There are 31 Presbyterian and Uniting churches in the greater Wellington area, each with their own unique flavour and culture. As well as regular Sunday worship services many churches offer midweek activities such as Mainly Music (pre-school music classes), playgroups, groups for retired people, parenting classes, discussion groups, prayer and counselling services.

Wellington Presbytery (the name given to a regional body of Presbyterian churches) was established in 1857.

The Presbytery of Wellingtons’ establishment could be characterized as being like ‘the tale of two churches’. St Andrew’s and St John’s were the two earliest established Presbyterian Church communities in Wellington City; the Church of Scotland church, St Andrew’s, and a Free Presbyterian Church, St. John’s.

If there was ever a Presbyterian ‘establishment church’ in New Zealand then St Andrews would be it. St Andrews was the first church in Wellington, established in 1840, and it was aligned to the Church of Scotland by virtue of the fact that this was the mother church, with its founding Minister Rev John Macfarlane.

In 1853 Rev John Moir arrived, and so began a Free Church congregation in Wellington, this became known as Willis St. Presbyterian Church, and then later as St John’s. It was to be the efforts and energies of this congregation and it’s Minister John Moir who would become a driving force behind the establishment of the Wellington Presbytery. The first meeting of the Wellington Presbytery was held at Willis Street on the 3^rd and 4^th of November 1857.

(Information sourced from 'Our Church in Our Communities - Stories of the life or Parishes in the Wellington Presbytery since 1840'. Compiled and edited by David Ross. Published by the Wellington Presbytery 2007.)

The Presbytery of Wellington meets at 6.30pm on the third Tuesday of each month (not usually in January or December).  The meetings are held in churches and are at a different venue each month.  In August the normal Tuesday meeting is replaced by a resourcing day on a Saturday.

If you want to know when the next meeting is, please contact the Presbytery Office on (04) 471 2952 or view our calendar.

John Jones
Executive Officer
(04) 471 2952

Heather Macfarlane
Administrative assistant
(04) 471 2952

Rev Sue Fenton
Pioneer Mission Ministry Co-ordinator
(04) 471 2952

The members of Presbytery are:

• Ministers appointed to ministry of a congregation or chaplaincy, including Te Aka Puaho.
• Other ministers wishing to participate actively in, and able to contribute to the worship, life and mission of a Presbytery (subject ot review of their appointments by the Presbytery every three years).
• An elder from each church council.
• Other ministers, licentiates, chaplains, elders or youth representatives whom Presbytery may invite to become a member for a specific time.
• Additional elders who are to be appointed annually by a Presbytery to make the total number of elders equal to the total number of ministers and chaplains.

Boyd Dunlop is originally from Palmerston North and moved to Wanganui, then Marton in 1965, where he worked as a Traffic Officer liasing with schools and kindergartens on road safety. He has lived and worked in various places, including Upper Hutt, Rotorua, Turangi, and since 1978, Wellington where he has worked in various management positions in Government

 

Vision

To connect faith with everyday life.

Mission

To provide leadership, support and oversight to parishes and ministries in the Wellington region.

The Wellington Presbytery is committed to corporately caring for its faith communities and enabling them to make Jesus Christ known. This is carried out by:

• Holding meetings that are well run, informative, interactive, spiritually enlivening and enjoyable.

• Communicating effectively with parishes / faith communities and actively encouraging them in their mission.

• Having a care for the clergy (ministers) and lay people (all the others) in Presbytery's charge, meeting training and support needs as they arise.

• Attending promptly to all financial and property matters in an open and supportive manner.

• Identifying all those organisations and situations of the wider Church that need its input and providing informed comment.

• Acknowledging the Treaty of Waitangi

• Being inclusive of all the cultures in our Presbytery, particulary supporting the work of the Pacific Island faith communities, the Wellington Maori Pastorate and the Wellington Korean Church.

• Encouraging and supporting initiatives for families and young people across the Presbytery.

• Acknowledging that a third of the parishes are uniting parishes (joined with another denomination) or co-operating ventures.