OTAKOU MISSION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25804, 27 March 1945, Page 6

OTAKOU MISSION

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

A special service was held at Otakou on Sunday to. mark the fifth anniversary of the opening of the Maori Centennial Church and the 105th anniversary of the mission. The preacher was the Rev. T. A. Pybus. The commodious building was well filled with residents, Maori and pakeha, and visitors. Some members of the Ravensbourne Methodist Church Choir rendered anthems and assisted in the musical part of the service of praise. In his sermon Mr Pybus referred to the arrival of the Rev. James Watkin, at Waikouaiti (now Karitane) in 1940. Mr Watkin established a mission centre for his far-flung parish. Otakou, however, was the Maori part of his mission, and there he established three churches—at Ruatitiko (near Harrington. Point), now covered In the sand drifts, Tahakopa (near the Black Rock), and Omati, the site of the present memorial church. The missionary also travelled further afield. Mention was also made by Mr Pybus of the visit of Bishop Selwyn to Otakou from January 24 to 26, 1844. He had previously been the guest of Mr Watkin at the Karitane mission house. So much progress did Mr Watkin make with his missionary work that his Maori converts held Christian services In Dunedin before the arrival of the John Wicklifle with the early settlers. Mr Pybus also referred to the work of the Revs. Charles Creed, W. Kirk, and George Stannard, all of whom conducted services at Otakou. They were followed by Mr Charles Baker, who performed duties as a school master and lay preacher, the Rev. J. F. Reimenschrieider, who served to his death in 1862, and whose wife was a daughter of the Rev. W. Wood, who came to New Zealand as a Wesleyan missionary in 1834. " It is easy,” Mr Pybus said, "to laud the heroisms and conquests of the past, but what about the claims of the present? We live. in a new day. We have to face a new paganism—a European paganism which threatens our national life. We can only face up to the new demands as we become men and women of faith, faith in God and in the eternal realities