Abstract:
The growth of evangelism in England in the early nineteenth century was accompanied by an increase in missionary enterprise. In 1799 the Church Missionary Society was formed by a group of evangelicals and it was to this Society that Samuel Marsden appealed for men to be sent out to New Zealand. In 1809 the first of the Company's servants for the new mission left England.
Within the Society a hierarchical system of organisation prevailed. The Parent Committee which met in London exercised final authority over the parochial committees in England and the district committees in New Zealand. The parochial committees represented the local members who paid a small annual subscription. The district committees were elected by the missionaries who met together at least once a year.
