Australian and New Zealand church communities celebrate friendship, missions history, and unity at Rivers Apostolic Centre
A Sunday service at Rivers Apostolic Centre in Logan, Australia, featuring visiting New Zealand missions team members from Bethel Church and Community Church Ōtangare (CCOT), with messages on friendship, collaborative mission, and the shared gospel history of Australia and New Zealand.
Summary
This episode is a full Sunday service recording from Rivers Apostolic Centre, hosted by Ps Aaron Salisbury and Pastor Andrew, welcoming a New Zealand missions team — the "Kahu" — comprising members from Bethel Church New Zealand and Community Church Ōtangare (CCOT) from Whangarei. Andy Piggott, who was baptised in the Holy Spirit at Rivers Apostolic Centre, delivers the central message drawing on the historical foundations of the Australia–New Zealand gospel relationship, tracing it from Samuel Marsden's care of Māori chief Ruatara in 1809 through to the first Christmas Day gospel proclamation in Aotearoa in 1814. The service includes communion, a traditional Māori haka and waiata performance by the CCOT team, the presentation of a prophetic gift to Rivers, and an altar call centred on repentance from self-reliance and a commitment to collaborative, cross-national mission. The overarching theme is that Australia and New Zealand are divinely linked through friendship, mateship, and a shared gospel heritage — and that their future mission effectiveness depends on working together rather than independently.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Opening Worship and Prayer
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 honour 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.
Communion
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. 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. And 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 in the fellowship and in 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 and gave it to them and said, "Drink all of this." There's everything that you need 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. And 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 Introduction
Andrew: Well, I just want to echo Rory's welcome today and just say with her, we say welcome, welcome, welcome. It's a joy to have the river full today, and the river is flowing. And 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 neighbour and just say, "Can you imagine what it would be like to just be taken over by love?"
Well, 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 have to prepare for harvest — we'd be overwhelmed if the harvest came in right now. We wouldn't be ready. 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 fulfilment of his plan on the earth. You are what he planned, and in Jesus it's possible for you to fulfil 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.
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, you guys are going to pray and release the opal heart of the Lord, okay? Can you do that?
Now, I'm hoping that these photos are going to be okay. While I'm saying this, I just want to say a massive happy birthday to my 18-year-old son today. Happy birthday, Evan.
The Opal Heart of Australia
Who's been to Coober Pedy? What's Coober Pedy in Australia known for? 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, and 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? How are we going? 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.
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 honour 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. He 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 neighbour and say, "We are in the army of love, following King Jesus."
So I just want to speak value and honour 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 honour 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 favourites."
I want to honour 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 just honour friendship here today. I want to honour longstanding relationships. Rory and David, I want to honour 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. And we ask for the money as well.
I want to honour mateship right now. I want to honour my friend Neil, our friend Neil, to say this house is your house, Zara. 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 honour old friends, new friends. Pastor Rob, new friends — feels like we've known each other for years now. Just look around the room. I'm seeing 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. Wendy and Aaron — have you got a gold ring and a gold chain? Aaron and Wendy, thank you.
Last night, yesterday, we looked at the 28th latitude line that runs through South Africa and Argentina, China, the tri-nations, revivals — God's lining up stuff.
So I'm supposed to be taking up an offering. It's First Fruits Sunday. 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 first 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. So we've set it up — 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.
Neil and Marie Pray Over the Opal Heart
Neil: I want to thank this house for being a friend. Fourteen years ago, I met my buddy Robin here at a conference over a cup of tea and a piece of cake. And then the Lord took us on this crazy journey, which we won't talk about. But today, the opal is being released. And there's a lot to say about that. But what I do know is Jesus loves opals. In fact, one of the things he shared with me is that there's an opal heart in this nation. It's evidenced — it crops up every now and then — and people have found and dug up some opals in some certain places around.
There are two types of opals. There's an opal that has a white base and an opal that has a black base. Both beautiful. Both displaying the amazing colours. The Lord said to me, "Coober Pedy is my Garden of Eden set in stone." And an interesting fact about a garden — a garden needs water. Now on the surface, Coober Pedy is a pretty dry-looking place. But let me tell you, his First Nations people, they know where to access the water.
The Lord had Robin and I take opals from Coober Pedy — we didn't know what we were doing — to scatter them on the Hinnom Valley, on the ashes where Baal worship happened. Because on the breastplate, which I've studied out, Lucifer had nine precious stones. But he was not permitted to have an opal, an amethyst, and an onyx, which all represent Jesus. And interestingly, a few years back, the Lord took me and a mate to Coober Pedy. And what Jesus revealed to him — because he'd already given me the clue that that was a special place for Jesus in this nation — is that opals actually form through water under pressure. And what that shows is the full spectrum of the colours of the rainbow that you'll see when you divide light with a prism. They're all trapped inside the opal. And that's what comes out when you see it. It's amazing.
One more interesting fact. The Lord's had me studying our latitude 28. And that goes from Western Australia through Coober Pedy, through Mount Lindesay, Woodenbong, Moolie Moolie, and out to Byron Bay. It also includes the southern part of the Gold Coast. When I got out of a bus at Mount Sinai, the Lord said to me, "You're in Coober Pedy." And it felt like I was in Coober Pedy. And I studied that out and they're on the 28th — on the plus 28 north — as is Mount Sinai, as is the Red Sea. And the Lord was showing me something about Coober Pedy and opals, the Garden of Eden in Australia that's set in stone. The day I got that, my friend, my indigenous mate up in northern Queensland, she said, "Mate, I'm in a glass-bottom boat and it's like the Garden of Eden under the sea."
One last thing. This is a cracker. So if you're a gem cutter or an opal enthusiast, you'll know that the most prized opals are the ones that have what they call the red fire. They're the most expensive ones. They come in all sorts of colours and all sorts of mixes, but when you see a flash of red in an opal, you're looking at a pretty precious stone. Interestingly, for those who were there last night, when I read the colours — you know what red means? Hold on to your hearts. My heart. God's heart. That's evidence. I don't think I need to join the dots there.
Marie: Father God, we thank you that you have locked up amazing treasures under this land, under this nation, that you've got mysteries there that you're revealing to your kids bit by bit, because a good dad shares good things with his kids. And I just thank you for my brother, who just became my brother last night. We didn't know we were brother and sister until then. And we just say, we bless this land. We bless your heart, Lord. We bless the opal heart of this land. And we just announce, decree and declare life and loving kindness to be released — just as all of the colours that are refracted and released from the opal. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen.
Andy Piggott Introduces the Kahu Team
Andy Piggott: Kuro ria ki te atua i runga rawa. He rongorongō ki te mata o te whenua. Tuhia ki te rangi, tuhia ki te whenua, tuhia ki te ngākau o ngā tangata katoa. Ko te mea nui, ko te aroha.
"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."
Tuhia ki te — the destiny of the huia bird 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 e 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 kōtahitanga. We have come on a mission together in unity to be with you, because the love of God compels us. And I feel so privileged and honoured to be here.
So my name is Andy. I am a son of this house. You're looking at Rivers. I was birthed here. Baptised in the Holy Spirit in the gravel parking lot at Toma Place. And marvelling 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 Ōtangare.
So it's just an honour to be in the house. And I just want to extend honour 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 I'd scan across — see you, 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 honour 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 honour my great friend Joel Shaw, man, and your beautiful family. Just an honour to have you guys here. 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 and 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. 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 — life forevermore."
There is a commanded blessing in the room because unity is in the house. There's so much unity, so much kōtahitanga, so much love in the house today. Watch out for blessing. Watch out.
Pastor Robin and Niner, I just want to say I absolutely love you and just such an honour 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.
So, 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. 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. So love you.
CCOT Team Introduction — Pastor Rob and Naina
Pastor Rob: So we have this thing in CCOT, or Community Church Ōtangare, 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. And 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.
And we have come with a lot of aroha — love — from our people. We got sent from a little place called Ōtangare. 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.
And 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." And, man, 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 have done a lot of work. 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. So 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.
Traditional Mihi — Desmond
Desmond: Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, keira mai tātou katoa. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, keira mai tātou katoa.
So this waiata is to acknowledge the haukainga, or the people of this whenua, this land. And yeah, we praise God and we give him all the thanks and glory to be his and his alone. Give us a wave — we've got Brother Tuira at the back there. And I'm sure all of the rangatahi will introduce themselves. But on behalf of us, Community Church Ōtangare, Pastor Andrew, to our fire, to our rangatira, to our oama — no reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, katoa.
Andy Piggott — The Haka and the Gospel History of Aotearoa
Andy Piggott: 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 neke 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. 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.
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 — two hundred 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 neighbour and say, "Ruatara."
But 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. And he was found under the flagpole of the ship Anne. And 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 months — a six-month-long journey — and nursed him back to health and gave him the care he needed. These two began to form mateship, a brotherhood. He was nursed back, 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 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 Rangihoua, 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 twelve iron axe heads — handleless axes as well, 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 — through the acts of kindness and the care and the hospitality and the 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 — uniting together, kōtahitanga, unity, to see the gospel come to Aotearoa, New Zealand.
That was 1814. Early in 1815, as they strategised 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 twelve 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, honouring 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 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 of the Huia — A Prophetic Declaration
So I have a gift for — 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 honour 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. We went from 0% of our nation bowing the knee to Christ to — by the time 1860 had come — we had gone from 0%, so just in 20-something years, to 90% of a nation bowing the knee to Jesus Christ. All of these rangatahi's ancestors — 90% — the chances are high 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 recognise 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. So 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 realised 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 realise God's all over this and that we cannot do what we're called to do without each other.
Pastor 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
Andy Piggott: My altar call is very simple. My altar call is: we need to work together. 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.
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 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.
You heard: "Make room in your heart. Make room in your heart for another person. Make room in your heart for another nation."
So Father, right now, here we stand, and here is our heart. And 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, and 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.
So tell Wadu Atapu — wonderful, loving Holy Spirit — come. 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 think you're amazing. It's an honour 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. And it is the rubbing of noses. In 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.