Church of the Province of Melanesia
| Anglican Church of Melanesia | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Primate | George Takeli |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Headquarters | Honiara, Solomon Islands |
| Territory | Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia |
| Members | 200,000 |
| Website | www |
The Anglican Church of Melanesia (ACoM), also known as the Church of the Province of Melanesia and the Church of Melanesia (COM), is a church of the Anglican Communion and includes nine dioceses in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. The newly enthroned and installed primate and Archbishop of Melanesia is George Takeli. He succeeds the retired archbishop David Vunagi, who left office on 6 September 2015.
The church was established by George Selwyn in 1849 and was initially headed by a Bishop of Melanesia. One of the important features of the province's life over many years has been the work of a mission vessel in various incarnations known as the Southern Cross. First based in New Zealand, the missionaries, mainly from Oxbridge and the public schools, established their base on Norfolk Island, bringing Melanesian scholars there to learn Christianity until the school was closed in 1918.
The many languages in Melanesia made evangelisation a challenge. The Melanesian Mission adopted the language of the island of Mota in the Banks group of islands as the lingua franca. The Church of Melanesia is known for its pioneer martyrs, especially John Patteson, murdered in 1871, Charles Godden, killed in 1906, among several others.
Today, there are nearly 200,000 Anglicans out of an estimated population of over 800,000 in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu as well as a newly formed parish in Nouméa, New Caledonia.
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Wikipedia