The Church in New Zealand

After the first Latter-day Saint baptism in New Zealand in 1854, significant growth began in the 1880s when many Māori embraced the restored gospel and viewed Latter-day Saint missionaries as fulfilling Māori prophecies. In 1958 many Pacific Island missionaries helped to build a temple in Hamilton, and in 2018 the Church announced the construction of a second temple in Auckland.

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History of the Church in New Zealand

In 1854, Martha Holder of Karori became the first person baptized in New Zealand. Her son, Thomas, who had previously been converted during Australia’s gold rush, was among New Zealand’s first missionaries. Early branches were established in Karori (near Wellington on the North Island) and Kaiapoi (near Christchurch on the South Island), but large congregations did not develop until the 1880s. At that point, many Māori recognized Latter-day Saint missionaries’ efforts as the fulfillment of earlier prophecies by Māori prophets, and they embraced the restored gospel. The Book of Mormon was first published in Māori in 1889. For much of the next century, the Church in New Zealand owed much of its growth to faithful Māori converts.

Near the beginning of the twentieth century, the Church worked to provide greater educational opportunities for members, first building the Māori Agricultural College and, later, the Church College of New Zealand. In the 1950s, many members were called as labor missionaries to help construct educational and religious buildings, including the temple in Hamilton, which was dedicated in 1958. The Auckland Stake—the first in New Zealand—was organized that same year.

With the dedication of the Hamilton Temple in 1958, New Zealand became a place where many Saints from the South Pacific gathered to worship in a house of the Lord (see Isaiah 2:2–3). Additionally, the opening of a missionary training center in New Zealand in 1977 attested to the maturity and growth of the Church in New Zealand and the Pacific. As members and missionaries worked to share the gospel, the Church grew. In 2016, the 30th stake in New Zealand was established in Dunedin, and in 2018, a second temple was announced to be built in Auckland.

Read more in Global Histories.