Vanuatu
POPULATION 196,178
PRESBYTERIAN 32 percent
ANGLICAN 14 percent
ROMAN CATHOLICISM 13 percent
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST 11 percent
CHURCH OF CHRIST 4 percent
ASSEMBLIES OF GOD 4 percent
NEIL THOMAS MINISTRIES 3 percent
OTHER 11.4 percent
INDIGENOUS BELIEFS 7.6 percent
Country Overview
Introduction
The Republic of Vanuatu (known as the New Hebrides before gaining independence in 1980) is an archipelago of 83 islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The interiors of the large islands are mountainous and heavily forested. Five active volcanoes, together with seasonal cyclones, make the islands vulnerable to natural disasters. The country's economy is developing, and the majority of the population are subsistence farmers.
The islands were colonized by Britain and France, who formed a condominium (a jointly ruled government) in 1907, resulting in a system of divided loyalties in Vanuatu that influenced the European languages learned, the quality of education acquired, and the attitude toward the incorporation of the kastom (traditional, or customary) religious orientation of the island peoples.
Christianity in Vanuatu combines the philosophical and theological tenets and practices of its various churches with a worldview that has developed out of a long history of pre-Christian orientation to the cosmos. Offerings to creator beings, whose names Christian missionaries frequently used as translation for "God," are still made in some islands.
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