The first Baptist Church in New Zealand was formed at Nelson in May 1851. The ship Comet brought the Rev. Decimus Dolamore, a Baptist minister from Bedale, Yorkshire, who was seeking service in the colonies. The Church began under his leadership with 15 foundation members. A grant of land was obtained from the Provincial Government and a building was erected. Services were also begun in outlying parts. Rev. D. Dolamore continued to serve the denomination in Nelson and elsewhere for almost 40 years.
In Auckland, the Wellesley Street Church dates from 1855, its location being shifted later to Upper Queen Street where the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle was erected. In Dunedin, the Hanover Street Church was formed in 1863. Baptist work in Canterbury dates also from the early 1860s but the Church passed through many difficulties until the arrival of the Rev. Charles Dallaston in 1877. Under his guidance the present Church centre in Oxford Terrace, Christchurch, was obtained and Baptist activity throughout Canterbury was widely extended. A Canterbury Baptist Association was formed to foster weaker churches and the Canterbury Baptist periodical was launched. This was the forerunner of The New Zealand Baptist which, under its present editor, the Rev. N. R. Wood, is the official organ of the Baptist Churches. The Wellington Church began in 1878, its members worshipping in the Vivian Street Church until 1941, when more central buildings were acquired in Boulcott Street.
From these centres the work of extension progressed steadily and by 1880 there were 1,600 church members throughout New Zealand. Though in principle Baptist Church policy is independent, it was soon realised that a close association was necessary. As a result, the Baptist Union of New Zealand was established in 1882 with 25 churches in initial membership. Fifteen ministers were serving these churches. Membership has now (1964) grown to 16,362, with an additional 23,389 under pastoral care in Sunday school and Bible classes. Churches have increased to 141, while 123 ministers and 7 deaconesses are in direct service of the denomination. The definitive body of the Baptist Union is the annual Assembly at which all churches are represented in proportion to their membership. An elected council assumes responsibility between Assemblies. A president is appointed annually, the office usually alternating between a layman and a minister.
District associations were formed in the four main centres, and two others have since been added–South Auckland; and Central Districts, which is centred on Palmerston North. Church extension into strategic areas has become a specialised task, much of which is directed by a central committee. Its success has owed a great deal to the vision of its chairmen, notably Messrs J. R. Carey, Ernest Nees, and H. W. Milner, of Wellington. Baptist churches have always stressed the evangelistic appeal, an early landmark in this work being the appointment by the Baptist Union of the Rev. Thomas Spurgeon, minister of the Auckland Tabernacle from 1881 to 1889 and son of the famous London preacher, C. H. Spurgeon. From 1932 to 1934 the Rev. Joseph Carlisle undertook tent missions; in 1955–56 the Rev. Ivor Powell, from Wales, was Baptist evangelist, followed in 1959–60 by the Rev. F. H. Carter. Present evangelists are the Revs. G. Clifford Reay and Roland Hart.
The need to train men for the ministry led to the establishment of the New Zealand Baptist Theological College in Auckland in 1924. Its first session was held in 1926 in rooms of the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle and in the following year it moved to a residential property on the slopes of Mt. Hobson, Auckland. The first principal, the Rev. J. J. North, led the college until 1945 and was followed by the Rev. Luke H. Jenkins, B.D.(HONS.). In 1953 the Rev. E. Roberts-Thomson, M.A., D.D., became principal and on his departure in 1960 for a similar position in New South Wales the Rev. J. Ayson Clifford, M.SC., was appointed. Clifford, a graduate of the New Zealand College, had served on the staff since 1945, following earlier tutors, the Rev. John Laird, M.A., and the Rev. A. J. Grigg, M.A., B.D., afterwards principal of the Victorian Baptist College. A more extensive property is now in use in Victoria Avenue, Remuera, with residential halls erected in memory of H. H. Driver and the Rev. J. J. North. Vigorous support has been given to the work of the college by many Baptist laymen including Messrs H. M. Smeeton (first chairman), F. W. Horner (sometime chairman and present life governor), and N. S. Gaze (present chairman).
In 1855 the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society was formed. Its secretary, who served for 17 years, was H. H. Driver. The field centred on the district of Brahmanbaria in East Bengal, India. The first missionary, Miss Rosalie Macgeorge, pioneered the work at the cost of her health and died in Ceylon on the way home to New Zealand. A second station was opened in 1896 in Chandpur where effective medical and general work was initiated by Dr Charles North, and continued by Drs W. H. Pettitt, Nola Ivory, and others. Since 1936 missionary work has also been carried on amongst adjacent tribes people in Tripura State. The pioneer missionaries in this area, the Revs. H. A. Jones, B. N. Eade, M. J. Eade, Dr D. T. Daintree, and others, saw this work develop rapidly until it has become the most responsive part of the Baptist mission field. The mission areas are now divided by the border between East Pakistan and India. Much attention has had to be paid to Muslim evangelism, one of the New Zealand Baptist missionaries, the Rev. John Takle, becoming a world-authority on Islam. Women of the Churches have given notable support through the Baptist Women's Missionary Union, while lady missionaries who gave over 30 years' service to the mission have been Misses E. Beckingsale, A. L. Cowles, M. A. Bradfield, E. F. Arnold, M. Bush, Dr Nola Ivory, and Mesdames J. Takle, H. A. Jones, and B. N. Eade. On this mission field today there is a Christian community numbering 7,964 with 31 New Zealand missionaries and more than 150 national workers. Support for this work has reached a figure of £3 per New Zealand Baptist member annually. At least 160 New Zealand Baptists are serving with missionary societies in other parts of the world.
United Baptist work amongst the Maori people began in 1954 in Pukekohe, extending later to Te Kohanga and Port Waikato. Miss Joan Milner, followed by the Rev. C. D. Jones, B.SC., and Mrs Jones had the task of establishing it. Baptist witness to Chinese people resident in New Zealand has resulted in the formation of Chinese Baptist Churches in Wellington and Auckland. In Wellington there was formerly a joint Anglican-Baptist Chinese Mission, the separate Baptist Church being established in 1951 with the Rev. Peter Fung as minister.
Baptist youth work grew under the successive direction of the Revs. L. B. Busfield and P. L. A. Crampton, B.A., and of the Rev. J. J. Burt, the present Director of Christian Education. A recent innovation has been the All Age Sunday School where the whole family meets for Bible study. The Bible Class movement has held a large place in Baptist life, with Easter camps and other interclass activities fostering the development of young Baptists.
Social service amongst Baptists has found expression through individuals and in institutions. Men such as J. J. North, J. J. Doke, R. S. Gray, J. K. Archer (formerly Mayor of Christchurch), J. S. Barnett, and W. S. Rollings were well known for their work in this sphere. Baptists have a children's home at Manurewa, a hostel for young people working in Wellington, and homes for the elderly in Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin. A city mission was established in Auckland in 1960. Baptist opinion on matters of civic and national importance is expressed through membership on the Inter-church Council on Public Affairs, by the Baptist Women's League, and through the Baptist Public Questions Committee. Baptist members joined the forces in considerable numbers in both world wars. Ministers who served overseas as chaplains were the Revs. Guy Thornton, J. Hiddlestone, L. A. Day, A. H. Finlay, and Roland Hart. Baptists have taken an active part in the ecumenical movement and have been represented at the Faith and Order, and Life and Work Conferences of the National Council of Churches.
Strong centres of Baptist witness have existed from early times. The Rev. A. North (who was largely responsible for the formation of the Baptist Missionary Society) made the Hanover Street pulpit in Dunedin a telling force. His son, the Rev. J. J. North, did the same in Wellington and Christchurch, as did the Rev. Joseph W. Kemp in the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle. Rural work, however, has not been entirely neglected, an example being the activity over many years of the Rev. E. T. Jones in the hinterlands of Canterbury and on the West Coast.
The executive direction of Baptist work through the Union and Missionary Society has fallen upon the general secretary. Those who have given full time to this service, and to whom the Church owes much, have been the Revs. R. S. Gray, M. W. P. Lascelles, P. F. Lanyon, and the present holder of the office, the Rev. L. A. North. The headquarters of the Baptist Union of New Zealand and the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society are in Boulcott Street, Wellington. Denominational Publication: New Zealand Baptist.
by George Thomas Beilby, M.A., Minister, Baptist Church, Taupo.