It seems that the internet knows that I have been looking at pictures of churches recently. As part of leading the study on church architecture and history, I was searching for pictures of a few churches that represented the point I was trying to make about architecture a bit better. I did find a few good examples, but also some that may not make the point quite so well. In the course of that search, I looked at many church pictures and searched up the history of many buildings.

And now the internet serves me up church pictures whenever it can. On Facebook, I am seeing posts from UK church restoration funds such as the National Churches Trust and the Friends of Friendless Churches. Those trusts (and there are more of them) organise and fund the restoration and maintenance of churches throughout the United Kingdom. Sometimes they work with the Parish or Estate, sometimes they organise the work themselves. Of course, there are thousands of churches in the United Kingdom and it was far more common to have private chapels. Those charities do a lot of good work to protect these buildings and ensure that they remain in use as community assets. Many of the churches remain consecrated, but are not used for regular services. Rather, services are held on special occasions and other events take place in the buildings.

In New Zealand we do not really have such trusts for the conservation of church buildings. And yet, many churches would require funding for repair and maintenance to keep the heritage alive. The only consecrated church owned by Heritage New Zealand / Pouhere Tāonga is Old St Paul’s in Wellington. Heritage New Zealand also owns Te Waimate Mission, but not the historic Church of St John the Baptist.

In 2023 the Athol Charitable Church Trust took over the former Anglican Church in Athol, Southland. While the supporters of this trust are mainly Christians, it seems many live in urban centres throughout Otago and Southland, meeting regularly for working bees, events and services at the Church. This restoration project was driven by the enthusiasm of a few key people. The church is open regularly for travelers to stop, rest and pray.

I know about the Kaipaki Church, a rural church in the Waikato, that is owned by the local hall committee. Church services there are led by ministers from different denominations, though for a while the Church had its own pastor. By having the hall committee look after the Church, a wider range of volunteers is working on the Church.

I do know of some rural churches that are owned by church bodies, such as an Anglican diocese, but responsibility for repair and maintenance the responsibility of the local community, not all of whom are regular churchgoers. One of those churches is St James Church in Ngatimoti near Motueka, Tasman, built in 1884.  It is maintained by the “Friends of St James”, and the Nelson Anglican Diocese operates it as an inter-denominational church, with ministers from different denominations taking services there.

For New Zealand rural churches some way of maintaining them will probably have to be found. Hopefully that can also involve locals contributing to their upkeep. As we at St Paul’s know, all heritage churches clearly need some financial help to maintain these beautiful buildings. Even better, of course, would be if they are also regularly used for worship and are part of lively parish life.