The Congregational Christian Church of Niue (abbreviated CCCN, also known as Ekalesia Niue or the Church of Niue) is a Christian denomination in

Niue Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between Tong ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It is rooted in the Congregationalist part of the

Reformed tradition Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calv ...

. It is the largest

religious denomination A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name and tradition among other activities. The term refers to the various Christian denominations (for example, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox, Cat ...

in Niue, claiming approximately 75% of Niue's population as members. In Niue, the church has up to 1,190 members in 16 congregations and 10 house fellowships with 12 pastors. It also has a presence among the roughly 4,500 Niueans living in New Zealand. The CCCN was founded in Niue by Samoan missionaries from the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational m ...

(L.M.S.) during the 1840s and the 1850s. The churches was organised along Congregational lines under Rev. William George Lawes and his brother Frank E. Lawes, they also trained missionaries from Niue. Further succession of missionaries between 1910 and 1970 moved toward independence in close association with the Congregational Churches of New Zealand. In

there are about 15,000 people from Niue, mostly congregational religion. The church in Niue has been independent since 1966. It was known as the L.M.S. Church in Niue until 1970, when it became autonomous and adopted the name "Ekalesia Niue". It has since changed its name to its current form. The CCCN is a member of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...

, the Pacific Conference of Churches, the

Council for World Mission The Council for World Mission (CWM) is a worldwide community of mainly protestant Christian churches. The 32 members share their resources of money, people, skills and insights to carry out their mission work. Leadership The 32 member churches ar ...

, the

World Communion of Reformed Churches The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Calvinist churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Chris ...

, the

World Alliance of Reformed Churches The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) was a fellowship of more than 200 churches with roots in the 16th-century Reformation, and particularly in the theology of John Calvin. Its headquarters was in Geneva, Switzerland. They are now merged ...

, and the Niue National Council of Churches.

References

Congregationalism in Niue Congregationalist denominations Members of the World Communion of Reformed Churches Members of the World Council of Churches Reformed denominations in Oceania Organisations based in Niue Christian organizations established in 1970 {{Niue-stub