This year marks 200 hundred years since the baptism of Christian Rangi, the first Māori baptised by the missionaries as a Christian convert. Henry Williams, who conducted the baptism on 14 September 1825, described Rangi as a “brand plucked from the burning” (Zech. 3:2), pointing to the providential nature of Rangi’s conversion.

Rangi was baptised on his death-bed and died the next day from the ravages of tuberculosis. But, despite his death, the missionaries rejoiced in way that Rangi had come to faith over the previous eighteen months, culminating in his choice of baptismal name: Karaitiana (Christian). For Rangi, taking the name of Christ sealed his identitification with Jesus as Lord and Saviour.

For many Māori at that time, the idea that a Māori could be converted from the traditions of his ancestors was considered an impossibility: Māori had their own atua and had no need for “the white man’s God”. Many Europeans too considered the whole missionary enterprise a complete waste of time and money.

Yet despite those prevailing views, Rangi received the missionaries each Sabbath at his family settlement at Waitangi and listened to their message of a heavenly country where there was no more sickness or pain. Early on, Rangi had proposed an experiment: he would plant some kumara with the “tapu” and some without, declaring that the one that grew best would indicate the true God. It wasn’t long before Rangi had set aside entirely all the chiefly requirements of tapu. It was a move that in Māori eyes dangerously exposed Rangi to spiritual attack.

Rangi persisted in seeking the God of whom the missionaries spoke and, with their encouragement, he began to pray for a new heart within. It was his experience of answered prayer that led to his public profession of faith. He told the missionary Richard Davis that “his heart was very full of love to Jesus Christ, that he was very ill in his body but that he hoped to be soon in the good place.”

Four weeks after this testimony to answered prayer, Rangi had a most extraordinary experience of God’s grace, what the old Puritan theologians might term “an unconvenanted blessing”. He sent a message to Davis asking him to visit. When Davis arrived, Rangi told him that he had had a dream of going to heaven and being welcomed there by Jesus himself: “He told me that he had had a dream in which he thought he was in heaven with Jesus Christ. He also told me that the Spirit of the great God spoke very much to his heart.” Davis went on to note that Rangi’s countenance “spoke the inward peace of his mind and set the seal of truth on all he said”. This is why Rangi taking the baptismal name of Karaitiana was so significant. It cemented his personal allegiance and loyalty to Christ.

Although Christian Rangi died the day after his baptism, his testimony set the pattern for many Māori to follow over the coming years, as upwards of 90% of the entire Māori population came to profess the Christian faith. Upon his death, a comet had appeared in the sky that his family took as confirmation that Rangi was indeed making his way to heaven. His brothers told the missionaries they wanted to join Rangi in heaven and had begun to pray themselves for a new heart within.

Christian Rangi’s testimony continues to echo down through the years. In an age that often dismisses and disparages the reality of Christian conversion, may Rangi’s example inspire many to pray in the same way, and that they too might come to know the transforming power of te Rongopai o Ihu Karaiti, the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Author: Dr Malcolm Falloon

Malcolm is an Anglican minister with over thirty years’ experience in pastoral ministry. He currently pastors Church of the Ascension in Auckland, which is affiliated with the Church of Confessing Anglicans. Through his work with the Latimer Fellowship (an evangelical society within the Anglican Church), he has experience in connecting leaders together for mutual encouragement and support in the Gospel. Malcolm is a keen student of New Zealand mission history, and has a PhD specialising in the Māori conversion to Christianity.