AUCKLAND NZ (ANS) -- The announcement of a new Christian political party last week has added confusion to the already fraught New Zealand Christian political scene.

Richard Lewis

After failed attempts to form a united Christian based political vehicle last month, former Destiny NZ party leader, Richard Lewis has announced he will now be heading the newly established Family Party.

The party, which will be a Christian party, plans to contest Labour’s traditional electoral South Auckland strongholds of Mangere and Manukau.

Independent MP, Gordon Copeland who refused to co-lead a united party with Mr Lewis, now plans to continue with Future NZ, a party based on Christian Judeo ethics.

These latest developments must now leave many Christian voters wondering about their options in next year’s elections.

But Mr Copeland said he thought there was room for the two Christian based parties, although in some ways it would have been ideal to have a united Christian based one.

“I think as time goes by people will see there are big differences between the two parties,” he said. Mr Lewis said despite the differences, having two parties with similar values definitely presented challenges.

He stressed the Family Party was totally Christian as opposed to Future NZ, which was based on Christian values and could have non-Christian representation.

The best chance for his party to win a seat, or to make it to the five per cent threshold would be to spend the next 12 months “saturating” the Manukau and Mangere electorates.

This would involve intensive campaigns including door-to-door visits, rallies at flea markets and other such activities.

“We’ve been convinced for some time that Mangere is the battleground for the next election,” he said. “Our intention is to take Labour ‘head on’ as the genuine contender for the Mangere and Manukau seats - seats we believe rightfully belong to South Auckland’s pro-family, traditional Christian constituencies.”

Mr Lewis also emphasised that contrary to what some people were saying, the party was not a “Destiny Party.” He said this was why he had made the difficult decision to de-register the Destiny NZ party.

Mr Lewis said Destiny Church’s Bishop Brian Tamaki had withdrawn from the political arena and would not be speaking on behalf of the new party.

The party’s deputy leader will be City Impact Church’s Paul Adams.

Independent MP Taito Phillip Field, who is embroiled in bribery and corruption charges, was in no way involved with the party.

Mr Lewis will contest the Manukau electorate while Jerry Filipaina, Mangere resident of 46 years and brother to former Kiwi Rugby League star, Olsen Filipaina, will contest the Mangere electorate. Party headquarters will be established in Mangere.

Meanwhile, Future NZ, will soon be getting a name change, after objections from United Future about the similarity of the names.

Lavinia Ngatoko reports for Challenge Weekly, New Zealand’s independent and non-denominational Christian newspaper