CHURCH JUBILEE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19953, 23 May 1928, Page 13

CHURCH JUBILEE.

DEVONPORT 'METHODISTS. AN INTERESTING HISTORY. SALE OF FIRST BUILDING. The golden jubilee of the Devonport Methodist Church will be celebrated at special services next Sunday and at a function next Wednesday. The front portion of the present church was erected at. a cost of £450 in 1877, although periodic services were first held in 1855. when Whararoa, Shoal Bay and North Head were placed upon the plan of the first Auckland circuit. The circuit had its centre in High Street Church, where the present Lands and Deeds Office now stands. The celebrations were to have been held last year, but were deferred owing to a change in the ministry. Early records of the Methodist Church show that a Maori student from the Three Kings College was in charge of the North Shore services about 70 years ago. Devonport first attracted attention as a possible residential area in the early sixties, and as the result of the advances made by several who took up their residence on the North Shore in order to be near their boat-building yards, it was decided to provide a junior minister for the new settlement. The junior minister selected was rowed across the harbour one Saturday in 1865, and returned on the following Monday. That was the first occasion on which a whole Sunday was spent by a Methodist minister on the North Shore. Services Lapse for Years. Regular services were later introduced, and were held in a building which also served as a school. Shortly afterwards a member of the then small congregation presented to the church a site on part of which the present, State school is now situated. A church was erected at a cost of £2OO, but the property and 1 church bad to be sold a few years later owing to a severe depression in the district following the discovery of the Thames goldfield. For many years the services were abandoned, and cottage meetings had to be organised. Some time later regular services were again started in the old assembly hall and a piece of land adjacent was secured and utilised as a site for the erection of the front portion of the present church. The parsonage was built three years later and the schoolroom in 1894. The schoolroom has been enlarged twice, and recently a fine concrete block was added, containing an up-to-date primary department and Bible-class room. A fine pipeorgan was installed in the church about 12 years ago through the generosity of the late Mr. J. Edson. Ministers of the Church. The first resident minister appointed to the church was the llev. G. W. J. Spence, who was president of the conference which commissioned the present minister, the Rev. J. F. Martin. Since the foundation of the church the following ministers have occupied the parsonage : —The Revs. W. G." Parsonson, H. R. Dewsbury, John Dukes, Josiah Ward, Lewis Hudson, John Crump, C. E. Beecroft, J. G. Chapman, S. Griffith, R. Taylor, W. H. Beck, C. H. Mann, W. J. Elliott, E. P. Blamires and J. E. Parsons. The preacher at next Sunday morning's service will be the Rev. W. J. Elliott, president of the Methodist Conference. A memorial window to the late 'Mr. E* R. Jones, who was a prominent worker of the church for 40 years, will also be unveiled at this service. The Rev. J. F. Martin will preach at the evening service. A jubilee tea and social will be held on Wednesday.