1. History
    Early history  Changing locations  20th century renewal  21st century renewal 

2. Gallery

3. References

4. External links

St Paul's is known as the "Mother Church" of Auckland as the original building was the first church to be built in the city, in the same year that the original town was established. The St Paul's foundation stone was laid by Governor William Hobson on 28 July 1841 and the first service was held on 7 May 1843. St Paul's also served as Auckland's Cathedral for over 40 years. The third and current building was formally consecrated by Bishop William Cowie on 1 November 1895, and is now registered as a Category 1 Historic Place.^[3][4]

History

Early history

Now occupying its third building, St Paul’s is the oldest church in the city of Auckland. The first St Paul’s was built in Emily Place, just off Princes St, in 1841 where a plaque still marks the site of the beginning of the Christian church in Auckland.

Old St Paul’s was in the centre of the young colonial city, on a prominent ridge-top site on Point Britomart, close to the imperial garrison stationed at Fort Britomart, and near the remnants of the old Rangipuke pā where Ngāti Whātua had defended their rohe during the Musket Wars of the 1820s. St Paul’s was the seat of the Bishop of New Zealand, the Right Reverend George Selwyn, and Auckland's wealthiest settlers worshipped there. The religion of British royalty, the Anglican faith was closely linked to colonial power. Many of St Paul’s artefacts, such as Selwyn’s Throne and a large collection of memorials, are connected to this time.^[4][5][6]

Reverend John Churton was the first minister of St Paul's, occupying that role for 12 years. The Churton Memorial was built to his memory, close to the site of the original church building.^[4] In 1863 the original building received extensive enlargements which doubled the seating capacity.^[7]

During the height of the New Zealand Wars in the 1860s, St Paul's was used as a safe haven for women, children and the elderly; a traditional church role in times of strife.^[8] After the war moved south, however, and Auckland expanded geographically, the congregation dwindled as attendees moved to the new suburbs of Epsom and Remuera, and St Matthew’s in the City served the suburbs of Freeman’s Bay and Ponsonby.^[9][5]

Changing locations

The original Emily Place church was demolished in 1885, when Point Britomart was quarried away. A temporary wooden church, designed by William Skinner, was built on the corner of Short St and Eden Crescent while a permanent church site was identified.^[10][11]

Only the present site, halfway up the Symonds St hill, was considered large and central enough for the planned church. It also placed it near Auckland's oldest street, Karangahape Road, which by the 1880s was a thriving thoroughfare and shopping precinct for both Māori and Pākehā. The road was a traditional walking track along the ridge from Owairaka (Mt Albert) to Orakei for Ngāti Whātua. The official municipal burial ground; the Symonds Street Cemetery was also nearby, on the corner of K’Rd and Symonds St.^[5][12]

The new church building was dedicated in 1894, without the corner tower and steeple that were part of Skinner’s design. The Long Depression had inhibited building such a monumental church. The interior was kept plain, apart from the rose window temporarily filled with coloured cathedral glass and the artefacts gifted by Selwyn.^[5][11][13]

The appointment of Reverend C.A.B Watson in 1908 led to St Paul's being revitalised as a centre of Anglo-Catholicism in a largely puritanical city. Watson, and his successor Samuel Corbin shaped the church for a half-century, introducing Sung Mass, choral music and the concept of spiritual healing, which received some resistance.^[5][10]

20th century renewal

In 1954 Father Kenneth Prebble inherited a building and congregation both in a poor state, and for the next 20 years he reestablished St Paul's as a centre of Anglo-Catholocism. In the mid-1960s Prebble looked beyond the norm in terms of high church Anglican practise and embraced a revival of the Holy Spirit. Polarising the congregation, St Paul’s became Spirit-focused, evangelical and contemporary while maintaining its Anglo-Catholic theology. Through its popular music, and a regular coffee-shop outreach to students and young people, Prebble and his successor Father David Balfour, helped create a church with city-wide and international impact through the 50s and 60s.^[14][15]

From 1956 to 1973 many repairs and additions were made to the building, including: cleaning, repairing and replacing stonework; replacing the roof; and the addition of the "Endean Memorial", "Christ in Glory" and "Patteson Memorial" stained glass windows.^[16][17]

In 1974 the St Paul's Outreach Trust was formed and by the end of 1975 had produced three records sung by the St Paul's Singers entitled Songs for Prayer & Praise, Arise my Love and Harvest of Joy, plus a songbook called New Glory.^[15][14] However, in the 1970s, the Anglo-Catholicism that had provided the theological framework for the spiritual and social justice revival of the 50s and 60s at St Paul’s "dissolved into a bundle of conflicting theologies without strong leadership or good biblical teaching".^[5]

During the 1980s and 1990s the parish, with the help of its first Māori curate Wally Te Ura, took steps towards a “more significant understanding of bi-culturalism” and a Friday night gospel service was established which became an outreach to immigrant families and students from Asian countries. The parish also continued taking an active role in supporting women clergy. However, many congregants of the previous period moved away, and only a "tiny remnant" of Anglo-Catholics remained loyal to the church.^[5][9][18]

21st century renewal

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, many young New Zealanders became Christians or renewed their faith at St Mary’s London. Returning home, they wanted a similar church in Auckland. With the blessing of the Bishop of Auckland, a team from St Mary’s were invited in 2004 to set up new family and young people-focused services at St Paul’s, Symonds St. Mike and Bex Norris and a core congregation of about 80 people whom had previously attended St Mary’s in London, oversaw huge growth, with well over a thousand congregants registered by 2009.^[18]

From 2009 to 2013, St Paul's produced the GLOW Carols by Glowstick event at Auckland's Vector Arena, with around 10,000 people attending each year. A key part of the event were Christmas films produced by St Paul's including The Christmas Story which has had 4 million views on YouTube.^[19][20][21] The 2012 documentary short film O Little Town of Bethlehem was shot in modern Bethlehem.^[22][23][21] In 2012 St Paul's produced its debut live worship album titled GOD w/ US including the voices of around 800 worshippers gathered across three services.^[24]

In 2015 St Paul's published a hard cover book of personal testimonies and photos of 128 children, youth and adults from the church called Stories.^[25] From 2015 to 2017, St Paul's has produced Alt Carols as an alternative Christmas experience, combining creative elements of music, art and design. Volume One of the remixed carols from the events was released as an album in 2017.^[26]

St Paul’s has a staff of about 20 which includes a vicar, a priest assistant, a worship leader, four in pastoral care, five in children and youth, and seven in operations.^[27]

Gallery

References

External links

• {{Official website}}

• Forefront Protection Server Management Console
• Forefront Threat Management Gateway
• Forefront TMG
• Foregate Street
• Foregate Street railway station
• Fore Georgia
• Forego Stakes
• Foregrips
• Foregrounding
• Foreground (music)
• Foreground (Schenker)
• Foregut fermentation
• Forehand (horse anatomy)
• Fore head
• Forehill Primary School, Ayr
• Fore Holm (disambiguation)
• Foreign accent (disambiguation)
• Foreign advisors to the government in Meiji period Japan
• Foreign Affaires
• Foreign Affair (Mike Oldfield song)
• Foreign Affairs Academy of Russia
• Foreign Affairs Academy of the Soviet Union
• Foreign Affairs Committee
• Foreign Affairs Committee (disambiguation)
• Foreign Affairs Committee (Iceland)