WORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Ko te karakia te taura here i a tātou katoa.
E haere ana tāua ki te karakia — ehara noa iho i te tikanga o te aho āhua, engari ko te noho tahi, ko te kai tahi, ko te tangi tahi, ko te kīngi tahi.
I tēnei whare, ko ngā kupu o te karakia e rangona ana i roto i ngā reo e rua — te reo Māori me te reo Ingarihi — hei tohu o tō tātou haerenga tahi, hei tohu o tō tātou tuakiri tikanga rua.
Ko te tikanga: ehara tēnei wāhi i te mea ōrite ki ētahi atu. Koia nei te āhua o Hiona.
Worship at Hiona — Where Two Worlds Kneel as One
Every Sunday at 9:30am, the doors of Hiona St Stephen's open to a congregation that reflects the bicultural heart of this community. Our worship is lively, warm, and rooted in the belief that the love of God does not belong to one culture alone.
Te Reo Māori Services
On the third Sunday of every month, we worship primarily in te reo Māori. These services honour the heritage of this church, which was built for Māori, and recall a time when the language of this land filled these walls as naturally as breath. All are welcome, and te reo is woven into every Sunday service as an integral part of our liturgy.
Our Ethos
We are a servant congregation. We carry deep historical and family roots, yet we hold our doors wide for anyone who needs a place to belong. Our community is becoming increasingly Māori in its character — a fact we embrace with joy, because this place was always, at its heart, a Māori church.
Children
Tamariki are not the future of this church. They are the present. Children participate fully in the 9:30am service — seated alongside adults, heard, seen, and honoured.
Outreach and Service
Museum Partnership — We actively share our Anglican mission story with the Ōpōtiki Museum across the road.
Growing Through Grief — A parish programme offering grief support delivered within local schools.
Reconciliation
Our worship is not separate from our history. Every service in this building is, in some sense, an act of reconciliation — between Māori and Pākehā, between past and present, between wound and healing. The names of Mokomoko and Carl Völkner are remembered here in love, not shame.
