A Rocha is an international conservation organization working to show God's love for all creation. A Rocha Aotearoa NZ (ARANZ) is one of 18 national branches of A Rocha.

ARANZ has grown quickly since its official beginnings 2½ years ago. In particular, the launching conference in 2008 seeded local A Rocha groups in several cities across the country. Although the local groups have been supported in their development by the national team, they have been somewhat isolated from one another, so by late 2009, the time was ripe to draw everyone together.

The leaders' hui was designed to unite the local- and national-level leaders around our shared vision, share stories and encouragement of what has been happening locally, and to strategise together for the future.

A Rocha is about who we are as well as what we do, and at the hui we wanted to "be" A Rocha as well as talk about it. So, we opened Bibles together to explore the depths of God's love for creation. We admired the flourishing birdlife on Tiritiri Matangi island sanctuary and in the Waitakere Ranges' "Ark in the Park".

We made new friends and deepened relationships around shared meals. We worshipped and learned new songs with an ecological twist, such as "Jesus loves the little kiwis". And we took a biologist's look at the local stream, Oakley Creek, which runs just below Kodesh Community and is likely to become the focus of an ecological restoration project for A Rocha in Auckland, in partnership with Friends of Oakley Creek.

Connections with the international A Rocha family were strengthened throughout the weekend. We heard from a couple who had spent a month as interim managers at the field centre in A Rocha France, and commissioned another young couple who are preparing to spend a year volunteering with A Rocha centres in Canada and Kenya. By Skype we shared experiences and ideas with A Rocha UK director Dave Bookless.

Local leaders presented the diverse conservation projects their groups have undertaken. These included tree planting on a rural property in Palmerston North, restoring native wildlife at Mt. Karioi in Raglan, removing possums from a sensitive native bush plot on Banks Peninsula, and providing employment to urban poor through increasing urban biodiversity in Hamilton. Feedback from other local leaders and the national team gave new inspiration and ideas to the local projects.

A planning session at the end of the weekend quickly identified that one of the crucial tasks for the development of ARANZ is raising funds to support two part-time staff workers and an administrator.

What can you do?

• Consider supporting A Rocha financially as an individual member or as an A Rocha-supporting church (contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).
• Sign up to receive A Rocha's regular email newsletter.
• Meet your local A Rocha group - get involved in your local A Rocha conservation project, or ask an A Rocha member to speak in your church about the biblical reasons to care for God's creation (groups are active in Auckland, Hamilton, Raglan, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin).
• Pray for A Rocha and for God's creation.
• Encourage a teenager to go on the first A Rocha/Scripture Union combined youth camp at Tongariro. Click here for web link.