Abstract
This thesis report examines a theory that Christianity has contributed to the dissipation of Māori culture including their form of religiosity. Pākehā missionaries preached the biblical view of one God, eventually erasing and supplanting the many gods concept of Māori spiritual beliefs. The missionaries had initiated and severed the spiritual relationships of Māori with their lands, and contributed to the disintegration of Māori society.1 This research report also studies the role of Māori ministers as leaders of the parish community as well as leadership of whānau, hapū and iwi, and the interaction of taha Māori and religion and the challenges, if any, faced by Māori clergy. In answering the thesis statement this paper begins by discussing challenges faced by Māori in particular living according to the tenets of the Christian church alongside tikanga Māori. In addition this report looks at responses from Māori towards Christianity and the application of tikanga Māori within and outside of their church activities. Towards this end research focuses on Māori clergy, more so on what they now do and how they think, and how their taha whakapono impacts on their taha Māori with particular emphasis on those people who work as priests, ministers and lay workers in the Presbyterian, Catholic, and Anglican churches of the Eastern Bay of Plenty.