Like many Indigenous people who bordered European colonies in North America from the seventeenth century, the Mohawk (Kanien'keha:ka) had received missionaries who attempted to convert them to Christianity. By the eighteenth century, many Mohawk had adopted the Christian faith from repeated English missions and translations of the Book of Common Prayer became a way to allow people to practice the religion in their own language, to understand church services that were primarily delivered in English and to facilitate communication between Mohawk and English traders.
This 1787 edition of the Book of Common Prayer also included, for the first time, the full text of the Gospel of St Mark in the Mohawk language. The translation was made by the Mohawk leader Thayendanegea, also known by his Christian name, Joseph Brant (1743–1807). Both parts had a parallel text in English and in Mohawk while the Gospel also contained etchings illustrating the most important moments of the life of Jesus Christ. 
Brant had travelled to London in 1775 where he met political figures and had an audience with George III at St James's Palace. Part of the visit was to negotiate Mohawk support for Britain in the American War of Independence.
In 1784, Brant moved his people from their homes in New York to new land in Canada (near Brantford, Ontario) and in 1785, he returned to London, where he had another audience with the King and was entertained by the Prince of Wales (later George IV). According to Brant's biography by William Stone (1792-1844), it was on this visit that he finished the translation of the Book of Common Prayer he had started before the war (Life of Joseph Brant-Thayendanegea, vol. 2, New York, 1838, pp. 260-1; RCIN 1026171). The completion of the translation was undertaken with George III's patronage so that it could replace earlier translations that had been lost during the conflict. The project was supported by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, but the typesetting and printing of the book was supervised by Brant to ensure that the Mohawk text was accurate. An engraving depicting Brant's meeting with the King and Queen was used as the frontispiece to the published work. It was probably at the same meeting that the King granted the Mohawk a chapel in gratitude for their assistance in the war. This church was the first Anglican church to be built in Canada. It was designated a Chapel Royal by King Edward VII in 1904.