A History of Uniting
The Alexandra Clyde Union Parish was officially inaugurated on 2 August 1970, bringing together Methodist and Presbyterian congregations in anticipation of union at the national level of these denominations along with three others. However, the Plan for Union 1971 did not go ahead and this local co-operation, like many others across New Zealand, continued to forge its own path of union. More background.
In 1983, the Lauder Presbyterian Parish, along with part of the old Ida Valley parish, namely Poolburn, joined to form the Alexandra Clyde Lauder Union Parish, which is who we are today.
The parish values the variety of its heritage, maintaining links with the Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church, actively participating in the umbrella organisation for Union and Co-operative parishes, Uniting Congregations of Aotearoa New Zealand, and welcoming all people regardless of their faith history.
Beginnings
Initially, with sparse population connected to sheep runs there was the occasional itinerant visiting preacher but “[t]he conduct of services rested upon the piety and missionary concern of individuals who were themselves deeply religious men, and many of those early settlers were.” In the early 1860s, the discovery of alluvial gold brought a population explosion and it is said that the first service held in Alexandra was in the open air, “reputedly in the shadow of the rock that had to be blasted away to make room for Mr Gourlay’s chemist shop.” It is possible that the preacher was a Methodist local preacher who worked regularly in the Teviot area, Mr Henry Bloxham.
From May 1865, Alexandra and Clyde were provided with services “with some semblance of regularity” by the Rev James Copland, who was appointed as the first Goldfields’ Minister, the parish extending from Waitāhuna to Cromwell.
Teachers at the schools in Alexandra and Clyde very significant leaders in the Presbyterian congregations, the Rev J Cameron in Alexandra soon after the school opened by Mr George Read, “a godly man who interested himself in the homes of his pupils”. In Clyde, Mr Clarke was “outstanding in the service he rendered to the Presbyterian community and to the church at large.” A committee to “conserve the interests of the Presbyterian cause in the town and neighbourhood” was established in May 1866.
The first resident ordained Presbyterian minister was the Rev C.S. Ross and was appointed in 1868, a year that has been taken as a marker in history for the parish ever since.
A wooden church had been built in Clyde in 1865, vested in the Anglican church and also used by the Presbyterians. In Alexandra services were at first held in the school, then at a stone building in downtown Alexandra, also used for council meetings and school until St Enoch’s was built in 1877.
Quotations from 90 Years 1865-1955 Souvenir Jubilee Booklet, Easter 1956
