Jo Hood is the Visionary of mainly Ministries, an organisation that resources and supports local communities of faith as they seek to connect with their community.
It almost seems unbelievable, but at the end of 2024, the 35th anniversary of mainly music starting will be reached. This makes 2025 a very special year of celebration!
For nearly 35 years, communities of faith throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand have been using mainly music, and more recently mainly play and mainly babies, to connect with whānau/families in their local community.
They’re mission models that provide a sustainable way to connect with local whānau and their little tamariki/pre-schoolers. Each group relies on the generosity of a group of volunteers passionate about seeing whānau flourish as mātua/parents in life and creating opportunities for them to consider a spiritual investigation.
Tamariki benefit from the engagement with their mātua/parents and carers as week by week, they interact with music, waiata/song, rhymes, and learning activities.
From its start at Hills Church (Hillsborough Baptist Church), there was a strong focus on blessing. To attend mainly music, you didn’t need to join a roster. You didn’t need to bring kai/morning tea. You didn’t need to bring anything; just tamariki you were relationally connected with.
Everything was provided. The session. Kai. Playtime. The setup and pack up. Pēpi/baby gift. Kai/meals when your whānau went through tough times.
But all that is changing. Why? When we bless without any expectation of involvement by those we bless, unintentionally, we enter ‘mission to’ rather than ‘mission with’. Unintentionally, we’re setting up transactional, pseudo relationships. We’re forming them and us. We’re not developing a community of belonging.
More recently, research has shown that anxiety increases with social isolation when people enter a community, but there’s no obvious way to belong. More recently, mainly Ministries have begun populating new missional thought in these models.
Instead of the team making a gift to celebrate the birth of pēpi, groups invite whānau to contribute – non-perishable kai, wipes or lotion, anything whānau might need. Instead of saying, “No, you don’t have to bring chocolate brownie for kai time, but thank you for your offer; we’re the ones who supply this to bless you,” groups are accepting the offer.
What else needs to change? Knowing people’s names. Listening intently to their story and checking in again. “How did that appointment go?” “Did your boss listen?” “Is your Māmā/mother doing better?” Encouraging friendships to blossom by introducing people who have similar interests. Going out as a team and inviting mātua/parents and carers to attend. There are many more ways ‘mission with’ can occur.
There’s so much we can do to foster relationships and engagement and develop a joy-filled community of belonging. As a result, whānau flourish, tamariki develop, and Jesus can be revealed.
Photos supplied by Jo Hood
