WMCNZ Overview History

WESLEYAN METHODIST CHURCH OF NEW ZEALAND

Overview History

by Rev. Dr Richard Waugh QSM

The unifying work of the Wesleyan Methodist Movement in the late 1990s, led a group of ministers and congregations to form a multicultural network of churches in the Wesleyan stream. Their vision was to pursue a renewed evangelical and missional future, in keeping with Scripture and Trinitarian emphases. With much celebration and joy the Wesleyan Methodist Church of New Zealand was inaugurated on 2nd July 2000 at a worship service at St Anne’s Catholic Church in Manurewa, Auckland.

In November 2000, the first National Conference of the WMCNZ was held in Auckland and a draft constitution adopted. The Wesleyan Methodist Church of New Zealand formed as an indigenous church with New Zealand leadership, including founding National Superintendent, the Rev Edgar Hornblow. The Conference resolved to join the Wesleyan World Fellowship as a national church in a Mission Field Partnership with the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia. Over the next few years the support and encouragement of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia and, in particular, that of its National Superintendent, the Rev Stan Baker, was invaluable in helping our network develop and grow. A significant 5-year partnership was developed with the West Michigan District of The Wesleyan Church from early 2003. This involved church to church and pastor to pastor networking and strategic assistance for church planting. Many fruitful relationships were forged and continue to this day. District Superintendent Rev Mark Gorveatte played a central role in supporting the partnership and visited New Zealand on a number of occasions with teams who offered resourcing to our fledgling movement. In its first decade, the Wesleyan Methodist Church of New Zealand continued to grow through church planting and evangelism. A total of 22 churches were represented at the 2010 National Conference, all in the North Island. In 2003, the church joined Vision Network New Zealand (later New Zealand Christian Network) as a founding member, and in 2004 became a member of the National Church Leaders Meeting. At a meeting in Sydney in late 2007 the Wesleyan Methodist Church of New Zealand was accepted as a member of the World Methodist Council (the second full member denomination in New Zealand). On 25th August 2012 the South Pacific Regional Conference of The Wesleyan Church was inaugurated in Brisbane, Australia. The new Established Regional Conference was the first of its kind in The Wesleyan Church. The Founding President was the National Superintendent of the New Zealand National Conference, the Rev Dr Richard Waugh. The purposes of the Conference are to promote evangelism in the South Pacific; coordinate the activities of The Wesleyan Church in the South Pacific; address South Pacific concerns; promote closer fellowship and mutual understanding; and provide a means for joint planning, consultation, co-operative action, fellowship, worship and celebrate together the collective witness of all conferences in the region. The Wesleyan Methodist Church of New Zealand together with The Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia, The Wesleyan Methodist Church of Bougainville and The Wesleyan Methodist Church of the Solomon Islands continues to plan together for Christian witness in our South Pacific context. In November 2021, the annual Conference celebrated the influential and sacrificial ministry of Rev. Dr Richard Waugh as he retired after 18 years as National Superintendent. Rev Brett Jones was elected as National Superintendent and tasked, along with the National Council, with shaping vision, structure and process for the third decade of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. Today the Wesleyan Methodist Church of New Zealand expresses its ministry across New Zealand through 29 churches stretching from Whangarei in the north, to Christchurch in the south. Fresh church planting initiatives are planned for the third decade of our ministry to New Zealand. A refreshed call to evangelism and church health is at the heart of our strategy mapped through to 2025. In our work and witness, and ecumenical commitment, we claim and cherish our place in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church promised by God in the Scriptures, birthed in history through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord, and empowered by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.