St. John the Baptist Church was built in 1831 by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) at Te Waimate mission at Waimate North, inland from the Bay of Islands. In 1841, it became the first seat of Bishop George Selwyn when he arrived in New Zealand to take up his appointment as the first Anglican Bishop of New Zealand. Bishop Selwyn established St. John’s College at the mission in June 1842 to provide theology to candidates for ordination into the Anglican Church. On 26 September 1844 Bishop Selwyn presided over the first Synod held in New Zealand at the church.