The
Methodist movement was started by
John Wesley, an 18th-century
Church of England minister. Methodist
missionaries were among the earliest Europeans to come to New Zealand. Missionaries
Samuel Leigh and William White established the first
Wesleyan mission, Wesleydale at
Kaeo on the
Whangaroa Harbour, on 6 June 1823. Leigh worked alongside Anglican missionary
Samuel Marsden. The Methodist missions in New Zealand and Australia became administratively independent from Britain in 1874. The Annual Conference has always been the governing body of the Methodist Church of New Zealand. The New Zealand Church was originally a part of the
Methodist Church of Australasia, with the New Zealand annual conference reporting to a triennial Australasian conference. In 1910 the Methodist Church of New Zealand completely separated from Australia. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the Methodist Church, with its emphasis on personal salvation and social responsibility, played an important part in the
temperance movement. Methodist youth were encouraged to join the
Band of Hope. Methodist minister
Leonard Isitt became a full-time temperance campaigner and was elected as a member of parliament. Since the early 1900s the proportion of New Zealanders who are Methodist has declined from 10% to a reported 2.6% in the
2013 census. At the 1983 conference the church made a conscious decision to work towards inclusion of all ethnicities and cultures. The
World Methodist Council website reports 9,473 Methodist Church members who worship as part of a Methodist Church
parish; additionally, a "significant number" of Methodist members worship in churches co-operating with Anglicans and Presbyterians. This membership figure is undated. == Beliefs ==