New Church buildings and other facilities—to be dedicated this Saturday, 17 June—will provide worship, education and cultural opportunities to thousands of members and guests of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Hamilton and beyond.
The Church’s new David O. McKay Stake and Cultural Events Centre will be a house of worship as well as a gathering place for Latter-day Saints to organise community service efforts, take part in education and other self-reliance programs, play sports and enjoy other social and cultural activities.
The building is named after the Church’s ninth president, David O. McKay, who in 1958 dedicated the Latter-day Saints’ Hamilton New Zealand Temple, situated just a few hundred metres away from the new stake centre.
President McKay also dedicated the faith’s Church College of New Zealand (CCNZ) in 1958, in Temple View, which closed in 2009.
Also being dedicated this Saturday is the remodelled Wendell B. Mendenhall Library—an integral part of the former CCNZ campus.
The building includes the new Matthew Cowley Pacific Church History Centre, offices for the New Zealand Hamilton Mission, a distribution centre where people can purchase scriptures, hymnals and other church materials, a lecture theatre and self-reliance centre.
The Matthew Cowley Pacific Church History Centre features a reading room for visitors to study historical texts, and a museum with interactive exhibits and displays that will inform visitors about Latter-day Saints in New Zealand, Australia and the islands of the South Pacific over the last 177 years.
The centre also includes facilities for digitally preserving and storing historical documents relevant to the South Pacific.
Matthew Cowley was a young missionary, and, later in life, a mission president in New Zealand. He went on to serve in the Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Wendell B. Mendenhall led the Church’s building program in Temple View and worldwide in the 1950’s, working alongside hundreds of local volunteers—known as labour missionaries—to build the temple, Church College and other buildings.
The G.R. Biesinger Building (named after a construction supervisor) and Kai Hall, also in Temple View, have been re-modelled and will be dedicated on Saturday, along with Legacy Park, a new facility next to the stake centre that features a lake, walkways and a children’s playground.
A cultural celebration will be held at the David O. McKay Stake and Cultural Events Centre on Friday evening, the day before the dedication service.
There are a limited number of tickets available for the cultural celebration and dedication service. Hamilton Latter-day Saints who are interested in attending should speak to their local Church leaders. Others can view the proceedings online (from 6.30pm Friday 16 June NZST and 10am Saturday 17 June NZST) at pacific.lds.org or the pacific.lds.org Facebook page.
The Matthew Cowley Pacific Church History Centre will open to the public from 12 Noon this Saturday, until 8pm.
After the opening day, this Saturday, the centre’s reading area will be open from Tuesday to Friday each week, from 9am to 5pm. The museum will open from noon to 5pm on those days. On Saturdays, the reading area and museum will both be open from 10am to 4pm.
From Tuesdays to Sundays the museum will be open for families and groups, by appointment only, from 5pm to 8pm.
“Temple View is a very special place for many people,” Elder O. Vincent Haleck, president of the Pacific Area of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said. “Since the 1950’s people have come to the temple here to draw closer to God, learn the gospel of Jesus Christ, and be united as families for eternity.”
“The new David. O. McKay Stake and Cultural Events Centre, the renovated Wendell B. Mendenhall Library, and other new and refurbished facilities will be a blessing to the people of Temple View, and all others who will visit here for generations to come.”
