Kaikorai Presbyterian Church has stood at the crossroads of Taieri Road and Nairn Street since 1868. As early as 1852 pioneer families trudged along bush tracks and muddy roads, (for those days the bush extended from Flagstaff to the shore) for weekly prayer meetings, first in Hood Hall (now Ferntree House), and then at Wakari School. As a mission outpost of Knox Church, a minister preached weekly at the school.
The need for a church grew and in time the Wakari School Committee requested that a church building be erected in the district. With self-sacrifice and faith, £477 was raised, and a modest wooden building with a shingle roof was erected on land gifted by Miss Helen Hood. Originally this was known as 'Wakari Church' however given the location the present name of Kaikorai was more appropriate. The first service was held in 1866, with the church operating as a daughter of Knox Church.
Such was the faith and growth of the congregation that in 1868 they were established as an independent congregation and authorised to call a minister, the first of many who served not only the church but also the community. That first church building became too small, and again the congregation met the challenge, and with extensions, a second church came into being in 1880.
As the congregation grew so did the district, with the advent of the Roslyn Mills and the Rosyln and Kaikorai cablecars. In 1906, again in faith, a tender of £2750 was accepted for the erection of a new church. The Mayor of Roslyn laid the foundation stone (beneath which is a time capsule!), and in 1907 the third church held its first service. It stands, today, on the site of the old wooden church which was moved to the rear of the grounds to serve as a hall. In the brick church four stained glass windows were installed to honour founding members. The original wooden church was demolished to make way for the present hall, which is in constant use by both church and community.
By 1918 there were twelve places of worship in the area prompting thoughts of union. But it was not until the centenary of the church that it became part of the West Dunedin Union, serving the districts of Wakari, Halfway Bush, Brockville and Kaikorai – the very areas from which those early settlers traveled to worship, and Waitati. It had union too with the Roslyn Methodist Church and the local Congregational and Church of Christ churches. Today the pendulum has swung and it is again known as Kaikorai Presbyterian Church.
The years have seen the rule of six sovereigns, the emergence of the depression (during which the congregation gave unobtrusive unemployment assistance), and two world wars. The church has moved with changing times, with heated and earnest discussion as to whether organ music should be permitted, and decades later whether dancing should be permitted at Bible Class socials.
Presbyterianism is a Reformed (Calvinist) Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders. Though there are other Reformed churches that are structurally similar, the word Presbyterian is applied to churches that trace their roots to the Church of Scotland or to English Dissenter groups that formed during the English Civil War.
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The city has a rich Māori, Scottish, and Chinese heritage.
Lawrence is a small town in Otago, in New Zealand's South Island. It is located on State Highway 8, the main route from Dunedin to the inland towns of Queenstown and Alexandra. It lies 35 kilometres to the northwest of Milton, 11 kilometres northwest of Waitahuna, and close to the Tuapeka River, a tributary of the Clutha.
Knox College is a selective residential college, founded and run by the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand and affiliated with University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. The college is set in a 4.57 hectares landscaped site in Opoho on the opposite side of the Dunedin Botanic Gardens from the university. It is named after John Knox, a sixteenth century leader of the Scottish Reformation, whose efforts in establishing a universal system of free education comprising both academic learning and character formation had a profound influence, not just in Scotland, but internationally, as subsequent generations of Scottish settlers, products of the Scottish Enlightenment, emigrated to far-flung corners of the globe, including New Zealand, taking with them a deep-seated belief in the benefits of applied knowledge and a broad and liberal education. Those strong Scottish Presbyterian foundations are something that Knox College has in common with the university to which it is affiliated. They are depicted on the college's Coat of Arms in the form of a blue St Andrew's Cross. Superimposed on the St Andrew's Cross is the image of a white dove in flight, carrying an olive branch in its mouth, a symbolic depiction of the flood myth in Genesis 8, wherein the olive-branch-bearing dove is a symbol of life and peace. The college motto, Gratia et Veritas (Latin), or Grace and Truth (English), comes from the Prologue to the Gospel according to Saint John.
First Church is a prominent church in the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located in the heart of the city on Moray Place, 100 metres to the south of the city centre. The church is the city's primary Presbyterian church. The building is regarded as the most impressive of New Zealand's nineteenth-century churches, and is listed by Heritage New Zealand as a Category I structure.
Robert Arthur Lawson was one of New Zealand's pre-eminent 19th century architects. The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography states that he did more than any other designer to shape the face of the Victorian era architecture of the city of Dunedin. He is the architect of over forty churches, including Dunedin's First Church for which he is best remembered, but also other buildings, such as Larnach Castle, a country house, with which he is also associated.
Holy Trinity Church is an heritage-listed Anglican church located in Port Chalmers, Otago, New Zealand. Completed in 1874, the Academic Gothic Revival church building is constructed in volcanic stone and has some fine stained glass, and is listed as a Category I Historic Place by Heritage New Zealand. Together with St Barnabas Church, Warrington, Holy Trinity Church is part of the Port Chalmers-Warrington Parish of the Diocese of Dunedin.
Wakari is a residential suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) to the northwest of the city centre, immediately to the west of the ridge which runs to the west of the city's centre. Wakari lies to the north of the upper reaches of the Kaikorai Valley, and is also north of the suburb of Kaikorai. The suburbs of Roslyn and Maori Hill are situated on the ridge immediately to the southeast and east of Wakari. The suburb of Halfway Bush lies to the northwest, and the smaller suburb of Helensburgh lies to the north.
Māori Hill is a residential suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located at the northern end of the ridge which runs in a crescent around the central city's western edge, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the northwest of the city centre, immediately above and within the Town Belt. It is connected to Dunedin North, which lies to the east, via Drivers Road, the suburbs of Roslyn and Kaikorai to the southwest via Highgate, and the suburb of Wakari to the northwest via Balmacewen Road.
Knox Church is a notable building in Dunedin, New Zealand. It houses the city's second Presbyterian congregation and is the city's largest church of any denomination.
Halfway Bush is a suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) to the northwest of the city centre, close to the point at which Taieri Road becomes the winding rural Three Mile Hill Road. It was this road which gave the suburb its name, as this locality was halfway between the Taieri Plains and central Dunedin in the early days of European settlement, when Three Mile Hill was the main route from Dunedin to the Otago hinterland. This route was superseded by the route through the Caversham Valley in the 1860s.
Roslyn is a major residential and retail suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located 150 metres (490 ft) above the city centre on the ridge which runs in a crescent around the central city's western edge. It is 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) to the northwest of the city centre, immediately above the Town Belt.
James Louis Salmond was a New Zealand architect active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of his buildings remain, particularly in Otago. He established a practice carried on by his son and grandson into the 21st century.
The Kaikorai Stream is a short river which runs through the city of Dunedin, in New Zealand's South Island. The stream has origins in the northwestern suburbs of Dunedin, flowing southwest towards the Kaikorai Lagoon.
The Dunedin Synagogue is a historic synagogue in Dunedin, New Zealand. It is reputedly the world's southernmost permanent synagogue, although a further synagogue operated briefly in King Edward Street, South Dunedin from late 2017 until 2019.
George Hepburn was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from Otago, New Zealand. Born in Scotland he emigrated to New Zealand in 1850. He first entered politics by serving on the Provincial Council of Otago from 1855 to 1865 before he was elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives as member for Roslyn in 1866.
All Saints' Church is a heritage-listed Anglican church located in Dunedin, New Zealand. Established in 1865, the church is part of the Dunedin North parish in the Diocese of Dunedin.
Union Church is an unincorporated community located in Jefferson County, Mississippi, United States.
St Andrew's Presbyterian Church was a prominent church in Dunedin, New Zealand. Designed by pre-eminent Dunedin Robert Lawson it was constructed in 1870 to serve a rapidly developing area of the city which became notorious for its slum housing, poverty and crime which led to it being referred to as the "Devil's Half-Acre" from 1873 onwards. The church is best known for its long time crusading minister the Reverend Rutherford Waddell. Waddell's 'Sin of Cheapness' sermon which was a landmark in New Zealand's social and labour history was delivered from its pulpit. It eventually closed as a place of Presbyterian worship in 1978 and after briefly serving as a place of worship for the Word of Life Pentecostal Church it was purchased by the Coptic Orthodox Church in 2000, who renamed it the Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church.
Ellis Park is a sports ground in the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. The park is the home of Roslyn-Wakari association football club and Ellis Park Softball Club.
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