Te Hāhi Porirua: churches together providing aroha and awhi

In an auditorium in Freedom Church, Cannons Creek, a crowd of people from five different churches across Porirua gather together in worship, prayer, food, and the shared commitment to work together as the commissioning of Te Hāhi Porirua is celebrated.

The group gather at one of their monthly prayer meetings.

Te Hāhi is a faith-based volunteer organisation that provides aroha and awhi (care and support) to people impacted by family harm. It also partners with local police to offer the same to officers serving in our communities.

In June of this year Pāuatahanui Anglicans joined with four other churches in Porirua (one Baptist, three Independent) to form the Porirua expression of Te Hāhi. Now our team, lead by our wonderful co-ordinator Sonia, take one week each month to respond to referrals with the opportunity to show love and support to people who opt-in, to provide a care package of baking and goodies to Porirua Police Family Harm Officers, and to offer our prayers for those impacted by family harm.

So far, alongside the kilos of baking we have delighted to share with Porirua Police station, our team have been able to give aroha and awhi in mowing out-of-control lawns, clearing rubbish-strewn sections, and offering a compassionate and listening ear to whānau.

Our heart is to reflect God’s love to those in our community who are particularly hurting, in this case by the impact of family harm. We hope that through our prayers, baking, listening ear and practical support, people may come to see God’s love expressed in concrete ways. What is also beautiful is that this is the joint effort of different churches from different denominations across our city.

You can join in prayer for Te Hāhi Aotearoa, or learn more, here: https://www.tehahi.org.nz/

By Pāuatahanui Anglicans