[1][2] Since April 2018, Tamihere has also served as the Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa, the Bishop of the Maori Anglican Church and Primate and Archbishop of New Zealand.
His early childhood was spent in Te Puia Springs and Ruatoria, and his teenage years in Tokomaru Bay.
At 19, Tamihere left Tokomaru Bay to study at the Apostolic Church's Te Nikau Bible College in Paraparaumu.
[1][3] Tamihere was deaconed at St Mary's Church, Tikitiki, on 23 March 2003, and priested at Holy Trinity Gisborne on 5 December 2004.
[5][6] Tamihere met Temukisa Saifiti while studying at Te Nikau Bible College and they married in 1994.