Auckland Baptist Tabernacle
Encyclopedia
The Auckland Baptist Tabernacle is a heritage-listed church located near the corner of Queen Street
and Karangahape Road
, at the edge of Auckland central business district
in New Zealand
.
and 14 others in 1855 in the then fledging colonial town of Auckland. By the late 1860s, a sizeable chapel had been built in Wellesley Street and the church flourished. In 1881, Thomas Spurgeon
, son of the famous C. H. Spurgeon, accepted the role of pastor and the church rapidly outgrew first the chapel, then the choral hall. In the face of a growing congregation the Queen Street site was secured and built on between 1884-85. The current church building was opened to the wider community on May 12th 1885 where a special tithe was taken to cover the final ₤100, rendering the church debt free.
Queen Street, Auckland
Queen Street is the major commercial thoroughfare in the Auckland CBD, Auckland, New Zealand's main population centre. It starts at Queens Wharf on the Auckland waterfront, adjacent to the Britomart Transport Centre and the Downtown Ferry Terminal, and runs uphill for almost three kilometres in a...
and Karangahape Road
Karangahape Road
Karangahape Road is one of the main streets in the central business district of Auckland, New Zealand. The massive expansion of motorways through the nearby inner city area - and subsequent flight of residents and retail into the suburbs - turned it from one of Auckland's premier shopping streets...
, at the edge of Auckland central business district
Auckland CBD
The Auckland CBD is the geographical and economic heart of the Auckland metropolitan area. Bounded by several major motorways and by the harbour coastline in the north, it is surrounded further out by mostly suburban areas...
in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
History
The Auckland Baptist Tabernacle was formed by Richard ShaldersRichard Barcham Shalders
Richard Barcham Shalders was a Baptist preacher, founder of the New Zealand branch of the YMCA, and founder of Auckland Baptist Tabernacle.-Childhood:...
and 14 others in 1855 in the then fledging colonial town of Auckland. By the late 1860s, a sizeable chapel had been built in Wellesley Street and the church flourished. In 1881, Thomas Spurgeon
Thomas Spurgeon
Thomas Spurgeon was a British Reformed Baptist preacher of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, one of two non-identical twin sons of the famous Charles Haddon Spurgeon ....
, son of the famous C. H. Spurgeon, accepted the role of pastor and the church rapidly outgrew first the chapel, then the choral hall. In the face of a growing congregation the Queen Street site was secured and built on between 1884-85. The current church building was opened to the wider community on May 12th 1885 where a special tithe was taken to cover the final ₤100, rendering the church debt free.