Christianity in New Zealand dates to the arrival of missionaries from the Church Missionary Society who were welcomed onto the beach at Rangihoua Bay in December 1814. Christianity soon became the predominant belief amongst the indigenous people, with over half of Māori regularly attending church services within the first 30 years. It remains New Zealand's largest religious group, but no one denomination is dominant and there is no official state church. According to the 2023 census 33.2% of the population identified as Christian. The largest Christian denominations are Catholic, Anglican, and Presbyterian. Christian organisations are the leading non-government providers of social services in New Zealand.
History The first Christian service conducted in New Zealand waters was most likely carried out by Father Paul-Antoine Léonard de Villefeix, the Dominican chaplain on the ship Saint Jean Baptiste commanded by the French navigator and explorer Jean-François-Marie de Surville. Villefeix was the first Christian minister to set foot in New Zealand, and probably said Mass on board the ship near Whatuwhiwhi in Doubtless Bay on Christmas Day in 1769. He is reported to have also led prayers for the sick the previous day and to have conducted Christian burials.
New Zealand's religious history after the arrival of Europeans saw substantial missionary activity, with Māori generally converting to Christianity voluntarily (compare forced conversions elsewhere in the world). The Anglican Church Missionary Society (CMS) sent missionaries to settle in New Zealand. Samuel Marsden of the Church Missionary Society (chaplain in New South Wales) officiated at its first service on Christmas Day in 1814, at Oihi Bay, a small cove in Rangihoua Bay in the Bay of Islands, at the invitation of chiefs Te Pahi and Ruatara, considered to have been the first preaching of the gospel in New Zealand. The CMS founded its first mission at Rangihoua Bay in the Bay of Islands in 1814 and over the next decade established farms and schools in the area. In June 1823 Wesleydale, the first Wesleyan Methodist mission in New Zealand, was established at Kaeo, near Whangaroa Harbour.
The first book published in the Māori language was A Korao no New Zealand; or, the New Zealander's First Book, published by CMS missioner Thomas Kendall in 1815. In 1817 Tītore and Tui (also known as Tuhi or Tupaea (1797?–1824)) sailed to England.NZETC: Maori Wars of the Nineteenth Century, 1816 They visited Professor Samuel Lee at Cambridge University and assisted him in the preparation of a grammar and vocabulary of Māori. Kendall travelled to London in 1820 with Hongi Hika and Waikato (a lower ranking Ngāpuhi chief) during which time work was done with Professor Samuel Lee, which resulted in the First Grammar and Vocabulary of the New Zealand Language (1820).Rogers, Lawrence M., (1973) Te Wiremu: A Biography of Henry Williams, Pegasus Press, p. 35, f/n 7 & 39
In 1823, Rev Henry Williams became the leader of the CMS mission in New Zealand. He settled at Paihia, across the bay from Kororāreka (nowadays Russell); then described as "the hell-hole of the South Pacific" because of the abuse of alcohol and prostitution that was the consequence of the sealing ships and whaling ships that visited Kororāreka. Williams concentrated on the salvation of souls. The first baptism occurred in 1825, although it was another 5 years before the second baptism. Schools were established, which addressed religious instruction, reading and writing and practical skills. Williams also stopped the CMS trading muskets for food. Māori eventually came to see that the ban on muskets was the only way to bring an end to the tribal wars.
Williams organised the CMS missionaries into a systematic study of the Māori language and soon started translating the Bible into Māori.Fitzgerald, Caroline (2011) Letter of Henry Williams, 9 February 1824Fitzgerald, Caroline (2004) Journal of Henry Williams, 12 July 1826 In July 1827 William Colenso printed the first Māori Bible, comprising three chapters of Genesis, the 20th chapter of Exodus, the first chapter of the Gospel of St John, 30 verses of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of St Matthew, the Lord's Prayer and some hymns.Gillies 1995, p. 48Rogers 1973, p. 25, f/n, p. 70 It was the first book printed in New Zealand and his 1837 Māori New Testament was the first indigenous language translation of the Bible published in the southern hemisphere. pp 20-110 Demand for the Māori New Testament, and for the Prayer Book that followed, grew exponentially, as did Christian Māori leadership and public Christian services, with 33,000 Māori soon attending regularly. Literacy and understanding the Bible increased mana and social and economic benefits, decreased the practices of slavery and intertribal violence, and increased peace and respect for all people in Māori society, including women. pp 20-116
Henry Williams played an important role in the translation of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. In August 1839 Captain William Hobson was given instructions by the Colonial Office to take the constitutional steps needed to establish a British colony in New Zealand. Hobson was sworn in as Lieutenant-Governor in Sydney on 14 January, finally arriving in the Bay of Islands on 29 January 1840. The Colonial Office did not provide Hobson with a draft treaty, so he was forced to write his own treaty with the help of his secretary, James Freeman, and British Resident James Busby. The entire treaty was prepared in four days. Realising that a treaty in English could be neither understood, debated or agreed to by Māori, Hobson instructed Williams, who worked with his son Edward, who was also proficient in the Māori language, to translate the document into Māori and this was done overnight on 4 February. Williams was also involved in explaining the treaty to Māori leaders, firstly at the meetings with William Hobson at Waitangi, but later also when he travelled to Port Nicholson, Queen Charlotte's Sound, Kapiti, Waikanae and Otaki to persuade Māori chiefs to sign the treaty.
In 1845, 64,000 Māori were attending church services, over half of the estimated population of 110,000. By then, there was probably a higher proportion of Māori attending Church in New Zealand than British people in the United Kingdom. The New Zealand Anglican Church, (the missionary church), was, and is, the largest Māori denomination. Māori made Christianity their own and spread it throughout the country often before European missionaries arrived.
Jean Baptiste Pompallier was the first Catholic bishop to come to New Zealand, arriving in 1838. With a number of Marist Brothers, Pompallier organised the Catholic Church throughout the country. George Augustus Selwyn became the first Anglican Bishop of New Zealand in 1841. Selwyn was criticised by the CMS for being ineffective in training and ordaining New Zealand teachers, deacons and priests—especially Māori. It would be 11 years until the first Māori deacon, Rota Waitoa, would be ordained by the Bishop at St Paul's, Auckland, and 24 years before he ordained a Māori priest. The first Māori bishop in New Zealand's history was Frederick Bennett, who was consecrated Anglican Bishop of Aotearoa, in 1928. The first Catholic Māori priest, Father Wiremu Te Āwhitu was ordained in 1944, and the first Māori bishop, Bishop Max Mariu was ordained in 1988.Catholic Hierarchy website, Bishop Max Takuira Matthew Mariu SM
The Sisters of Mercy arrived in Auckland in 1850 and were the first order of religious sisters to come to New Zealand and began to work in health care and education. At the direction of Mary MacKillop (St Mary of the Cross), the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart arrived in New Zealand and established schools. In 1892, Suzanne Aubert established the Sisters of Compassion—the first Catholic order established in New Zealand for women. The Anglican Church in New Zealand recognises her as a saintly person and in 1997 the New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference agreed to support the "Introduction of the Cause of Suzanne Aubert", to begin the process of consideration for her canonisation as a saint by the Catholic Church.
In 1892 the New Zealand Church Missionary Society (NZCMS) formed in a Nelson church hall and the first New Zealand missionaries were sent overseas soon after.
Although there was some hostility between Catholic and Protestants in the 19th and early 20th centuries, this declined towards the end of the 20th century."Religious intolerance", Te Ara
Demographics
The proportion of New Zealanders who identify as Christian is declining—accounting for around a third of responses to the 2023 census, whereas in the 1991 census it stood at around three-quarters.
Protestant (& Protestant affiliations) was the largest Christian religious affiliation in New Zealand, according to the 2023 census, followed by Catholic (& Catholic affiliations), then Christian (not further defined). Roman Catholic was the largest single denomination, followed by Anglican, then Presbyterian.
Denominational affiliation2018201320062001Trend (%)Number% Number % Number % Number % 2001–13 Total Christian 1,793,97038.17 1,858,977 47.65 2,027,418 54.16 2,043,843 58.92 -11.27 Christian (not further defined)310,1436.6 216,177 5.54 186,234 4.97 192,165 5.54 Protestant (& Protestant affiliations)846,00017.431,093,06528.011,286,19634.351,324,35338.17 Anglican314,9136.70 459,771 11.79 554,925 14.82 584,793 16.86 Presbyterian, Congregational and Reformed244,7015.20 330,516 8.47 400,839 10.71 431,139 12.43 Methodist 72,1831.5 102,879 2.64 121,806 3.25 120,546 3.48 Evangelical, Born Again and Fundamentalist65,2831.38 15,381 0.39 13,836 0.37 11,016 0.32 Pentecostal53,8740.67 74,256 1.90 79,155 2.11 67,182 1.94 Adventist18,5100.39 17,085 0.44 16,191 0.43 14,868 0.43 Baptist38,0430.8 54,345 1.39 56,913 1.52 51,423 1.48 Brethren14,1600.30 18,624 0.48 19,617 0.52 20,397 0.59 Protestant (not further defined) & non denominational 95610.20 4,998 0.13 3,954 0.11 2,787 0.08 Salvation Army79290.16 9,162 0.23 11,493 0.31 12,618 0.36 Asian Christian 51010.2 132 <0.01 195 0.01 195 0.01 Uniting/Union Church and Ecumenical36930.07 999 0.03 1,419 0.04 1,389 0.04 Lutheran35850.07 3,903 0.10 4,476 0.12 4,314 0.12 Church of Christ and Associated Churches of Christ32580.06 2,145 0.05 2,991 0.08 3,270 0.09 Total Māori Christian56,1571.19 54,180 1.36 65,550 1.75 63,597 1.83 -0.47 Rātana43,8210.93 40,353 1.03 50,565 1.35 48,975 1.41 Ringatū12,3360.26 13,272 0.34 16,419 0.44 15,291 0.44 Māori Christian (not further defined) 222 0.01 219 0.01 237 0.01 Other Māori Christian 333 0.01 360 0.01 426 0.01 Catholic (& Catholic affiliations)473,14510.02 492,105 12.61 508,437 13.58 485,637 14.00 Orthodox (& Orthodox affiliations)15,4500.29 13,806 0.35 13,194 0.35 9,576 0.28 Other Christian affiliations82,9781.8363,5041.5366,8611.7962,8861.81 Latter-day Saints54,1231.15 40,728 1.04 43,539 1.16 39,915 1.15 Jehovah's Witnesses20,0610.42 17,931 0.46 17,910 0.48 17,829 0.51 Other Christian - - 3,714 0.10 3,798 0.10 3,558 0.10 Total population 4,699,755 4,242,048 4,027,947 3,737,277
(Note: All figures are for the census usually resident population. Percentages are based on number of responses rather than total population. These are nominal. The 2011 census was cancelled due to the 2011 Christchurch earthquake In all censuses, up to four responses were collected.)
Geographic distribution