nurturing servant leaders in religious education - Scholarly ...

Early missionaries found success amongst European settlers in the newly established
country, and also amongst the Tangatawhenua. In 1898, 90 percent of the Church’s
approximately 4000 members were Māori (Avant, 2005). One reason for the appeal of
the Church, when other Christian faiths failed at the time is postulated by Mol (1966),
It appears that the Mormons are successful both in maintaining their hold in the
Maori and in maintaining their own ways…although the Mormons pay the
appropriate attention in their church clubs to Maori history, genealogy, arts and
crafts, and although they encourage such lively Maori activities as singing and
dancing (which the older Christian missionaries frowned upon) their strength lies
particularly in their non-Maori mode of social organisation, and the dedication of
their un-paid American missionaries (p. 39).
Although Māori Church membership numbers have declined over the last one
hundred years, the social organisation to which Mol (1966) refers has continued. The
success of early and subsequent missionary efforts has meant that as national Church
membership has increased, leadership positions are being filled from within the ranks
of local members.
The Church’s push for creating a local leadership has been greatly realised in
Aotearoa/New Zealand. At the end of 2005 the Church reported a membership in the
country of 94,722, making Mormonism the sixth largest denomination in the country
(Avant, 2005). Those numbers are divided into twenty-five stakes and numerous
wards and branches throughout the country 3 (Avant, 2005). The New Zealand
Temple, the first of the Church’s temples to be erected in the Southern Hemisphere,
was dedicated in 1958 and serves as a symbol of the Church’s highest goals 4 . This
infrastructure calls for a large number of people to fill positions of leadership
responsibility.
3 Based on numbers in the area, congregations are placed in either a ward or a branch, each overseen by
ecclesiastical leaders. A stake is made up of a group of wards or branches and headed by an
ecclesiastical leader who oversees the area.
4 The New Zealand temple was dedicated in 1958. At that time there were only eleven other temples in
the world, with the majority of them in Utah, in the United States. Since 1995, when there were 59
temples, this number has more than doubled, with construction on more temples announced regularly.
In temples worthy Church members do work to uphold the Church’s focus on families.
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