HANOVER STREET BAPTIST CHURCH JUBILEE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3148, 15 July 1914, Page 73

HANOVER STREET BAPTIST CHURCH JUBILEE.

BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCH. The first meeting called to form a Baptist Church in Dunedm was held in the Excelsior Hall, George street, on the 10th June, 1863, when 12 persons were present. Three weeks later another meeting was held .under the chairmanship of Mr Thbmas Dick, when it was resolved to begin regular services. His Honor John Hyde Harris, the Superintendent of the. province, granted the use of the courthouse until a church could be erected. The first services were held there on the 26th July, 1863. The Rev. Dr Burns generously offered the use of First Church tor an evening service, and always displayed a fraternal interest in the progress and prosperity of the new cause. For several months iha Baptists held their morning service in the courthouse and their evening service in First Church.

The first Baptist minister to visit Dunedin was the Rev. A. Poole, of Victoria, who arrived on the 21st August, 1863, and formally constituted the church on the 6th September with 20 members, all of whom have now passed away. Mr Poole ministered to the church until the arrival of the Rev. J. L. Parsons on October 23, 1863. Mr Parsons had been trained in Regent’s Park College, London, and had come out to South Australia as a private tutor. On November 1 he conducted in the Water of Leith the first baptism by immersion held in Dunedin. He was elected pastor of the church in November, 1863. A welcome soiree was hold in the following January in the Oddfellows’ Hall, when Mr T. Dick occupied the chair, and addresses were delivered by the Revs. D. M. Stuart (Presbyterian), R. Connebee (Congregational), J. Harding (Wesleyan), and others. - A site was purchased in Hanover street for a church, of which Mr R! A. Lawson was the architect and Messrs Jack and Jenkinson the contractors, at £2200. The foundation stone w T as laid on the 19th of April, 1864, by the Superintendent of the province, and his Honor Mr Justice Richmond presided at a meeting held in First Church in the evening to celebrate the inauguration of the new building. At this meeting the sum of £7O was collected. The building was completed and duly opened on the 24th July, special services being conducted by the Revs. Dr Burns, J. L. Parsons, and R. Connebee. Shortly afterwards a Sunday school was commenced, the Hon. Thomas Dick being elected superintendent, an office which he held for—upwards of 34 years. Before the Hanover Street Church was finished the school met in the Planet Sawmills, with flax leaves strewn upon the ground for the comfort and cleanliness of the scholars. Prominent among the workers in those earliest days of the church’s history were Messrs Thomas Dick, Robert Murray (the first secretary of tho church), Robert Colee, Alexander Haig, W. Sessions, F. Graham, Mrs Logan, Mrs Mac George, Miss Bcckingsale, and others. In 1867 the Rev. J. L. Parsons was compelled, owing to the ill-health of his wife, to resign his charge, and a commission ap pointed by the church selected the Rev. J. Williams, of Newport, Mon., to succeed him. During the transition period the Rev Henry Cock's, of Tasmania, ministered to the church. Mr Williams, with his wife and three sops, reached Dunedin on May 2, 1868. Mr Williams’s ministry was characterised by groat robustness and earnestness, but his career of usefulness was suddenly terminated by a fatal coach accident on December 22, 1872. Mr Williams was greatly esteemed by tho church, and a headstone over his grave was erected to his memory. The Rev. J. Upton Davis, 8.A., was next called by the church through if commission, from Onslow Chapel, Brompton, London, and ho was heartily welcomed in April, 1874. Between Mr Williams’s death and the arrival of Mr Davis, Mr Dick rendered excellent service, and also Mr George Fawcett. In July, 1874, the church purchased at a cost of £llOO a property in Union street, which, after being used as a minister’s residence for about 22 years, was sold for £525 In October, 1878, the first portion of the present school building was erected at a cost of over £I2OO. In that year Mr Davis, through ill-health was compelled to seek rest and change for a time, and, later‘on. his voice again failing, he resigned the pastorate at the end of the year 1880. The Rev. Thomas Spurgeon, being then in the colony, conducted services for a time in the church with memorable results) and Mr H. H. Driver, at that time a student in connection with the Auckland Baptist Church, supplied the pulpit for six months. The Rev. Alfred North, of Harborne. Birmingham, succeeded Mr Davis, reaching New Zealand in Ju'y, 1882. For \8 years Mr North maintained a ministry which not only doubled the membership of the church but left its mark upon the denomination throughout New Zealand, being exercised during the formation period of tho Baptist Union of New Zealand. The pioneer church sought to establish outstations as opportunities occutrcd. Very early in its history a small building was erected at Maori Hill, whore seryices were conducted until the present building on a more convenient site was erected. In November, 1867, it was decided to erect a place of worship at Caversham, and in March, 1873, the members resident in that suburb wore formed into a separate church, which in time became the mother of other churches. Cottage meetmgs were in 1869 commenced in the North-East Valley, and in 1833 Mr George Caldor. having presented a suitable site, a church was erected, which in 18F9 was enlarged, and in 1901 a separate church was constituted. Tho late Mr James Stewart opened a Sunday school in tho Kaikorai Valley in April, 1837. and shortly afterwards regular Sunday’ evening services were commenced, a building being erected two years later, and m 1896 the Kaikorai Baptist Church was constituted. The building has since been removed to a more convenient spot. and enlarged, and is now known as the Roslyn Baptist Church. A Sunday school and Sunday evening services wore commenced at Opoho in 1894, and two years later a building was erected. This cause has since by arrangement been taken over by the Presbyterian Church. In foreign mission work the Hanover Street Church has delighted to engage. The New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society was formed during tho meeting of the Baptist conference at tho Hanover Street Church in 1885. The pioneer missionary. Miss Rosalie Mac George, a member of this church, laid down her life on the mission field, and was followed by others, some of whom have since left the field, while Miss Beckingsale is at present tho only one of the members still engaged in this work. After Mr North’s retirement n 1900 the church paissed through a period of unsettlement. The Rev. Alexander Gordon,

M.A., of Egremont, Liverpool, vrae called to the pastorate, and arrived in Dunedin with his wife and family in December, 1900. His preaching attracted large • congregations ; but the climate proved unsuitable, and within a few months Mr Gordon was compelled to retire on account of ill-health, though, happily, he later on became fully restored, and, has laboured with great success in Australia. The Rev. G. Wainwright succeeded Mr Gordon after a short interval, and he, too, was compelled, through ill-health, to resign his charge shortly after. His health was, however, later on, like his predecessor’s, restored, and he has since maintained a successful ministry in England. ■- After a further period of unsettlement the Rev. William Hay, of Grantown-on-Spey, Scotland, was selected by commission, and reached Dunedin in 1903. Mr Hay held office for about 10 years, and during that time made many friends. In December, 1912, he left for an extended tour in many lands, and has since settled as pastor of a Baptist church in Winnipeg. During the period of Mr Hay’s ministry the schoolroom was enlarged and, classrooms added, at a cost of about £1630. A new building was also erected at Maori Hill at a cost of £250; and the present beautiful sanctuary was erected in 1912, the old building having been demolished two years previously. The present building was erqcted at a total cost of nearly £7OOO, a sum far. in excess of wha't had been anticipated. The New Church Building Fund had been initiated in May, 1900, when the Rev. A. North sat in the vestry- to receive thankofferings, and had £l2O placed in his hands. At the present time there ‘s a total debt in the building of about £2600; but this amount is being steadily, if somewhat clowly, reduced, by means of regular special offerings for that purpose. When the Rev. W. Hay resigned his charge the church extended a very hearty call to the Rev. R. SI. Gray, of Christchurch, who had for 10 years carried on a ministry of * power and wide influence in that city. Mr Gray had also acted as the secretary of the New Zealand Baptist Union for some years, and on February, 1913, he commenced his ministry in the Hanover Street ■ Church, receiving a very warm welcome to the charge. The deepened spritual life of the church, the attendance at the week-night prayer meeting, the increased congregations at the Sundp services, and the great activity of the work amongst the young neople are evidence that, in the coming of the pastor and his family, the hand of God was upon all for good. It is not possible even to mention the men and women who, as members of the church, have in the past done noble work for God; but there are some whose life’s work has proved an outstanding feature in the history of the church since its foundation. The late Hon. Thos. Dick was for many years a veritable tower of strength to the church, and, for nearly 46 years, while health and strength served, he was devoted to the service of God in the church, notably as superintendent of the Sunday School. The late Mr John Simon also was for very many years the leader of the Young Men’s Bible Class, and the memory of the man and his work is fragrant in the hearts of men scattered throughout the Dominion. These and others have passed to their rest; but there are some remaining who were associated with them in their work. Mr J. H. MacLaren, our senior deacon, who for 43 years was engaged in work in the Sunday school and among the young people, and as far back as 1876 was elected joint superintendent with Mr Dick of the Sunday school; Mrs Mac George) who in the early days gathered the children together on the Sunday in the. old sawmill ; Mr Henry Beckinsale, who in 1880 was elected secretary of the church, and held office until 14 years later he for a time removed from Dunedin. Mr H. H. Driver served the church as secretary for about 17 years, and was also, as he still is, closely associated with the home and foreign missionary work of the denomination. These are mentioned because their work extended over a . long period, and forms’ a connecting link between the present and the pioneer's of 'ho past who laboured and into whose labours we have entered. [A nuinber of photographs will be found in our illustrated pages bearing on the jubilee.] SPECIAL SERVICES. Special services were held l in the Hanover Street Baptist Church on Sunday on the occasion of the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation. The Mayor (Mr J. B. Shacklock) was present in his civic robes, together with a number of representative councillors. In the morning the preacher was the Rev. Alfred North, a former minister of the church. He took for his text the word addressed to the Apostle Paul to the Church of Corinth: “Ye are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof.” He said that the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of a church was not necessarily an occasion of rejoicing. If the church in question were self centred and self-satisfied the passage of the years of its history called only for humiliation and contrition; it was only as far as a church a'nswered to tho New Testament ideal of a local church that its jubilee called for and justified joy and rejoicing. The text presented that ideal. Each church, according to its teachings, was animated by the life of Christ and dominated and directed by His will. The body of the Lord in tho day’s of His flesh made manifest His presence, and was tho vehicle of His self-expression in word and Ilis manifold ministry. So each church, as being His body, was to demonstrate in tho locality in which it was set the presence of Christ and His character, and to prove the medium of His manifold activities.. It remained for the present members of the church, in the exercise of the faith that energised its founders, to copy their fidelity and to answer the Divine call “ go forward” with zeal and self-expenditure, love’s loyalty, and love’s obedience. . Mr Grav preached in the evening, and took as his text tho fourth verso of tho third chapter of tho Epistle to the Hebrews : “ For every house is budded by spfueone.” There* were people to-day, he said, who professed that greater power w.ae needed to build a home that was found within the house. But Christians did not believe this. They believed that every house must have a builder outside of itself. They were celebrating that night the fact that, 50 years ago, a body of men and women had been built into a church. A church was not a mass of concrete and bricks and wood. It was an expression of something definite. Every building was_ evidence of some formative idea. All visible things were the outer garb of inner thoughts, and powers that had woven tho visible around the invisible. This was true of tho Church.

It did not happen. It was built. They were celebrating that day the jubilee of the Hanover Street Church. The Baptist Church had an honourable record. It had been making men wHo had gone out into the life ot the dominion, and, by their influence, helped other men to be better, and to sweeten the civic and national life of which they were a part. It had had its failures-—its fair share of men and women who were men and women, and not angels. But it had left its mark in the city of Dunedin, and in the dominion. And this fact involved a great responsibility for it. It had finished one 50-ycar period, but it was beginning another half-century, and it behoved it to be true to the ideals established by those who founded it. It owed a responsibility to tho unborn. It was necessary that future generations should be able to say _ that it stood for essential truth. The jubilee celebrations will be continued on VVednesday, when there will be a jubilee -tea in the Knox School Hall, King street, at 6.15 p.m., and a public meeting in tho Hanover Street Church at 7.45 p.m. Representative speakers from the Council of Churches, and from other Baptist Churches in the city will deliver addresses, and a largo choir will render special anthems.