Gospel Day in 2024

When is Gospel Day?

Gospel (Nuku) Day is a public holiday in the Cook Islands on October 26th each year. 

The day celebrates the arrival of Christianity to the Cook Islands on October 26th 1821.

History of Gospel Day

In 1817, John Williams, of the London Missionary Society, and his wife, Mary Chawner Williams, voyaged to the Society Islands, a group of islands that included Tahiti, accompanied by William Ellis and his wife. 

John and Mary established their first missionary post on the island of Raiatea. From there, they visited a number of the Polynesian island chains, sometimes with Mr and Mrs Ellis and other London Missionary Society representatives. Landing on Aitutaki in 1821, they used Tahitian converts to carry their message to the Cook islanders.

“The arrival of Christianity made a massive impact on the Cook Islands and the lifestyles of our people, and Gospel Day is a very significant event,” says Cook Islands Christian Churches (CICC) secretary Mauri Toa.

Today most of the population are Christian.

The various Protestant groups account for 62.8% of the believers, the most followed denomination being the Cook Islands Christian Church with 49.1%. Other Protestant Christian groups include Seventh-day Adventist 7.9%, Assemblies of God 3.7% and Apostolic Church 2.1%. The main non-Protestant group is Roman Catholics with 17% of the population. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints makes up 4.4%