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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Wesley Church

Wesley Church, East Belt. This church grew out of a Sunday School which was started near the Avon in the early sixties. The school eventually became a preaching place, and in 1876 the section on which the school and parsonage stand was purchased, and a school-church built, at a cost of £600, of which £330 was raised at the time. Subsequently the corner section fronting the Belt and Worcester Street was bought for £700, and later still the present brick church was erected, at a cost of £2800. It was dedicated on the 22nd of January, 1882. The congregation grew so steadily that galleries were added, in 1885, at an outlay of £300, and the parsonage was erected in 1886 at a cost of £600. The school was also enlarged and improved. A few years since a larger organ was obtained, the choir gallery enlarged, and additional vestry accommodation provided. The church has more members and a larger Sunday school than Durham Street itself, although the congregation is not so large. There is a staff of active officebearers, several of whom are young men, who enter heartily into the work of the church.