Kiribati Uniting Church
The Kiribati Uniting Church (KUC) (until 2014 the Kiribati Protestant Church and earlier, the Gilbert
Islands Protestant Church) is a united Protestant Christian denomination in Kiribati. With approximately
25,000 members,[1] and 136 congregations,[1] the KUC is the second-largest religious group in Kiribati and
accounts for approximately 21 percent of the population of the country.[2]
Because of their remoteness and the few European presence, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands were ignored by
Christian missions until the latter half of the 19th century. Protestant missionaries (e.g., Hiram Bingham)
sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions first arrived in Kiribati in 1857, and
missionaries from the London Missionary Society arrived in 1870. The Protestant converts were served by
pastors from Hawaii, Samoa and Tuvalu until the early 20th century, after which Tuvaluans and I-Kiribati,
trained at Rongorongo, on Beru Atoll, took on this role. In 1968, the first general assembly of the Gilbert
Islands Protestant Church met to organise an autonomous church. In 1979, when the Gilbert Islands was
renamed Kiribati, the church changed its name to the Kiribati Protestant Church.[1] The church was
originally established as a Congregationalist denomination.
In 2014, after a Church Bi-annual Assembly (Maungatabu), which was held on the island of Arorae, the
Kiribati Protestant Church changed its name to Kiribati Uniting Church. The word "uniting" reflects that
the church is now a union of several Protestant denominations in Kiribati, including Congregationalists,
Evangelicals, Anglicans, and Presbyterians. But 10,000 members, mainly Congregationalists, did not
accept the move and recreated a separate Kiribati Protestant Church.
The current head of KUC, called Moderator, is Reirei Kouraabi.
KUC has 209 pastors.[1] The majority of church members are fisherman or copra cutters. Membership is
decreasing since the move of 2014.[3]
The KUC is a member of the World Council of Churches, the World Communion of Reformed
Churches,[4] and the Council for World Mission.[1] The pastors for the KUC are trained at Tangintebu
Theological College, which is owned by the church.
See also
Bureieta Karaiti
Further reading
Alaima T., Mikaere B., Keina B., Meita B., Kunei E., Uentabo F., . . ., & Kumon U. (1979).
Kiribati: Aspects of history. Suva, Fiji: University of the South Pacific, Institute of Pacific
Studies.
Garrett, J. (1992). Footsteps in the sea: Christianity in Oceania to World War II. Suva:
University of the South Pacific.
Goodall, N. (1954). A history of the London Missionary Society 1895-1945. London: Oxford
University Press.
Macdonald, B. K. (1982). Cinderellas of the empire: Towards a history of Kiribati and Tuvalu.
Canberra: Australian National University Press.
Nokise, U. F. (1983). The role of London Missionary Society Samoan missionaries in the
evangelisation of the South West Pacific 1839-1930 (https://openresearch-repository.anu.ed
u.au/bitstream/1885/109332/4/b17986539-Nokise_uili.f.pdf) (Doctoral dissertation,
Australian National University).
Porter, A. (1997). ‘Cultural imperialism’ and Protestant missionary enterprise, 1780–1914.
Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 25, 367-391.
Sabatier, E. (1977). Astride the Equator: An account of the Gilbert Islands (U. Nixon, Trans.).
Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Notes
1. World Council of Churches: Kiribati Uniting Church (https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-
churches/kiribati-protestant-church), oikoumene.org, accessed 2015-10-07.
2. "Australia - Oceania :: Kiribati — The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency" (https://
www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kiribati/). www.cia.gov. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
3. "Our Partners" (https://www.unitingworld.org.au/what-we-do/our-partners/).
unitingworld.org.au.
4. "Members - Pacific" (http://wcrc.ch/members#pacific). World Communion of Reformed
Churches.
External links
Thomas Scarborough, Kiribati Protestant Church (K.P.C.) (http://www.janesoceania.com/kiri
bati_kpc/index.htm): 2003 report on the church from a South African missionary from the
London Missionary Society
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