WESLEY CHURCH

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 116, 18 May 1944, Page 3

WESLEY CHURCH

104 TH ANNIVERSARY

OBSERVANCE NEXT SUNDAY On Sunday next Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, will commemorate the 104 th anniversary of the establishment of Methodism in Wellington. Actually, the anniversary occurs on January 22, but the celebration is held on the nearest Sunday to Wesley Day for the sake of convenience. It was on January 22, 1840, that the Rev. James Buller met the first batch of emigrants in Port Nicholson, and on Sunday, January 26, after gaining permission of Captain Heale, of the Aurora, he preached aboard the vessel, the first distinctly Christian European service in Port Nicholson. Mr. Buller had left Kaipara two months before on his epic journey to establish a new mission station among the Maoris of Port Nicholson. Two Methodist missionaries, the Rev. J. H. Bumby and John Hobbs, had been to Port Nicholson the previous year and conducted a service for the Maoris of the settlement on the spot where the Methodist memorial and fountain now stands on the Manners Street Reserve. This was Ihe first known Christian service in Wellington. The first resident Methodist family came to Wellington in December, 1840, and the services were held in the native chapel, which was situated near the present Manners Street Reserve. Several churches were built in this area, eventually to be destroyed by earthquake or fire until in 1868, the handsome Manners Street church was erected near the present Vance-Vivian Corner, but in June, 1879, this church was destroyed by fire, which had its origin in the Imperial Opera House opposite where, now the Regent Theatre stands. ' TARANAKI STREET CHOSEN. By that time Manners Street had been included in the brick area, and remembering the fate of the brick church which was destroyed by the disastrous earthquake of 1848, the congregation refused to entertain the idea of ever again building in brick. The choice was then made of the Taranaki Street site as being reasonably close to the old church, and also as being in a thickly-populated part of the town. The present church in Taranaki Street was opened on March 14, 1880, the resident minister at that time being the Rev. William Kirk. Throughout the years the Methodist Church has exercised a strong influence for good on the community life of the city, and the present minister, the Rev. Ashleigh K. Petch, follows an illustrious line of devoted men who have occupied the pulpit of Wesley Church. The services on Sunday next will be conducted in the morning by Rev. J. M. Bates, of the Karori Presbyterian Church, and in the evening by the Rev. Ashleigh K. Fetch. At both services special music will be rendered by,Wesley Choir. On Wednesday, May 24, Wesley Day, a church anniversary tea will be held in Wesley Hall at 6 p.m., and at 7.30 p.m. the Wesley Bible Classes will present a pageant of the life of John Wesley. It is expected that there will be a large number of old members of Wesley Church who will take the opportunity of attending both the Sunday and Wednesday evening services.