Spreydon Baptist Church 1960-2000 - Knox Centre for Ministry and ...

loose and highly relational under Paul Askin’s leadership.
When Lionel Stewart took over they were seen to move in a
more controlled and study oriented direction. He ‘produced
common studies which all had to do. A kind of doctrinal orthodoxy
imposed itself over the effervescent and diverse spirituality.’
33 A consequence of this was the departure of key
leaders in charismatic renewal in the church. This is a pattern
that has happened every few years where, with a change of
direction, a group become dissatisfied with the changes, feel
they are not being heard, and some leave, either noisily as in
this case, or just drift off quietly. In some cases the leavers end
up being involved in other churches, but in a number of cases
end up pursuing their life and spiritual journey outside of institutional
Christianity.
Even with the planting of Halswell the church building
was obviously too small to accommodate all of the congregation
in one service so a number of home groups from different
areas of the city began to meet together for worship on a cyclical
basis in 1982. These were in the neighbouring suburbs of
Addington, Somerfield, North Spreydon, South Spreydon,
Hoon Hay and Rowley, as well as the more distant university
suburb of Ilam. This was the beginning of the move towards
the area congregation model of church life. Another pragmatic
factor in pushing in this direction was the arrival of ‘carless’
days in 1982 and the felt need to have church accessible within
walking distance. 34 Further impetus for this move came from
33 Interview 26/04/00.
34 This was a result of the increased cost of fuel and anticipated shortages
because of the low overseas exchange rate of the New Zealand dollar. It
was a way of limiting fuel consumption, by people nominating one day a
week in which their car would not be used. With most New Zealanders
using a car for work, Sunday became the most convenient for many.
19
NZJBR 9, Oct. 2004