History: where did we come from?
The beginnings
Ponsonby Baptist Church was founded in 1880 as an off-shoot of the Wellesley St Baptist Church which later became the Baptist Tabernacle at the top of Queen Street. Its founding members lived in nearby streets like Shelley Beach Road, Curran Street, Dublin Street and Vermont Street. The church’s first years were difficult. Powerful personalities and strongly-held principles seemed to contribute to frequent resignations of Sunday School Superintendents, deacons and leaders. The church lost three ministers in its first six years.
Early growth
By the end of the nineteenth century the church had begun to thrive. It advertised in the Auckland Star and grew rapidly so that it soon needed to hire a local hall for services. The early Sunday School hall (sited where the church now stands) was shifted to the back of the property in 1886 so that the large building we worship in could be built to hold 400 people. Within twenty years the Sunday School had grown to 200 with 23 teachers who produced huge musicals each year. There were plenty of activities including a choir, the Vigilance Society (to welcome newcomers to the district), and the first Christian Endeavour Society in New Zealand. Christian Endeavour encouraged public speaking and testimonies that were ‘short, sharp and shiny’, and ran a Relief Committee which paid the rent of a struggling family.
A radical thread
When AH Collins arrived from Manchester in 1892 he was the first of several ministers to lead the church in radical directions. He was a strong trade union supporter who condemned the capitalist system of exploiting poor workers, claiming that ‘Those who work most have least to eat’ while ’those who work not at all … speak loftily about the improvidence of the working classes’. Both his sermons and articles on philosophy and poetry were published in pamphlets and a local newspaper. Later, during World War One, W.S. Rollings also published provocative articles as minister, including a booklet that denounced the atrocities of war.
Church members were active in more typically Baptist reform movements, opposing boxing, gambling and ‘the drink’. They supported votes for women, and followed Mary Aldis in opposition to the humiliating compulsory inspection of prostitutes for venereal diseases.
Twentieth century survival
Ponsonby’s church life became more difficult in the 1920s as young members shifted out to new suburbs when they married. One minister claimed that ‘modern transport killed Ponsonby’ as he watched his congregation driving new cars past the door to hear popular preachers like Joseph Kemp at the Baptist Tabernacle. Two world wars stripped the church of young men who had led the youth groups. For decades the church could only pay for part-time ministers or students in training at Baptist College.
Dramatic changes in style
In the 1960s new Pacific Island immigrants who had been encouraged to work on the wharves and in factories nearby came to live in Ponsonby’s large decaying villas. Ponsonby Baptist became home to a cluster of Niue Island families and the Wongs who ran a successful fruiterers’ business at Three Lamps. Under the long ministry of Murray Beck the church developed an off-beat, inclusive ethos. Although it remained small it refused offers from both the City Mission and the Tabernacle to close its doors and join with them.
The arrival of Mike Riddell moved the church into a more expansionist era and saw the revival of the church’s early radical streak. This was another period of dramatic population change when speculators and middle-class families moved into renovate Ponsonby’s old villas, and many Pacific Island families were ousted from their rental properties. The church founded the Community of Refuge Trust to race speculators to buy up cheap houses, so that it could rent them to people who were hard up or recently released from mental hospitals. Tensions arose as old members felt the place was no longer their own, and the ethnic diversity of the 1960s and 70s was replaced by a mixture of young families and people who were experiencing sporadic bouts of mental illness. Through the 1990s Scott Malcolm continued a tradition of fresh interpretations of the gospel.
Today
Through the last forty years Ponsonby Baptist has developed a strong identity as a place that challenges the status quo and is inclusive in its attitude to newcomers. It has been a refuge for people who need to express doubts as well as certainties, and for gay, lesbian and transgender Christians. The growth of the Community of Refuge Trust (CORT) has harnessed the energies of members who are looking for practical ways to work out their faith. Since 2005 the church has been led by a creative young minister, Jody Kilpatrick.
Ponsonby Baptist Church was founded in 1880 as an off-shoot of the Wellesley St Baptist Church which later became the Baptist Tabernacle at the top of Queen Street. Its founding members lived in nearby streets like Shelley Beach Road, Curran Street, Dublin Street and Vermont Street. The church’s first years were difficult. Powerful personalities and strongly-held principles seemed to contribute to frequent resignations of Sunday School Superintendents, deacons and leaders. The church lost three ministers in its first six years.
Early growth
By the end of the nineteenth century the church had begun to thrive. It advertised in the Auckland Star and grew rapidly so that it soon needed to hire a local hall for services. The early Sunday School hall (sited where the church now stands) was shifted to the back of the property in 1886 so that the large building we worship in could be built to hold 400 people. Within twenty years the Sunday School had grown to 200 with 23 teachers who produced huge musicals each year. There were plenty of activities including a choir, the Vigilance Society (to welcome newcomers to the district), and the first Christian Endeavour Society in New Zealand. Christian Endeavour encouraged public speaking and testimonies that were ‘short, sharp and shiny’, and ran a Relief Committee which paid the rent of a struggling family.
A radical thread
When AH Collins arrived from Manchester in 1892 he was the first of several ministers to lead the church in radical directions. He was a strong trade union supporter who condemned the capitalist system of exploiting poor workers, claiming that ‘Those who work most have least to eat’ while ’those who work not at all … speak loftily about the improvidence of the working classes’. Both his sermons and articles on philosophy and poetry were published in pamphlets and a local newspaper. Later, during World War One, W.S. Rollings also published provocative articles as minister, including a booklet that denounced the atrocities of war.
Church members were active in more typically Baptist reform movements, opposing boxing, gambling and ‘the drink’. They supported votes for women, and followed Mary Aldis in opposition to the humiliating compulsory inspection of prostitutes for venereal diseases.
Twentieth century survival
Ponsonby’s church life became more difficult in the 1920s as young members shifted out to new suburbs when they married. One minister claimed that ‘modern transport killed Ponsonby’ as he watched his congregation driving new cars past the door to hear popular preachers like Joseph Kemp at the Baptist Tabernacle. Two world wars stripped the church of young men who had led the youth groups. For decades the church could only pay for part-time ministers or students in training at Baptist College.
Dramatic changes in style
In the 1960s new Pacific Island immigrants who had been encouraged to work on the wharves and in factories nearby came to live in Ponsonby’s large decaying villas. Ponsonby Baptist became home to a cluster of Niue Island families and the Wongs who ran a successful fruiterers’ business at Three Lamps. Under the long ministry of Murray Beck the church developed an off-beat, inclusive ethos. Although it remained small it refused offers from both the City Mission and the Tabernacle to close its doors and join with them.
The arrival of Mike Riddell moved the church into a more expansionist era and saw the revival of the church’s early radical streak. This was another period of dramatic population change when speculators and middle-class families moved into renovate Ponsonby’s old villas, and many Pacific Island families were ousted from their rental properties. The church founded the Community of Refuge Trust to race speculators to buy up cheap houses, so that it could rent them to people who were hard up or recently released from mental hospitals. Tensions arose as old members felt the place was no longer their own, and the ethnic diversity of the 1960s and 70s was replaced by a mixture of young families and people who were experiencing sporadic bouts of mental illness. Through the 1990s Scott Malcolm continued a tradition of fresh interpretations of the gospel.
Today
Through the last forty years Ponsonby Baptist has developed a strong identity as a place that challenges the status quo and is inclusive in its attitude to newcomers. It has been a refuge for people who need to express doubts as well as certainties, and for gay, lesbian and transgender Christians. The growth of the Community of Refuge Trust (CORT) has harnessed the energies of members who are looking for practical ways to work out their faith. Since 2005 the church has been led by a creative young minister, Jody Kilpatrick.
