Community: Doing Life Together

Community: Doing Life Together

whanau: (noun, pronounced: fa-no) extended family, family group, a familiar term of address to a number of people - in the modern context the term is sometimes used to include friends who may not have any kinship ties to other members.

The Maori people of New Zealand have a very strong sense of identity:  One’s relationship to God, the land, and the people you come from and live with—in Maori, whanau—form who you are.   At CCSP NZ, and as Christ-followers, we strive to embrace this emphasis on whanau, or community-living, with joy.

Our intentional community is the scaffold around which the semester experience in New Zealand is built. Students find that their time here is not solely about adventure, academics or being abroad, but also an experience in home-making with peers.

To call this campus at SkyHi home—even if only for a few months—is to join alongside one another in work, play, service and celebration. When it’s time to clean the building’s windows, we make some natural cleaning solution and work together. When it’s time to burn some energy, we head to the local field together for a game of touch rugby or ultimate frisbee. When it’s time to plant trees in an effort to restore native coastline, with hope and joy, we dig together. When it’s time to plant in and harvest from the garden, we do it together. When it’s time to do our laundry, we use an old-fashioned washboard and tub rather than rely on a washing machine. And when it’s time to eat, we sit down together—whanau and guests—to share in a delicious meal.

In the CCSP New Zealand whanau we share stories, food and responsibility. We challenge each other, love each other and pray for each other. Together, we cry tears of sadness, hilarity, frustration and joy.  

Another important part of our life together is the opportunity to be “unplugged” for a while. North American culture loves information technology that, ironically, has us staring at screens that wind up screening us from real interactions with other humans. At SkyHi, students are encouraged to leave a lot of those screens behind. To help facilitate this, wifi is not available for students at SkyHi. When needed, internet can be accessed at numerous locations in town, just a short walk away from SkyHi. It is refreshing to come up with more creative, edifying recreation in place of watching film after film, surfing YouTube or Pinterest, or scrolling through and updating Instagram.

We see this intentional community as a beautiful laboratory for living out what we learn in class. It is rarely easy, but always worthwhile.  So, we invite you to set aside aspirations for an individually-focused semester experience, and come join the CCSP whanau at SkyHi in Kaikoura, New Zealand where together we focus on living sustainable, creative, Christ-centered lives.