Synod of Otago and Southland - Union

Union

As soon as the Presbytery of Otago was formed in 1854 it sent a letter to the congregations and presbyteries of the northern church about the importance of cooperation and union between the two churches. Although they represented different sides of the 1843 split the two churches still held common doctrine, polity and discipline. The responses were initially friendly replies, but no further effort was made at uniting the two groups until 1861 when a joint committee was formed and prepared a basis of union. Slight differences between the two groups delayed further progress for some time. The northern church had always been self-supporting, but the Synod of Otago and Southland had been granted a large tract of valuable land, and the Synod was keen to retain ownership of that land in the case of union with the northern church. The open-minded northern church lived among a more mixed population than the conservative Synod which had insisted that only members of the Free Church of Scotland could join its community. From the beginning a large number of the Synod wished to join with the northern church, but an influential minority successfully resisted. This group softened its opposition, however, and in 1901 the two churches united under the name of The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. The Synod wished to continue its existence, and since it had been established by act of parliament and could not be dissolved, it became a court of the united church and retained control of its trusts. The Synod of Otago and Southland remains the only regional court of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.