New Zealand Church History: Difference between revisions

'''Baptist Church.''' The first Baptist Church in New Zealand was formed at Nelson in 1851. Later churches were formed at Auckland in 1855, at Dunedin in 1863, at Wellington in 1878, and in the Canterbury/Christchurch area from the 1860's. The growth of the church was steady, and by 1880 there were twenty-five churches with a total membership of 1600 throughout New Zealand. In 1882, the Baptist Union of New Zealand was established to create a closer association among the churches. The New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society was formed in 1855 and missionaries were sent to India. The New Zealand Baptist Theological College was established in Auckland in 1924.  

'''The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.''' The first Latter-day Saint missionaries arrived in New Zealand in 1854. Meetings were held in Auckland, Nelson, and Wellington. The first branch was organized at Karori, a suburb of Wellington, in 1855. In 1870, the New Zealand Conference of the Australian Mission was organized. A Sunday School for children was started at Karori that same year. The first New Zealand Saints ‘gathered’ to Utah in 1872. New Zealand was divided into three conferences in 1879. In 1881, missionary work was begun among the Maori. The first Maori branch of the church was organized in 1883. For the next ten years missionary work was almost exclusively among the Maori. Church schools were established for Maori children in 1886. The Book of Mormon was translated into the Maori Language in 1887. A separate New Zealand Mission was created in 1897. The Maori Agricultural College for boys was established in 1913 and closed in 1931. Both the New Zealand Temple and the Church College of New Zealand (co-educational and multi-racial) were dedicated in 1958.