Hocken Digital Collections

Dunedin City Baptist Church : Records

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Reference NumberARC-0096CreatorDunedin City Baptist ChurchDescriptionThe collection includes the records of Hanover Street Baptist Church, Sunshine Baptist Church and Maori Hill Baptist Church. Records include marriage and baptismal registers (1864-1985), member rolls (1864-1994), Elders' and Officers' minutes (1910-1996), Deacons Court minutes (1864-1973), other church and church committee minutes (1863-1994), administrative and financial correspondence and records (1863-1996), building records (1864-1969), anniversary memorabilia (including papers from Diamond, 75th, centennial and 125th celebrations), and the records of various organisations, clubs and committees within the churches including the Chinese Mission. Other material includes a wide array of photographs and lantern slides, including those from the last service in the Hanover Street Church building. There is also a video of the 125th Anniversary service and a banner given to the church by the first Chinese congregation.
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 / BiographyOn 2 July 1863 fourteen Baptists met at Excelsior Hall, Dunedin, answering an advertisement placed in the Otago Daily Times. They agreed to form a Baptist Church. A suitable building site was purchased in Hanover Street. While the church was being built, services were held in the court house and at First Church. On 24 July 1864 the first service was held in the Hanover Street Baptist Church. In 1880 the Sunday School buildings were erected and in 1904 further additions were made. In 1910 the first church building was demolished and in October 1912 the new Hanover Street Baptist Church opened.
The church was instrumental in the formation of the New Zealand Baptist Union in 1882 and the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society in 1885. They also planted most of the Baptist churches in Dunedin including Caversham (1873), North East Valley (1883), Opoho (1894), and Kaikorai Valley, later known as the Roslyn Baptist Church (1896). A Chinese Sunday School Class was established in the 1890s and disbanded in 1913. A Chinese Church was re-established in the 1980s.
Sunshine Baptist Church in Musselburgh Rise closed around 1989 and the congregation joined with Hanover Street Baptist Church. In 1992 Hanover Street planted a new congregation in the Sunshine Church, called the East Dunedin Congregation. As the church consisted of four congregations (Hanover Street, East Dunedin, Night Church and the Chinese congregation) it was decided to rename the church Dunedin City Baptist Church.
In the 1990s the Hanover Street Church building became increasingly unable to cater for the number attending. On 30 July 1996, it was decided to sell the buildings. The last service was held on 25 August 1996.
The Church moved from the Hanover Street buildings to rented accommodation in the Dunedin Teachers' College auditorium in August 1996. About 1998, the East Dunedin, Chinese and Mornington congregations became independent churches.
Dunedin City Baptist Church officially opened a new church building at Concord in February 2016.

Photograph

Rosalie McGeorge

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SubjectsBaptist Church - Otago Region

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Dunedin City Baptist Church : Records

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