With approximately 10,000 members,[1] and 136 congregations,[1] the KPC was the second-largest religious group in Kiribati before creation of the new Kiribati Uniting Church and accounts now for approximately 8 percent of the population of the country.
[2] Because of their remoteness and the few European presence, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands were ignored by Christian missions until the latter half of the 19th century.
The missions relied heavily upon Pacific islanders as teachers and pastors: the Protestant converts were served mainly by pastors from Hawaii, Samoa and Tuvalu until the early 20th century, after which Ellicean and Gilbertese, trained at Rongorongo, on Beru, took on this role.
The word "uniting" should reflect that the church would like to become now a union of several Protestant denominations in Kiribati, including Congregationalists, Evangelicals, Anglicans, and Presbyterians, but this move provoked an immediate scission and the following recreation of the original KPC.
The current head of KPC is Baranite Kirata (PI).