Oceania was the last part of the world to be the subject of missionary endeavour. Protected by vast tracts of water from casual contact with other cultures, the societies of Oceania were peculiarly vulnerable in the face of European intrusion. Christianity aided and abetted the collapse or fragmentation of the highly specialised societies and local cultures of the aboriginal and island peoples. Settlers of European (and largely British) origin rapidly came to be the majority of the total population of the region. The Christian culture which the settlers espoused often reinforced their contempt and disdain for the aboriginal inhabitants. Missionary Christianity, on the other hand, assumed a protective role. That local culture survived at all is partly to do with the fact that Christianity enabled indigenous converts to evolve new cultural responses.

With the smallest overall population of any continent (some 30 million in 2000), Oceania has become one of the most Christian parts of the world. Over 80 per cent of the population belong to Christian churches. Anglicans are a surprisingly high proportion of the total population at 17.8 per cent. This is higher than in any other continent, including Europe (where, outside Britain, there are very few Anglicans). For long the dominant church in Australia and New Zealand, Anglicans have a strong presence in some, but not all, of the Pacific islands: an estimated 38 per cent in the Solomon Islands are Anglican, 29 per cent in Norfolk Island (a dependency of Australia), 18 per cent in Vanuatu, 6.7 per cent in Papua New Guinea, and 11 per cent in the Cocos Islands.