Sturt Lectures - Flourishing in a World of Disconnection
Description
Sturt Lectures 2026: Flourishing in a World of Disconnection
Sturt Lectures bring theology and professional counselling into honest conversation, exploring what it means to flourish when anxiety, loneliness, and digital overwhelm have become part of everyday life. Hosted by Laidlaw College and named for John and Agnes Sturt, pioneers of holistic counselling and Christian leadership in Aotearoa New Zealand, this series of lectures has long served as a meeting place for theological insight and practical care.
This year's theme asks a pressing question: can flourishing be found alone, or only in community? As individual wellness culture pulls one way and relational, communal understandings of healing pull another, our speakers—counsellors, a theologian, and a case study from Te Wānanga Ihorangi—will explore what it takes for faith and flourishing to take root in a fractured, disconnected age.
Join us as we integrate theology, counselling, and community for a conversation about what it truly means to flourish—together.
Lineup
Watiri Maina
Rev. Watiri Maina is an Anglican priest serving in Nelson diocese. She is the vicar of Victory Community Church. She is also a spiritual director, retreat facilitator, supervisor and counsellor in private practice. She has a Masters in Counselling Psychology and a graduate diploma in Theology. Her interests are in supporting of flourishing ministry and ministry leaders, prayer, as well as in peace building and conflict transformation. She is married to Steve and they have two daughters.
Rev. Te Karere Scarborough
TUMUAKI | CO-PRINCIPAL (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hauā) Poet, community educator, and whānau advocate, Te Karere Scarborough has spent the last 15 years working in the community-wellbeing and arts sector. During this time, he was largely based at Parenting Place. He held a variety of roles there that included leading the Attitude Programme for Schools, National Young Leaders’ Day, Toolbox, Building Awesome Whānau and Space programmes. An appointed trustee of his hapū board, Whatitiri Māori Reserves Trust, he has also held governance positions at Maxim Institute, the Mihinare social service provider Te Whare Ruruhau o Meri, and the youth development organisation Zeal. Te Karere holds qualifications from Te Wānanga Takiura, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Unitec, and is concurrently completing his Masters in Chaplaincy through the University of Otago. He was the founding CEO of Te Wānanga Ihorangi and feels privileged to lead alongside Anameka.
Matt Judd
Matt began his professional counselling journey at Laidlaw College, completing the Bachelor of Counselling in 2013. He has since completed a Master of Counselling through the University of Waikato. The research component of his Masters involved working with young men in high schools caught up in violence. The research focused on shaping counselling practices which invited the young men into preferred positions that sought to build on anti-violence/peaceful practices and ways of being.
Rev. Dr Maja Whitaker
Maja is the Academic Dean at Laidlaw College; she oversees all programme development and delivery and contributes to the development and outworking of College strategy, with a focus on integrated programmes and a strong partner ecosystem. Maja is a senior lecturer in the School of Theology, and has served as Practical Theology Lead and with the School of Theology Leadership team. She teaches into courses on spiritual formation, reflective practice, leadership, and pastoral ministry. Summary of key research Maja’s research focusses on what the Christian tradition can offer to critique and inform modern cultural ideologies about human flourishing in general and the diversity of bodies in particular. She has published 3 books, 15 journal articles, and 8 book chapters. She is the author of Perfect in Weakness: Disability and Human Flourishing in the New Creation (Baylor, 2023), co-author of Speaking for the Dead: The Human Body in Biology and Medicine (Routledge, 2016), and editor of Pursuing Perfection: Faith and the Female Body (SCM, 2025).
Agenda
- 9:00 am - 9:30 am
Welcome and tribute to John Sturt
- 9:30 am - 10:30 am
Waitiri - The Pathway to Flourishing
What does it look like to flourish — not just survive. Rev. Watiri Maina invites you to explore this question, drawing on her rich experience as an Anglican priest, spiritual director, and counsellor. With a Masters in Counselling Psychology and a background in theology, Watiri brings together prayer, pastoral care, and peace-building to offer practical wisdom for sustaining healthy, flourishing ministry and counselling practice. Whether you're leading a congregation, walking alongside others, or navigating your own path, this session offers grounded, hope-filled insight into what it means to flourish well — in life, faith, and calling.
- 11:00 pm - 12:00 pm
Rev. Dr Maja Whitaker - Flourishing together: Vulnerability and Mutuality in Church Communities
In an age that prizes autonomy, self-sufficiency, and personal empowerment, church communities are called to embody a different vision of what it means to flourish. Vulnerability and mutual dependence are not personal failures; they are the real conditions of our life together and central to a Christian understanding of flourishing.
- 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Rev. Te Karere Scarborough - Reconstructing Faith: A Story of Te Wānanga Ihorangi
Te Wānanga Ihorangi is a Māori Christian tertiary institute where students learn te reo Māori alongside Christian faith and formation. Over our first few years, we have discovered that faith is often not absent, but that the ways it has been taught or expressed have not always connected. Through daily rhythms, embodied spirituality, relationships and the modelling of faith, we are learning what helps faith take root and flourish in the lives of our students.
- 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Matt Judd - Narrative means to flourishing ends: Identity stories of hope in the face of failure stories that disconnect us from God, self and others.
Have you ever noticed how much energy goes towards a deep sense of not measuring up? Whether in work, wellbeing, finances, or lifestyle, we are surrounded by stories that define success and failure and shape the identity stories about ourselves that follow. These stories can leave us disconnected from God, self, and others. This presentation explores how narrative therapy can help people identify and challenge these dominant stories, making space for alternative identity stories grounded in hope, relationship, and a God-shaped vision of human flourishing.
- 3:45 am - 4:15 pm
Conversations - Questions & Answers
A final session that combines the expertise and
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