Church Building

In 2006, under the sending and support of our mother church, Auckland Chinese Methodist Church, the Remuera Chinese Methodist Mission Centre began meeting in the Remuera area of Auckland, New Zealand. At that time, we worshipped bilingually in Chinese and English, renting St Paul’s Methodist Church in Remuera as our meeting venue. By God’s blessing and guidance, RCMMC gradually grew and was officially established as a church (Remuera Chinese Methodist Church) in 2009.

In 2012, to better serve and to share the gospel with immigrant families, the Lord moved and guided RCMC to step out in faith and change from one bilingual service to two services: a Chinese service (main sanctuary) and an English service (back hall), held at nearly the same time. This made RCMC the first church within the New Zealand Chinese Methodist Church to begin an English-language service. We thank God that in 2015 He led an English-speaking pastor (Rev J. Chin) to RCMC, enabling the Chinese service (main sanctuary) and the English service (back hall) to run fully concurrently.

By God’s blessing, RCMC has continued to grow—leading people to Christ and helping them to be rooted, to grow, and to live in the love and truth of the Lord Jesus. On Sundays we hold two worship services and four children’s Sunday School classes, and many other ministries also require the use of space. The facilities we rent at St Paul’s have, over time, come with increasing restrictions, so the Lord led us to begin the ministry of purchasing/building a church and to start planning and fundraising. Over the years, RCMC explored multiple opportunities to purchase, and even to tender for, different church venues. Although we had not yet seen God open the way fully, we learned many valuable lessons along the journey. In 2022, RCMC discovered St Oswald’s Church at our current location (formerly part of the Anglican Church in New Zealand); the site had been unused for more than a year. Under the Lord’s prompting and guidance, RCMC completed careful evaluations and preparations, and God moved our brothers and sisters to give with one heart as we took a step of faith toward purchasing a church home.

We thank God that, united in one heart, we were able to purchase this church successfully. As we purchased the property and planned how to use our new church home, the Lord continued to teach us four key lessons: to give with generosity and a kingdom perspective; to be faithful stewards of God’s resources and move forward in faith; to offer the Lord Jesus a gift of love; and to diligently preserve the unity of Christ’s body.

We thank God that, under His abundant grace and guidance, the expansion and renovation project was finally completed, and at the end of 2024 we officially moved in and began using our new church. With the change in location, Remuera Chinese Methodist Church (RCMC) also changed its name to Greenlane Chinese Methodist Church (GCMC). This entire ministry of purchasing and building has taught us precious lessons in faith, gratitude, and unity, and it has helped us to more deeply grasp God’s calling for us to build up the body of Christ and to proclaim the gospel.

Even now, we still need to continue fundraising, with the hope of repaying the remaining debt as soon as possible. This is also our responsibility and expression of gratitude toward the brothers and sisters who, in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, have supported the church through loans. We also thank the Fundraising Committee and the Executive Committee for working together in unity to develop a wonderful plan for the new year’s fundraising ministry. May God move every GCMC member, and every brother and sister in Christ who worships here, to participate in this building-fund ministry with a responsible, grateful, joyful, and God-loving heart.