KAPONGA METHODISTS

Opunake Times, 26 August 1932, Page 2

KAPONGA METHODISTS

25TH ANNIVERSARY. 5 Kaponga Methodist celebrate, * this week-end, the 25th anniver- ! sary of the achievement of the ■ independent status of the Circuit. Prior to 190 T Kaponga was attached to thb Opunake Circuit, but in that year the Dominion Conference made Kaponga the head of a separate circuit, and stationed the Rev W. B. Scott there as the first resident minister. At that time the church, which had been erected in 1899 while the local “cause” was still under the pastoral and ecclesiastical oversight of the Opunake Circuit, was situated on the El-tham-Opunake Road. This church was built by free labour. The nucleus of the first congregation was comprised of Methodist families who had come there from the Hutt and Wanganui to settle in Taranaki. In 1911, a new church building enterprise, inaugurated by the Rev. W. B. Scott, was consummated and the resultant building is that in which the present congregation worships. The successors of Mr. Scott have been the Revs F. Rands (since deceased as a result of sickness contracted during the Great War), C. Blair, G. H. Hinton, W. W. Avery, C. H. Kendou, A. Blakemore, P. J. Cossum and J. R. Nelson. The semi-jubilee celebrations include special services in the church on Sunday, August 28, conducted by the Rev. W. B. Scott and a “mock” banquet in the Town Hall on Monday evening, which is to be followed by a week’s special mission inaugurated by Mr. Scott and continued by the Rev. W. T. Hooper of Wellington. It is anticipated that these functions will be the occasion of large gatherings and an interesting re-union of past and present . worshippers. A feature of the ' event is a five-tier birthday cake, each tier representing five years, slices of which are being sold for ! the benefit of church funds. '