The story of some of the first settlers to arrive in New Zealand will be told at Christ Church on Friday night.
The Church Missionary Society of New Zealand is celebrating its 125th anniversary and the Wanganui branch is presenting Our Courageous Forbears - the story of the life of the first missionaries.
Chairman of the Whanganui branch, Allan Anderson, said Christianity was introduced to New Zealand on Christmas Day 1814 in the Bay of Island by the four families who had come to New Zealand from Britain as the original missionaries.
The descendants of one of the families - the Kendalls - will be performing a re-enactment of that day.
Mr Anderson said the New Zealand society was still active across the globe.