Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia

Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia
Te Hāhi Mihinare ki Aotearoa ki Niu Tīreni, ki Ngā Moutere o Te Moana Nui a Kiwa
Classification	Protestant (with various theological and doctrinal identities, including Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical)
Orientation	Anglican
Scripture	Holy Bible
Theology	Anglican doctrine
Polity	Episcopal
Primates (Archbishops)	Don Tamihere (Aotearoa) Justin Duckworth (New Zealand) Sione Uluʻilakepa (Polynesia)
Dioceses	13
Parishes	552 (2008)[1]
Region	New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the Cook Islands
Headquarters	Meadowbank, Auckland, New Zealand
Separations	Church of Confessing Anglicans of Aotearoa/New Zealand (2019)
Official website	anglican.org.nz

The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia,^[a] formerly the Church of the Province of New Zealand, is a province of the Anglican Communion serving New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the Cook Islands. Since 1992 the church has consisted of three tikanga or cultural streams: Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia. The church's constitution says that, among other things, it is required to "maintain the right of every person to choose any particular cultural expression of the faith".^[2] As a result, the church's General Synod has agreed upon the development of the three-person primacy based on this three tikanga system;^[3] it has three primates, each representing a tikanga, who share authority.^[4]

The Anglican Church is an apostolic church, which claims to trace its bishops back to the apostles via holy orders. A New Zealand Prayer Book, He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa (ANZPB/HKMOA), containing traditional liturgies, rites, and blessings, is central to the church's worship.

The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia is not established as an official church of any sovereign state, unlike the Church of England from which it grew. However, Anglicans have taken a preeminent leadership role on New Zealand state occasions.^[5] Anglicanism is the largest single Christian religious affiliation in New Zealand, according to the 2018 census, which recorded 314,913 adherents in New Zealand. Roman Catholicism recorded 295,743.^[b][6]

Since the 1960s the New Zealand Anglican Church in general has approved the marriage by a priest in a church of someone whose earlier marriage was dissolved (even though the former spouse still lives), and has approved blessings for same-sex couples.

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