Those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honoured his name.
Malachi 3:16
John Coleridge Patteson (1871)
Indigenous Ministry
When in 1861 John Coleridge Patteson became the first Anglican bishop of Melanesia – a large collection of islands in the South Pacific – he worked to establish an indigenous ministry, having learnt 23 of the languages and dialects. He also campaigned to bring an end to the virtual enslavement of Melanesian workers by British settlers from Australia and Fiji.
In September 1871 John was visiting Nakapu, one of the Santa Cruz Islands. Three of his companions, Joseph Atkin, an English priest, and two Melanesians, John Ngongono and Stephen Taroaniara, were wounded by arrows when they arrived on the island. A few hours later a canoe floated out from the shore containing John Coleridge Patteson’s dead body.
It is likely that he was murdered by the islanders out of fear; a few months prior to his visit five islanders had been murdered by Anglo-Australian raiders. Atkin and Taroaniara died of tetanus only days later.
When the people of the island discovered that they had murdered a man who had sought their good and who had wanted to defend them against those who oppressed them, they sought reconciliation and went to John’s successor to hear the Gospel. Today there is a Church in Melanesia that still remembers his martyrdom.
Almighty God, you called John Coleridge Patteson to be your witness in the islands of Melanesia and by his labours and suffering to raise up a people for your own possession. Pour out upon your Church in every land the Spirit of service and sacrifice, that the nations may acknowledge your sovereign law and all peoples may give you glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
For All the Saints (New Zealand)