The Wayside Mission
The wayside mission was formed by Mr Rimmer some 50 years ago, he was
a key player in the formation of YFC in Auckland and the founder of the
Christian newspaper, "The Challenge Weekly". He was an outstanding
visionary of his day. He saw a need for the gospel to be preached, to
bring people to salvation and to make them disciples. Jean Taylor told
me how on Sunday afternoon young people would gather at Unity Hall in
Queen Street to worship the Lord and hear the gospel. It was there she
made her commitment to Jesus and received her call to missionary service.
Jean was a typical example of many who attended these meetings. Her account
of the events, the excitement and atmosphere is typical of any gathering
of Christians who come together by the Spirit to be impacted by the word
of God.
Missions
When I turned up at the Wayside Mission in the early part of 1973 I was
to see the final fruit of this work. At this time the meeting room was
a leased space above the McKenzie's store, in Queen Street. On the wall
of the meeting room, was a hardboard cut out map of the world. To this
map were fixed the photographs of missionaries. The exact number I can
not actually recall but it was over 30 and maybe 40. These were the missionaries
that the Wayside supported most of whom had been a part of or connected
with the Wayside at some time or another.
Intercessors and Evangelism
Serving in the Kitchen were the "tea ladies," the intercessors
of their day who had devoted many years of service to the Wayside Mission.
Mrs Wild, Mrs Roberts and Mrs Baxter are three that I remember by name.
These ladies and Mr Wild and Mr Baxter were the remnant of the Wayside
Mission and between them filled the offices in the mission of secretary
and treasurer. At the Sunday evening services were two old men (and later
just one) who would come into town in the afternoon, pick up a handful
of tracts, in various languages and go down to the wharf to witness to
the sailors. There once was a time when quite a crowd from the Wayside
would do this. I can also remember Ken Bassett out on the street before
the service handing out tracts and invitations to join the service up
stairs. This too showed a connection with the past when people from the
mission actively preached in the streets. If I recall correctly Ken and
Owen Wagener made contact with the Wayside when involved in street evangelism
with OAC. It is of interest to take the history of Encounter back to the
Wayside Mission. It is also interesting to draw some parallels between
what happened then with the 70's and with what is happening now. But it
should be understood that the tree, which had been the Wayside Mission,
was in effect cut down. In its place a new tree grew. There were only
a few who knew the old who also became part of the new.
The movement of the Spirit
In the early 70's God had begun a new thing. Never before had the church
seen the likes of it. The prominence of the Holy Spirit, who had for years
been forgotten by many in the church, began to assert His authority as
part of the Godhead. Pentecostal churches found new favour and traditional
churches split their congregations over the Holy Spirits gifts. This was
the Charismatic Movement, as it became known. The Wayside Mission formally
at the forefront of what God was doing had grown old. It was unable to
embrace the current trend to Pentecostalism. Nor was it attracting the
younger generation to see it into the future.