HISTORY
The beginnings of The Methodist Mission spring
from the evangelical and radical traditions of Methodism as a whole.
By the 1880s in England many of the denominations had become deeply
concerned about the plight of the urban poor, in particular. The
title of a book written at that time – The Bitter Cry of Outcast
London – encapsulates the acute sense of responsibility that
many Christians felt. Urban missions in the main cities of England
were established, and this example was followed in Australia, and
then in New Zealand, all within a decade.
Founder
The founder of the Dunedin Methodist Central
Mission in 1890, William Ready, was himself the product of the
London slums, but was one of the lucky boys saved from its squalor
and hopelessness by an act of charity.
He became a minister of the Bible Christian
Church (a smaller offshoot of Wesleyan Methodism) and was sent to
New Zealand in 1887. When he came south in May 1890, charged to do a
similar work, he began in the way he believed was most appropriate –
he stood on a soap box, sang a hymn, gathered a crowd and invited
them to worship the next day.
Preaching
The Mission began as an evangelical preaching
mission, based in the Garrison Hall in Dowling St., with the largest
Sunday evening congregation (about 1800 people) of any Christian
denomination anywhere in New Zealand. This emphasis on evangelism –
conversion through the preaching of the Gospel – remained the core
of the Mission’s business for 70 or more years, until rising
prosperity and growing secularity lessened its appeal.
Provision for the needy
Other ways of expressing the Mission’s objectives were developed almost immediately. Within 10 years provision for the needy was met through the appointment of young women named ‘Sisters of the Poor’. Their work focused initially on the needs of women and children, as much in their homes as anywhere.
Gradually larger parish churches took up this
work as well, and the Deaconess Order was formally established in
1907, with the consequent provision of formal training in pastoral
and charitable work. It was not until the 1970s that this emphasis
fell away, largely through the increasing professionalising of
social service delivery.
Adjustments
The effect of two World Wars was to call into
question many of the assumptions on which the ordering of society
was based. Church attendance gradually declined, but the work of the
Mission was better able to adjust to some of these changes. This was
particularly true during the Depression years, when Leslie Neal was
the Mission Superintendent. A First World War chaplain and a dynamic
personality, he rose to the challenge of the times through the
development of a varied programme of relief work and focused
charitable aid.
Popular initiatives
Two particular initiatives of his reflected the
effects of the 1930s Depression. Among those who suffered most were
the elderly, living on meagre incomes, and the children deprived of
adequate nourishment. Leslie Neal by 1937 had established a Health
Camp in very modern purpose-built art deco buildings at Company Bay.
When central Government within a couple of years took over health
camp activity, the property was re-dedicated to aged care.
Another massively popular Neal initiative was
the establishment of the Radio Church of the Helping Hand in 1934,
including broadcasts of Sunday evening services from the Octagon
Cinema. These continued to reach a wide though shrinking audience
until closure in the 1990s.
Six days a week, movie posters were
displayed; but on Saturday nights, the caretaker flipped poster
boards around to reveal the Mission's messages, brought the church
organ out and generally made the place look "sober enough" for
church services the following day. The Mission kept a close eye on
the morality of films screened there, reserving the right to inspect
the synopses, and occasionally fining the Amalgamated cinema chain
if it displayed a prohibited poster. [-Wayne Brittenden The
Celluloid Circus]
Radical changes
The initially prosperous Post-War years saw radical changes in
the direction of the Mission. New Zealand’s fast-changing society in
the 1960s in particular led inevitably to new directions in the
nature and content of service delivery. Increasing Government
control in both the funding of services and in standard-setting
meant that the Mission became more and more subject to regulation.
This was experienced as a loss of independence by Church agencies in
general, though balanced to some extent by new opportunities to
provide new services subsidised by central Government.
The Mission’s worship activities were combined
with those of the central Parish at Trinity Church, and then moved
to the newly erected Mission Building at the corner of Stuart St and
the Octagon when Trinity Church [now the Fortune Theatre] was itself
closed in 1977. These, in turn, were further modified with the
construction of a worship centre, Trinity Hall, within the
refurbished Mission Building in 1990. Finally, the centre-city
presence of The Mission came to an end at the turn of the millenium.
New opportunities
Programmes for pre-school children had begun in
1954 when the Mission took over the Dunedin Citizens’ Day Nursery,
and were extensively redeveloped in purpose-built facilities at
Hillside Road in 1966. Little Citizens has continued to grow and
develop and The Mission has become an acknowledged leader in this
form of community service.
A related family support initiative was the
development of the Kawarau Falls Holiday Camp in 1962, initially to
provide a place for low-cost family holidays. The setting was ideal,
but eventually skyrocketing costs and land values in New Zealand’s
most popular tourist area ruled the Mission out of this market.
Partnership
In the early 1970s the Mission, in conjunction
with the Anglican Diocese, established the Anglican-Methodist Family
Care Centre. This incorporated some of the relief and emergency help
tasks which the Mission had offered over many years – including the
Goodwill Stores begun in 1952. The Centre was given, appropriately,
a high degree of independence to pursue its goal of meeting the
needs of the community, particularly during the 1980s when
Government economic changes led to levels of hardship and
dislocation unknown since the Depression years. The partnership with
the Diocese was dissolved by mutual agreement early in the new
millennium.
Government subsidies also enabled the care of
the elderly at Company Bay to grow until the early 1990s when
changes in the aged care sector and the age and condition of the
buildings necessitated radical changes. All aged care residential
services ceased in 1996 as the result of a decision by the Mission
to concentrate on its skills and experience in other areas of social
service delivery. The Mission maintains a significant link with the
older people of South Dunedin through Mission Community & Social
Services.
Training
An important later development was the gradual
involvement of the Mission with youth and adult training. The
re-education and re-training of people made redundant, or
school-leavers who lack the necessary skills for employment, has
become a major responsibility of The Mission. The reputation gained
by Approach Community Learning since its inception in the late
1980s, and now based at Lookout Point, is an enviable one.
In 2008 The Mission decided to not accept donations from Gaming
trusts, refusing thousands of dollars a year in funding from
activities such as pokie machines because of the harm they do to our
community, especially people on lower incomes.
Tangata whenua
From the beginning of European settlement in
southern New Zealand there has always been the closest links between
Methodism and the tangata whenua. The first Mission Station at
Waikouaiti (now Karitane) had a major educational influence during
the pre-settlement days, and these links have been maintained ever
since.
A fund, based on a koha presented by The
Methodist Mission in 1997 at Otakou to mark the formal return of the
property there to Ngai Tahu, is being used to promote education and
related needs within this area. The Mission is committed to
strengthening this relationship in practical and forward-looking
ways.
Today the Mission continues its work, always
searching for the better way to deliver on our strengths-based,
social justice commitment.
