my heart and I say: Australia, thank you so much for the gift of the foundation-laying of the gospel for our nation. And I make more room for more. We need more of your voice in our nation. We need your strength. And Father, we have strength to offer this nation. There's something unique that we carry that Australia needs, and we want to give it. And so Father, we open hearts to one another and say we are one big team together in the name of Jesus. And we thank you, Father.
How blessed it is when we dwell together in unity. Real unity. For there the Lord commands a blessing. I ask for the supernatural presence of God to behold this unity right now and release blessing, the presence of Jesus, over every person in this room. Let the anointing come. Thank you, God, in Jesus' name.
So our team will pray for you, and we love you. We're going to eat together after, I think. We love you. And God bless you. We think you're amazing. It's an honor to do life with you.
Yeah, some of our team — if you want — our team will give hongi. Hongi is something that we believe our Māori brothers and sisters have carried from the days of creation. It is the rubbing of noses. It is a recognition that we exist and are united because of the breath of our Creator — that every breath we take is a unifying force, because we, together as the human race, only find our unity in the Creator and his breath. So if you want to receive a hongi, some of our team will hongi as a prayer act as well. So we love you. God bless you. In Jesus' name.