Christensen was born in Egvard, Denmark. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1886, where he was the pastor to the Danish Lutheran Congregation in Mauriceville until 1894, when he took over the Lutheran Church in Palmerston North. He ministered and preached – in Danish until the early 1920s – and built a new church in Church Street. In mid-1928, Christensen retired and was succeeded by his youngest son, the Reverend Ansgar Christensen. Reverend Mads Christersen died on December 28th 1929, leaving ten children and eighteen grandchildren.