Two former members of religious communities that are still making headlines for allegations of abuse say there is life after hardship. They spoke to Te Ao Māori News about their faith, their connection to te ao Māori and finding a way forward.
Valiant Overcomer (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Māmoe) was only 14 when he left his family and religious community behind, having no clue as to what would become of his new life beyond the walls of Gloriavale.
Miles away, another story began a few years later. In 2017, Anahera (Tainui) from Destiny Church and whose real name cannot be shared, found herself at the start of a four-year journey, one she thought would end after allegations of abuse, but which continued as she watched her children remain inside.
Overcomer will join other survivors of abuse as indigenous experience comes to the forefront at conference DECULT 2026 this October 24, which brings survivors and experts from across the nation and overseas.
Ko te ao Māori tōnā rongoā
Overcomer grew up feeling the weight of being Māori in a predominantly Pākeha community. Living in isolation, he was cut off from his language and connection to his iwi.
“The biggest problem that the leadership [Hopeful Christian] of Gloriavale had was he chose his angle and he stuck with it... he had decided that the white people are elite and anyone with any skin colour is underneath that,” he says.
Gloriavale leaders and members have faced criminal charges with several convicted of sexual abuse spanning the 1990s till the 2020s.
Overcomer exited the community at the age of 14, and it wasn’t until he was 19 that he had his first interaction with his taha Māori through a Ngāi Tahu programme aimed at connecting rangatahi back to their marae.
Overcomer says the experience was profound, and now te ao Māori is the very thing that shaped his sense of identity and faith.
“It was almost like something just dropped in my brain. I’ve grown up around the theories of Christianity and faith and trust in God. I’ve been taught it all, but I’m actually experiencing what I’ve been taught. I can feel true love in this kaupapa,” he says.
“I kind of thought that this coming into te Ao Māori is kind of like, I’m actually living what you could define as a Christian life. And these people are living it, and they don’t proclaim to be Christian.”
He has since found a place with his iwi, bearing the dialect of Ngāi Tahu.
When asked if he still believes in the God of Christianity, he says many of his siblings still believe in Jesus, but his own faith has morphed over the years.
“I always asked more questions, and I wouldn’t get the answers.
“When I started learning in our Pūrākau Māori, a lot of answers were coming to me and a lot of my questions were getting answered,
Te ao Māori has broadened his perspective on God.
“It takes you into the imaginary space in your mind and I think that’s what truth is. When you’re in the imaginary space, you can piece together a lot more pieces and find a lot more answers because there’s no boundaries to the imagination. That space to me is God. Everything I see is an aspect of that creation.
“Do I have faith and believe? Yeah. Do I have faith and believe in God? Absolutely. So it’s like something that’s changed over time, what you define as God or your world in that space.”
He believes members should continue to live in the community if they wish to, but hopes change will come from the inside.
“My ultimate outcome for Gloria would be, yeah, high level of freedom for everyone... I like a lot of people and I want to work with them in the future,” he says.
Te Ao Māori News reached out to Gloriavale, who have not made a comment.
A church overflowing with Māori
Anahera shares changes in her faith and connection to te ao Māori following an adverse religious experience.
She says the feeling of belonging is what led her to Destiny Church.
“There were a lot of Māori in the church, and I felt comfortable and safe, and that’s the only reason, really, why I went to Destiny.
“It was nice to see, reconnect with whānau as well, and reconnect with other people, that whakapapa to whānau... being Māori with Māori helped,”
Anahera says her journey started in comfort and safety but noticed the cracks as they started to appear.
She alleges a power imbalance in the church, saying children of leaders were separated from the rest into their own youth group, and her own children were caught up in numerous church activities which she says created division and undermined her guardianship as a parent.
“The amount of time that the children seem to, or teenagers, seem to spend with these leaders, and I started to get concerned. What are they saying, and why can’t my child talk to me at home about things?”
“My kids were fully immersed and involved in events, teachings, having to go to this and that for over seven days, and so I was starting to see less of my kids... they were fully immersed in the church, and it was hard to get them back out.”
She felt like she had no voice.
“Why does it all have to be a secret in this group and never share? That’s the red flag for me.
“By then I couldn’t pull them back and say, hey, we need to have family time at home, because they were resistant to that.”
Allegations of abuse in Destiny Church
Anahera left nearing a period when sexual abuse allegations started to arise, but says her own breaking point came after listening to teachings she alleges continued to diminish a mother’s role.
She says abuse continued, but the matters cannot be discussed publicly.
“It came across very clear to me that it was ‘sons only listen to their fathers’, and unfortunately I started to see that happening with my sons, especially one of them not listening to me, and only listening to Father Brian, the spiritual father,”.
Another issue that arose for her was the use of specific haka by the church, saying its whakapapa felt misused.
“I get cringed, because you can do a haka for the Lord, but the moment you bring in the haka like Ka Mate, it’s only sacred to that space, to te ao Māori”
She says the feeling extends into other church events.
“I think as Māori, we have lost our identity when we start ripping up other flags, because that’s not us, not even as Christians. We forgot about what we should be doing: bring it to the marae and talk it out. That’s exactly how it should be, Christian, non-Christian, whoever; we bring it to the marae, face to face,
“But don’t rip up the flag, because if you’re welcoming someone onto your whenua, are you ripping the flag up in front of their face?”
Anahera left the church after four years, but some of her children continued on for three more years until they ran into their own issues.
Anahera doesn’t point her finger at leader Brian Tamaki but says his failure came when he didn’t use his oversight to stop others in power from causing harm.
“I didn’t leave peacefully, because there was still a lot of raruraru at the time, so I left with mixed emotions and distrust, and that journey when I left has taken a long time of recovery, spiritual recovery.”
Faith and culture only stronger
“I think the number one thing that has made me stay strong mentally and emotionally is my children and my grandchildren.
“It’s made me stand strong in my faith, because I wanted them to see that there is a hope knowing that there is a God and a light and a direction... I wanted them to see that there is hope if you look at the lighthouse,” she says.
Anahera says she has now become more selective with who she trusts when it comes to her taha wairua.
“I feel like sometimes my faith has been one like Job in the Bible, who lost everything to find peace.”
She says she hasn’t lost touch with her Māoritanga but tries to connect it more with her faith in small ways.
“I’ve more taken on the Te Whare Tapa Whā and I’m going through that journey, and I’m connecting it on my Christian side. Whānau, my hinenaro, my tīnana,”.
She has been on a long road to recovering mentally since leaving, but despite the hurt, believes there is still a possible future for the church and its leader if they get “it right with Jesus”.
“There is hope for Brian, but I know in myself, destiny for me is not the church that I need to be in,” she says.
Response from Destiny Church
Te Ao Māori News reached out to Destiny Church for comment, whose leader, Brian Tamaki, pleaded not guilty to three charges of inciting racial disharmony.
“Over many years, Destiny Church has spoken out about what we see as the erosion of parental authority and the importance of parents being actively involved in their children’s upbringing”, they said.
“In that context, the claims that church activities or teachings undermined parental authority, encouraged secrecy from parents, or diminished the role of mothers are unfounded. They do not reflect the importance we place on strong families and the vital role both parents play in their child’s/young adult’s life”.
The church says they remain open to scrutiny, offering anyone wanting insight to attend a Sunday service.
