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Dating the beginning of
the Church is difficult because it began life as a branch of another
church. This parent church became defunct in the 1990s.
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If the Church is dated
from the year Pastor Wilson began services in his garage, the Church
is 86 years old in 2023. That's one year older than Superman and two
years older than Batman.
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When the original
church building was erected on the Mt Roskill site in 1951, it couild
only accommodate 70 people, and had onsite parking for only two cars.
There was no pastor's office.
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The gymnasium was
erected in 1968. It was originally called the 'Youth Centre' and a
large sign was placed on the outside wall to this effect. By the 1970s
it was being so well used that Pastor Wilson seriously considered
building a second gymnasium right next to it, over the lower carpark.
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During the 1960s and
1970s, around 80% of the congregation were aged under 35.
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In the 1970s, so many
people were attending services that the biggest problem the Church had
was simply fitting everyone in. Extra seats were placed in all the
aisles, a practice that would not be permitted today. Even so, dozens of people had to stand around the sides of the
church during services. Pastor Wilson was aware that the lack of
capacity was discouraging some new people from attending. Attendance
at even Sunday morning prayer meetings averaged around 200, with many
attendees having to stand.
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Also in the 1970s, the
church envisaged that it would have to purchase the entire block
bounded by Mt Roskill, Memorial, Dominion and Mt Albert Rds. An
entirely new church was to be built that would have its main entrance
off Dominion Rd. Plans for such a church were drawn up and
costed,though never built.
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The Church campus at
Ararimu was purchased in two lots, the first being bought in 1961 and
the second in 1973. It was originally referred to as the 'Youth
Campus'.
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The Church has been
governed by committee since 1982 because Pastor Wilson could not
identify any one person who could take over his role when he died. The
committee structure was designed to spread the risk of the church lurching to a
doctrinal extreme, but in practice it has made it difficult for the
Church to exercise decisive decision-making. This has held it back from developing new
initiatives, with the emphasis being on simply maintaining the status
quo.
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Pastor Wilson was one
of 10 children, 7 of whom were boys. Five of the Wilson boys were
pastors.