Towards the end of the 1990s people from New Zealand and throughout the UK started to pray for the church in New Zealand.

 

In 2000 this small group from the Newfrontiers family of churches started to meet together in London, to pray and share their hearts. From these gatherings there grew a vision to plant churches in New Zealand and the Pacific Rim, churches that would reach people for Christ, restore lost and hurting Christians and build bases to send to other parts of South East Asia.

 

And so King's church was born, thousands of kilometres from its home.

Meeting together in London - 2000

This small group of people gradually became a team of 11 adults, two teenagers and three children. In late 2001 the full team finally gathered with great joy and anticipation in Christchurch. The next months were given to prayer, making friends and laying the foundations for a new church.


The early team at Taylor's Mistake - 2001

For a year the church met in each others' homes, sharing meals and their lives together. Then in 2003 the still small church plant made the critical move into rooms at the University of Canterbury for Sunday meetings. In those days we had three small groups of friends around the city, meeting during the week to pray, train and run Alpha courses together.

Growth was steady and in 2004 another move took us to Going Places in Madras Street for our Sunday meetings. The children's work had developed from caring for three to more than 20. Our small groups multiplied as people were added to our number and our Christian Growth Programme was written and run for the first time.


The church grows - May 2005

2005 found us expanding our outreach, our small groups and our children's work. King's had seen considerable growth with many people joining the church. Small groups were proving to be as vital a part of our church life as they had been in the beginning. We continued to run Alpha in our homes and to pray in small groups and in regular weeks of prayer for Christchurch, for New Zealand and for our family of churches in the Pacific Rim.

Throughout the life of King's Church we have had regular weekends away either with the Newfrontiers churches in Auckland or Wellington or on our own. These are exciting times of worship, teaching and fun with friends. These weekends have built us together more and more and have led to exciting encounters with God in a really relaxed environment.


King's Church Weekend at Wainui - November 2006

Having used Madras Street to its maximum capacity a search began to find new and larger premises.  After a lot of prayer King's began talking to the Salvation Army about a property of theirs in Cranford Street, just 2 kms from the city centre.  King's moved into the building in April 2008 and renamed it the Cranford Centre.  The Centre was an excellent facility, with room for growth and opportunities to be engaged with the community including a Saturday market cafe, Musical Tots, Cranford's Got Talent, art exhibitions and many community users.  Most days the building had activites taking place.

 

After a year at the Cranford Centre the main hall became too small and a second Sunday meeting was started in May 2010 at 5.00 pm to make more room.

 

Sadly on 4th Smptember 2010 the Centre was seriously damaged in the Canterbury Eathquake.  The damage made the facilities unusable and there was a need to relocate immediately. 


The official opening of the Cranford Centre - November 2008

After the Earthquake the Principal and Trustees Westburn School, in Waimairi Road, Ilam, generously made their new hall available to us.  There is room for King's to grow again in lovely modern facilities.

 

King's has grown remarkably from the very early days, with many elements of the original vision starting to be fulfilled, but the vision has grown with the church and the next years look like they are going to be more exciting than those already gone!