ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22412, 7 May 1936, Page 14

ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH

EIGHTY-NINTH ANNIVERSARY. ADDITIONS TO THE BUILDING The congregation of St. inclrcw'i Church will celebrate on Sunday tha. 89th anniversary of the founding of the church. The building is almost as old as the city, for it was opened for public worship on April 7, 1850, ten years after Auckland was founded. Ihe congregation was formed on May 4, 1847, when a public meeting was held in the Courthouse and it was decided to take immediate steps to erect a suitable place of worship, and "to obtain a properly qualified pastor from Scotland." At that meeting tha Hon. Dr. Sinclair, Colonial Secretary, presided, and the chief decision of the meeting was the result of a motion by the Hon. Alexander Shepherd. Three years later the chirfßh was built, but a year before that the congregation had its _ minister. He was the Rev. A. 6. Painton. He was succeeded by the Rev. D. Bruce, who rendered signal service to the cause of Presbyterianism both in the city and throughout tha province.

St. Andrew's in the early years owed a great deal to the goodwill, sympathy and active support of members of other communions. It is interesting to note that when the first, tentative effort was made in 1842 to establish a Presbyterian congregation, the Rev. J. F. Churlton, Colonial Chaplain, and afterward first incumbent of St. Paul's, was thanked at the meeting held for that purpose "for his kindness in attending and giving us his assistance this evening." The Rev. Walter Lawry, superintendent of Wesleyan. Missions, was a most generous friend of St. Andrew s in the early days. He gave his services freely and took the morning service on the opening day. In its 86 years of existence, during which Auckland has been transformed out of recognition and has extended far and wide beyond the dreams, of its founders, St. Andrew's church'building has remained comparatively " n * changed. Auckland, and also throughout the Dominion, it is generally referred to as "Old St. Andrew's, anil next Sunday before the morning service the ceremony of "circling the church" will take place, an act thawill symbolise the will of the congregation and its friends to stand by a shrine of sacred memories. In practical fashion that desire is already being expressed, for the congregation has determined to convert St. Andrew s into a worthy memorial to the pipneers by reconstructing the interior and by the addition of a memorial chancel « n<l window. A generous bequest has a'* ready created the nucleus of a fund for that purpose.