RELIGIOUS SECTS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 78, Issue 7016, 7 February 1949, Page 5

RELIGIOUS SECTS

NEW ZEALAND’S SIXTY-FOUR BRANCHES AUTHORITY TO PERFORM MARRIAGES Many people in New Zealand are not churchgoers, as the churches readily admit, but even those who regularly attend church on Sundays might be surprised by a list printed in the Gazette recently. Under the heading, “Officiating Ministers for 1949, the Marriage Act, 1908,” 64 different religious sects are listed. Filling the first seven columns and a half are the names of Church of England clergymen who are permitted by the State to perform the marriage ceremony. Five columns of the names of Presbyterian ministers come next, and then there are six columns filled with the names of Roman Catholic priests. The names of ministers and sisters of the Methodist Church take just over four columns and are followed by the names of Congregational Independents, who occupy half a column, and the Baptists with more than a column. Salvation Army ministers varying in rank from commissioner to adjutant, take up about a column and a quarter, and they are followed by five ministers of the Evangelical Lutheran Concordia Conference of New Zealand and one minister of the Lutheran Church. Six men are authorised to perform marriages in Hebrew congregations, and then there are the Associated Churches of Christ in New Zealand, the Churches of Christ, Seventh Day Adventists, Brethren, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, among which are a number of Maori names, and the Liberal Catholic Church. The Unitarian Church has three authorised persons, the Christadelphians five, and the Spiritualist Church of New Zealand 10, including the Rev. M. M. Dreaver, M.L.C. The Pentecostal Church of New Zealand has four pastors listed. Two Maori churches are strongly represented—the Ratana Established Church of New Zealand by 138 and the Ringatu Church by 41. The Maramatanga Christian Society has five ministers, the Church of Te Kooti Rikirangi seven, and the Absolute Maori Established Church six. There are also six representatives of the United Maori Mission. Toward the end of the list are the names of some churches which are not well known in New Zealand. The largest are the Commonwealth Covenant Church, the Assemblies of God in New Zealand, and the Apostolic Church. Many of the churches and sects at the end of the list have only one or

two ministers authorised to perform the marriage ceremony. Their names • are: the Reorganised ChurcA of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the NewChurch (Swedenborgian), the Revival Fire Mission, the Fellowship of the Friendly Road, Greater World Spiritualist (“The Church of the Golden Light”), the Christian Spiritualist Church, the Star of Hope Mission of New Zealand, the Israel Peoples’ Mistion, the Eastern Orthodox Church in New Zealand, the Universal Church, Rationalists, National Revival Church, Undenominational Mission, Foursquare Gospel Mission, United Evangelical Church, Seventh Day Baptist Church, Evangelistic Church of Christ, Protestant Israel Fellowship Church of God, Christchurch Christian Spiritualist Church, the Onehunga Mission, the Christian Spiritualist Mission, the Pukekohe Revival Mission, the Gospel Mission, the Revival Tidings Mission, the Auckland Wayside Mission, the Four Square Gospel Church of New Zealand, the Elim Gospel Mission, the Waiheke Undenominational Church, the International Bible Students’ Association, the Christian Unity Fellowship, the Bethel Chapel, the Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement, the Unity Spiritualist Church, and the Spiritual Healing Fellowship.