Educate and Equip Your Faith Community to Navigate Māori Ward Referendums

Between 09 September and 11 October 2025, 42 local authorities will hold referenda about Māori wards alongside their local body elections.

As the Church was pivotal in shaping the Treaty relationship, Christians have a unique role to play in this conversation in each local government area.

Common Grace Aotearoa has created a set of resources to help churches understand Māori wards from a faith and justice perspective.

From 04 August, you will have access to resources to help your community understand and prayerfully consider their vote in the lead up to Māori ward referendums. We invite you to plan a time between 04 August and 09 September, when postal voting starts, to share these resources in your faith community.

There are two key resources we are providing:

• A 6 minute video from a range of Church leaders explaining the Māori ward referendums and what the benefits of Māori wards are. This can be played during a church service, and distributed in church newsletters.

• A 2 hour workshop resource - 'Table Talk Conversations for Māori Wards in local government - A Christian Guide', a downloadable booklet with a mixture of short videos, discussion questions, interactive activities and prayer. This is an opportunity to go deeper in small facilitated groups and create an open space for people to learn, reflect, ask questions and engage with our hearts and heads about the upcoming Māori ward referendums. It features contributions from church leaders and theologians, and the perspectives of Māori leaders in the movement for Māori wards.

Fill out the form below to receive these resources for using in your church or with a small group.

Join us on this exciting learning opportunity to explore how Māori wards can make our communities stronger and live into the promise of the Te Tiriti relationship.