Samuel Marsden’s first Christian service
- When
- 25 December 1814
- Where
- Oihi Bay, Rangihoua · Rangihoua
- Reach
- Local
Marsden preached at Oihi Bay on Christmas Day 1814 under the protection of Ruatara, beginning the first permanent mission station in New Zealand.
The Church Missionary Society settlement at Rangihoua existed because the rangatira Ruatara wanted it — missionaries meant access to crops, tools and trade. For its first decade the mission converted almost nobody and survived entirely on Māori goodwill. Its lasting effect was literacy: within twenty years a written form of te reo Māori was in wide use, and Māori were among the most literate populations in the world.
Regions affected
Sources
Written for this project from these references rather than copied from them. Follow a link to check the account against the original.
Related
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Tōtara Point, HokiangaTohunga Suppression Act
An Act making it an offence to practise as a tohunga, aimed at prophets and healers whose authority the state saw as a threat to assimilation.
The Rātana movement rises
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