METHODISM IN CANTERBURY

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27307, 25 March 1954, Page 12

METHODISM IN CANTERBURY

Centenary To Be Commemorated

SERVICES NEXT SUNDAY

The centenary of the Methodist Church in Canterbury will be observed next Sunday afternoon, when the president of the New Zealand Methodist Conference (the Rev. H. L.Fiebig) will dedicate a memorial plaque on Woolworths building, High street, the site of the first Wesleyan church.

The plaque will also commemorate the arrival of the Rev. John Aldred. first Wesleyan minister appointed to Canterbury, who commenced his duties in Christchurch 100 years ago on Saturday.

The first Methodist service held in Christchurch was conducted in a whare in Hagley Park, owned by Mr Isaac William Philpott, in 1851. Later services were held in a private residence and in a carpenter’s shop. On Easter Day, 1854, the Rev. John Aldred opened the first church on the site in High street. Built of wood and standing on a section given by a young man named John Broughton, the church seated 200 worshippers.

A second church, built on the same site, was opened on Christmas Day, 1859. but when the present stone church in Durham street was completed in 1864 the property in High street was sold for £5BOO. Thus, three Methodist churches were erected in the city within 14 years of the founding of the province of Canterbury.

The Rev. John Aldred had the distinction of founding the Methodist Church in Wellington and in Nelson as well as in Canterbury. As a young man of 22 he arrived at Port Nicholson in 1840 to establish his church among the early settlers in Wellington. Three years later he founded the church in Nelson, repeating the task in Canterbury in 1854.

The street which bore his name until changed some time ago to Beveridge street, together with Conference and Peacock streets, is on land once owned by Mr Aldred. The service in High street on Sunday afternoon will be attended by grandchildren of Mr Aldred, a daughter of Mr Isaac Philpott, and a descendant of Mr John Broughton. Other celebrations associated with the centenary will be a commemoration service in the Durham Street Methodist Church on Sunday morning, to be conducted by Mr Fiebig, and a service on Monday evening to be held under the auspices of the Association of the Friends of the Durham Street Church. At this service the Rev. W. A. Chambers will speak on the life and work of Mr Aldred. Early Associations Canterbury had its first association with the Methodist Church about 1840. when the Rev. James Watkin took up his appointment at Wakouaiti as missionary to the Maori people in the provinces of Otago and Southland. About the same time the Rev. Samuel Ironside landed at Ngakuta. Cloudy Bay, as missionary to the native people in the northern part of the South Island, and the Canterbury province came within the fields of operation of these two men. They set up a system of native teachers, through whom the two missionaries communicated with each other, and their letters with sealing wax brokdh and ink faded, but still bearing the name of their native carriers on the outside cover, are in existence today.

Though Canterbury actually came under the pastoral care of the Rev. Samuel Ironside, Mr Watkin reported to the mission secretaries in London that he had placed a native teacher named Hoepa, whom he had baptised in January 1842, at Port Levy. Mr Watkin did not visit Canterbury himself during this period, but his successor, the Rev. Charles Creed sailed from Waikouaiti for Akaroa in 1844 and visited the native settlements on the peninsula and the Canterbury plains. After this tour of duty he walked home—a distance of more than 200 miles.

From July to September, 1852, Sunday evening services were held at Lyttelton. The Rev. William Kirk spent nine months in Christchurch in 1853 and services which had been commenced in the home of a Mr Lewis, near the Cashel street bridge, were transferred to a carpenter’s shop near the present site of the Christchurch City Council chambers. Mr Kirk and the local preacher, a Mr Fla veil, preached morning and evening alternately at Christchurch and Lyttelton. High Street Section Soon after Mr Kirk’s arrival Mr John Broughton offered Mr Flavell the long term lease of a section of land in High street, where Woolworths building now stands, for a chapel to be built. The town was canvassed for subscriptions and a smal weatherboard chapel capable of seating 200 persons was erected.

Besides conducting services at Christchurch, Lyttelton and St. Albans, Mr Aldred opened cottage preaching at Kiccarton and Papanui. Later Kaiapoi and Woodend were taken on to the preaching plan. The Si. David street chapel was opened •in March, 1855, and soon had to be enlarged. During the same year the first Wesleyan Day School was opened with the aid of a Government grant, the first teacher being Mr Turnbull Boyd, who was succeeded by Mr John Broughton. Mr Aldred preached frequently to Maoris at Rapaki, Kaiapoi, Port Levy and Akaroa. On one of these trips he records walking from Akaroa to Port Levy in a day, returning from Port Levy by boat and arriving home “quite tired out.”

By 1858 it became evident that a larger church was needed in Christchurch and a new church was built on the High street site. This church was opened on Christmas Day, 1859, beside the original church, which was then used as a Sunday School. The following year the first Wesleyan church was opened at Kaiapoi and a few days later Mr Aldred left for Wellington, having built four churches, commenced two day schools and started preaching in four European districts and five native settlements. The second High street church became too small for the rapidly growing . congregation. A section at the corner of Chester and Durham streets was bought and the foundation of the present stone church was laid by the Superintendent of the Province (Mr S. Bealey). When the church was opened on Christmas Day, 1864, it was said to be the largest Wesleyan Methodist Church in the Southern Hemisphere.

The High street properties were sold to help finance the building of the Durham Street Church. In all, three churches were built in 14 years at a cost of about £14,000. Since then the work the pioneers began has been carried forward so that in practically every suburb and every country town in the province of Canterbury, the Methodist Church is represented.