During the ensuing century and a quarter, New Zealand has grown to nationhood and in the process has had its periods of prosperity and recession. If we sought carefully enough, all these events could be traced in our church building history; yet there is a distinction from economic progress, in that the church is always dissociated from materialism by the nature of its message; hence in each epoch it receives the offerings of mankind in forms he values highly, especially in matters of craftsmanship and artistic skill. Consequently, the structure of the church building and its treatment change in periods of time. For example, the marked changes in form and decoration between medieval Gothic and Classical Renaissance are due to the social organisation and artistic outlook of the respective periods. This does not imply any change in the function of the church which unlike buildings for material usage remains constant and steadfast. It is merely a different dress, and this dress is always the most fashionable of its day. Nor does it restrain the critic in his reasoned approval or condemnation of a particular architectural phase; it merely establishes the social significance of the church in human society and recognises the spirit behind the offerings made by man, be they rated good or bad artistic expression.

Viewed as a whole, New Zealand church architecture does not, at first glance, seem to fit into any precise social pattern. Compare for a moment the monumental classical treatment of the Baptist Tabernacle in Auckland with St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral in the same city, or with All Saints, Palmerston North, or St. John's, Invercargill; all of which follow the verticality of Gothic. Again, compare Auckland's St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church with its Greek Doric portico and Wren-like tower with Dunedin's First Church, of the same denomination, with its lovely tapering spire designed in the Gothic manner. This is not the whole story. The published design for Wellington's Anglican Cathedral now in course of construction has a Romanesque influence, and the interior of St. John's Cathedral in Napier is reminiscent of Byzantine.