[Anglican Communion News Service] The 150th anniversary of the first printed edition of Te Paipera Tapu – the Bible in the Maori language – is being celebrated in New Zealand. The work that led to the Maori language Bible began years beforehand, when Anglican priest Samuel Marsden, working as a Church Missionary Society worker in Sydney, Australia, was given permission to establish a mission in New Zealand. He preached at New Zealand’s first Church service on Christmas Day in 1814, introducing 300 Maori to the Gospel, using as his theme Luke 2:10 – “Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy.”

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