Hocken Digital Collections

Methodist Church of Otago/Southland : Records

Details

Reference NumberARC-0048CreatorNew Zealand Methodist Church, Otago/Southland DistrictDescriptionThis large collection includes Otago and Southland district records, individual congregational records, and materials originating from the Methodist Church of New Zealand. Records of congregations can generally include baptismal registers, marriage registers, minutes from various meetings, member records, financial records, records of various women's groups and affiliated groups, such as boys' and girls' brigades, Sunday School records, anniversary records, preachers' plans, circulars, newsletters, other publications, photographs, plans, maps and various other papers.
Only a small part of this collection is digitised and available through Digital Collections. Information about other items can be found on the Hākena catalogue, through the Library Catalogues link above.History / BiographyMethodism came to the Dunedin area with the arrival of James Watkin, a Wesleyan missionary, whose headquarters were situated at Waikouaiti. The mission lasted from 1840 till 1859. In the predominantly Free Church settlement there were few Methodists, but worship was organised by the few who came. A particular group of able leaders at Port Chalmers initiated the first Methodist building project in 1855 and the arrival in 1862 of the Reverend Isaac Harding, the first minister to be appointed to Dunedin, initiated a period of substantial growth. Harding travelled throughout the whole of Otago, to places including Wakatipu, Dunstan, Teviot, and the Lawrence gold-fields, and in the country farming centres of Milton and Balclutha. Within a decade or so there was regular Sunday worship in Wesleyan churches to be found at Trinity Church in the heart of the city just above the Octagon, at Port Chalmers, Mornington and at Broad Bay. The Primitive Methodists, one of the offshoots in English Methodism also developed their work in Dunedin. Partly because of the competition there was a remarkable growth in Methodist buildings and presence throughout the remaining years of the century. Methodists later began developing cooperative ventures, most commonly with the Presbyterian Church. There has not been a new solely Methodist cause established in Dunedin for nearly 50 years. Such were the effects of the Church Union movement that in the late 1970s it became clear that Methodism would survive only in the longer established congregations and a considerable amount of retrenchment took place around this time. In 1975 the various churches of Dunedin Methodism formed a single circuit and as such the Dunedin Methodist Parish was set up. What remained were seven congregations - Glenaven, Trinity Hall (the successor to both the Dunedin Central Mission Hall congregation and the former Trinity Church in Stuart Street), Mornington, Dunedin South, St Kilda, Broad Bay and Mosgiel. By the early 2020s this had further reducted to Glenaven, Mornington, the St Kilda Tongan Methodist Church, and Mosgiel.

Photograph

Dundas Street Primitive Methodist Church Choir, conductor Mr E. Robson

Depicts Or Relates To

SubjectsMethodist Church - Otago Region

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Methodist Church of Otago/Southland : Records

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