Thames Church of Christ

Then and Now - a History

Thames 125th Anniversary 1882-2007

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The Thames Church of Christ Life & Advent held its first meeting in the Oddfellows Lodge Hall, in Richmond Street on Sunday 23rd July, 1882 and later worshipped in the former Munster Hotel on the corner of Pollen and Richmond Streets—diagonally opposite the Brian Boru Hotel. In 1922 it moved to Sealey Street and in 1978 moved again to its present home in Parawai Road, opposite Reservoir Road.

The Church continues to maintain a strong witness to the Divine Inspiration of the Scriptures, to personal acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour as an essential to Christian faith, to the Unconscious state of the Dead and the Return of the Lord Jesus as the Hope of the Church, when the saints will be translated to Eternal Life.

In 1994, the national organization for the Churches of Christ Life & Advent ceased and several of the churches opted to join the Baptist Union. The Thames and Takanini Churches affiliated with the Advent Christian Conference of New Zealand in 1997.

While the congregation of the Sunday morning service has been small this has not prevented us from being actively involved in the international mission work of the Advent Christian Churches, both prayerfully and financially.

Our Sunday services have been taken by Honorary Pastor Doug Campbell and Brothers Terry Burchell & Ron Laing—along with visiting speakers from Takanini and Hamilton Churches, and other former Church of Christ members. We also share services at two retirement homes with other local churches. A regular fortnightly Bible Study is held in the Burchell's home led by Pastor David Burge of Takanini.

After years of faithful service Brother Doug Campbell felt it was time to retire from the honorary pastorate. We were looking to the Lord God to guide us in our plans and to provide for the future.

Jehovah Jireh - God Provides!

During the 125th Anniversary celebrations of the church in July 2007 former Thames resident, Gavin McIntosh - who was led to the Lord by Doug Campbell - approached leadership regarding pastoring the church.

This was an incredible answer to prayer after years of prayer. God is truly faithful!

Gavin and Alison moved to Thames and joined the church as pastoral workers in January 2008.

HAURAKI HERALD, FEBRUARY 29, 2008 P47

Couple Relish Community

Christ's Church Open

by Mathew Grocott

Creating a strong sense of community in the Parawai area of Thames is the goal of two of it’s newest residents.

Gavin and Alison McIntosh are the new pastoral workers at the Church of Christ on Parawai Rd and want Parawai people to feel like they are a part of a community.

“We want to build a sense of community in this area. We’ve been brought in to try to raise the numbers and raise the profile of the church, raise it’s involvement in the community. We want it to be the church for Parawai,” Mr McIntosh said.

“Parawai is sort of stuck out at the end of Thames and has it’s own little identity,” Mrs McIntosh said.

Mr McIntosh sees the church and Parawai School as being the key community facilities in Parawai.

“We want the school and church to co-operate and support each other to the benefit of the community.”

The couple met with community leaders in Thames to introduce themselves and create networks and said they were impressed with how approachable Thames people are.

Married for 31 years with four adult children, the couple moved to Thames for the “friendly, healthy, laid back lifestyle”.

“It’s nice and quiet,” Mrs McIntosh said. Mr McIntosh's grandfather lived in Thames and in his youth Mr McIntosh completed an apprenticeship at A&G Price.

“We’d always kept contacts here,” Mrs McIntosh said. “We heard there was a position coming up and thought it could be for us.”

(Article and photo reproduced with permission from the Hauraki Herald—a Fairfax Media publication)