The purpose of the publication is to explore various aspects of the Māori mission from its beginnings in the 1820s. Peter and other authors, including Roshan Allpress, Glen O’Brien, Rowan Tautari, Susan Thompson and Geoff Troughton – all presenters at the WHS 2019 Bicentenary Conference, Methodism in Aotearoa, Origins & Impact - will document the contributions of the Pākehā and Māori missionaries and catechists.

Peter’s chapter aims to shed light on the role of the Māori home missionaries whose work has been largely unrecognised in historical records. He will tell the story of the Māori home missionaries and deaconesses who were active in remote and difficult to access coastal regions from Taranaki to Northland, including Kaeo, Hokianga and the Bay of Islands. Peter says he is particularly interested in the period before urbanisation – the 1920s and 1930s – when Methodist Māori leaders and deaconesses were supporting communities and leading services in remote areas where European preachers had stopped preaching.

The aim is for this book to be published this year.

Caption: Peter Lineham recently spent a day in the archives focussed on papers relating to the early Māori catechists.