St Stephen's Church, Tuahiwi

One of the loveliest country churches in North Canterbury, built in 1867, marks the location of a mission station established in the 1850s among Ngai Tahu who had regrouped there after the fall of nearby Kaiapoi Pa to Te Rauparaha. The village, with its twentieth century hall/meeting house, is still an important centre of Maori life in North Canterbury. 

Stephen's, Tuahiwi is thought to be the first Maori Mission church to be built in the South Island. 

Its design with vertical board-and-batten exterior cladding in the Selwyn style is believed to be by the Reverend A.G. Purchas (1821-1906), who had worked with Frederick Thatcher in Auckland and had designed the Selwyn style St Bride's, Mauku.

Thanks to http://dayout.co.nz/attractions/attraction.aspx?attractionId=974 for the information.

There were amazing cloud formations in the afternoon, and I was trying to get an interesting foreground for them. I got really sidetracked by this beautiful wee church!