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New Life Churches, formerly known as New Life Churches International, is a
Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement
Christian church movement in
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
.


History

Early influences date from the 1940s when a series of meetings conducted by overseas 'Bethel Temple' missionaries resulted in the planting of congregations in New Zealand and Australia. Some of its early leaders, including Morrow, attended a
Bible college A Bible college, sometimes referred to as a Bible institute or theological institute, is an evangelical Christian or Restoration Movement Christian institution of higher education which prepares students for Christian ministry with theological ed ...
in Sydney in 1951. Further evangelistic campaigns and training occurred after 1957 and throughout the 1960s. In 1960, meetings began in
Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...
that led to the establishment of Timaru New Life Centre. Also many evangelistic campaigns took place throughout New Zealand. The first missionaries were sent overseas in this period. Peter Morrow began work in
Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
in 1962 as the pastor of the church there, which was then known as the Christchurch Revival Fellowship. By 1964, thirteen "indigenous" churches had been established in the South Island. A number of congregations were planted in the North Island over the same period. Bible schools were established in
Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...
,
Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
and Christchurch. In 1975, Auckland pastor Shaun Kearney (an associate of the then ICNZ) was influential in setting up the Associated Pentecostal Churches of New Zealand, a pan-Pentecostal fellowship of church groups. In 1978 the Christchurch Revival Fellowship renamed itself the New Life Centre Christchurch, later becoming City New Life Church and now known as Majestic Church. This church functioned as the administrative offices of the New Life Centres of New Zealand for many years in the late 1980s and 1990s, but is now an independent fellowship having left the New Life Churches movement. In 1987, twenty associate pastors of ICNZ left the renamed New Life Churches group, in reluctance to embrace the new governmental structure chosen at the 1987 ICNZ conference. These pastors eventually formed a new association named South Pacific Fellowship, and endeavoured to maintain the less structured fellowship they had known prior to 1987. The name 'New Life Churches' was adopted during the 1988 ICNZ Conference and a structure of national governance, including elected apostles and regional leaders, was agreed upon. The first apostles chosen by the 1987 conference were Rob Wheeler, a New Zealand Evangelist and Peter Morrow, an Australian evangelist. Both these men had been leading figures in the former ICNZ, and pioneers in spreading the Latter Rain Revival in New Zealand. Many member churches became involved heavily in social conservative political activism against the ratification of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1984, the establishment of Lyndhurst Hospital (a free-standing abortion clinic) in Christchurch, and passage of the Homosexual Law Reform Act in 1986. They had also earlier been involved in the establishment of the
Coalition of Concerned Citizens The Coalition of Concerned Citizens was a New Zealand Christian conservative pressure group, and one of several attempts to form pro-censorship, anti-abortion, anti-gay and sex education opponents into a comprehensive social conservative politica ...
in 1974 and the Save Our Homes Campaign in 1977. The New Life Churches are now an international movement with affiliates in Australia,
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
and the
Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...
. In keeping with Pentecostal Congregationalist philosophy, individual churches in the NLCNZ are autonomous and not governed by the central organisation.


Bibliography

*Brett Knowles:'' New Life: The New Life Churches of New Zealand: 1942-1979'', 3rd edition: Lexington, Kentucky: Emeth Press: 2015: *For New Zealand Pentecostalism as a whole: Brett Knowles:'' Transforming Pentecostalism: The Changing Face of New Zealand Pentecostalism, 1920-2010'': Lexington, Kentucky: Emeth Press: 2014: *David Collins: The Latter Rain Revival - The New Zealand Story. 2021 Little King Books. ISBN 978-0-473-57338-6


See also

* Christian politics in New Zealand


References

{{reflist


External links


New Life Churches - (official website)

New Life Fellowship Association - (official website)
* The Latter Rain Revival: The New Zealand Story https://amzn.asia/d/hZb5OVT Pentecostalism in New Zealand Pentecostal denominations in Oceania Christian organizations established in 1960 Finished Work Pentecostals 1960 establishments in New Zealand