Build for Eternity: A History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New Zealand

New Zealand was a stronghold for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the turn of the nineteenth century. There were nearly 5,000 members in the New Zealand Mission, making it the fourth-largest LDS mission in the world. It continues to have a large Church membership, ranking sixteenth in the proportion of Church members to the total population. Yet the history of the Church in New Zealand is not well known to historians. The publication in October 2023 of Build for Eternity corrects this circumstance. It analyzes the history of the Church in New Zealand from 1854 to 2022. Even more significantly, it is a history written by those who were born there or had significant experience there.Build for Eternity anthologizes the work of fifteen authors. Most of the authors are still active in academia. Other contributors are laypersons who provide an insider's perspectives. The anthology focuses mainly on the post-1958 Church. Marjorie Newton's award-winning Tiki and Temple: The Mormon Mission in New Zealand, 1854–1958, covered the Church's early years.Two narrative chapters summarize the LDS Church's history in New Zealand through 1958. It became known as a Maori church because Maori Saints comprised most local membership. This image only changed in the 1950s. A third narrative chapter reviews the Church's establishment of primary and secondary schools, including the Maori Agricultural College at Korongata. While only 500 students attended the college from 1913 to 1930, many became church leaders and pillars of society. A few even played for the All Blacks, a rugby team that represents New Zealand internationally in what is considered the country's national sport The agricultural college was a flagship for the Church in New Zealand and encouraged Maori to assimilate into American culture but had limited academic success. It ultimately closed after an earthquake weakened its buildings.Not all the volume's chapters focus on the early twentieth century; seven narrate the development of significant church programs after 1958. Chapter four covers the building program the Church began in Samoa and Tonga but soon expanded to New Zealand. It was the most extensive building program in the Church at that date, resulting in the construction of the Church College of New Zealand, the New Zealand Temple, and up to thirty chapels throughout the country. Its author, Wendy Biesinger-Thacker, is the daughter of George Biesinger, who directed the building program for a decade. Those of Maori, Pacific Island, and European descent achieved great success in a consecrated effort for food and housing and a meager wage of a dollar per week. Chapters five and six adopt similar perspectives. Michael Roberts, the immediate past president of the New Zealand Temple reviews the significance of the temple as the third temple built outside North America and the first in the southern hemisphere.A former principal of Church College, David Walmsley, authored a chapter on that institution. He explores the college's initially uneven success. While American teachers taught there for two decades, New Zealanders and some Australians eventually replaced them. The American teachers did not adapt to the New Zealand school system, resulting in a poor national exam pass rate. However, their engaged teaching style influenced many students. The American teachers persuaded youth to serve missions, pursue higher education, and succeed in their careers, a rare thing for New Zealand members previously. The school sponsored a great scope of activities outside academics including presentations by Maori cultural performing groups that toured the country and both boys’ and girls’ basketball teams, which seldom lost.Douglas J. Martin Jr., whose father was a general authority in New Zealand, focuses on Church administration and the creation of the first stake outside North America. Formed in 1958, the Auckland Stake became one of the largest in the Church with the highest numbers of sacrament meeting attendance, tithing, and home teaching. Between 1960 and 1970, membership grew from 2,400 to 10,000. Of particular interest are tables documenting the chronology of stake organization and the expansion and contraction of area administrative offices in the Pacific.In Chapter Nine, Mark Mendenhall, a professor of economics, propounds straightforward theses that the American leaders trained up the New Zealand leaders who leavened leadership skills throughout the Pacific Area. Chapter ten informs readers of church record keeping in New Zealand and the creation of the Matthew Cowley Pacific Church History Center, a premier Church history collection and facility outside of Salt Lake City. A chapter on LDS women in the Pacific written by Melanie Riwai-Couch, a professional educator, highlights insights often missing in traditional histories. It identifies tensions between the realities of many families, which require women to work, and the Church's emphasis on stay-at-home motherhood.In addition to narrative histories, there are three personal essays. One is a reminiscence of a former mission president in New Zealand, A Keith Thompson. It includes the previously untold story of Russian conversions in Christchurch during his service there. Two chapters highlight Maori and Samoan perspectives on the tension between traditional cultural identity and gospel culture. One narrates the creation of a more culturally sensitive church. For seventy years, New Zealand members gathered annually to not only hear from Church leaders but to dance, sing, and compete in sports. It required great effort to stage such an event for the thousands that attended. A second chapter, written by a second-generation Samoan couple, similarly focuses on the Samoan heritage of the Church.The volume concludes with three analytical chapters placing the New Zealand Church in a global context. Melissa Wei-Tsing Inoue, a prominent church historian highlights how New Zealand membership created an organizational structure then unequaled in the international Church that embraced a unique cultural tradition in the hui tau. The author succeeds in showing that New Zealand became an example of how the Church could flower outside of the United States.The final two chapters, written by professors who are long-term observers of the Church, deal with the challenges of remaining faithful in the face of social and political changes. Peter Lineham focuses on the diminished growth of the Church in an increasingly secular world. It also analyzes the church's slow response to the challenges presented by Indigenous movements for cultural sovereignty. The author uses New Zealand census statistics, which differ from Church membership statistics and provide greater understanding of societal trends. In the final chapter, Ian Barber notes the loss of members who have re-emphasized their cultural identity and regard Christianity as an aspect of colonialism. However, he lauds the Church's positive response, noting its creation of a Maori-speaking congregation and the revival of the hui tau.The book is well documented with extensive footnotes and references. It is a reference work, not necessarily designed to be read from cover to cover. Any chapter can be read independently of any other. Unlike some compilations of multiple authors, it has an index, providing pinpoint access to the plethora of information therein. It is richly illustrated, enhancing its appeal to a broad audience. While much will appeal to the faith-based reader, there is significant content for those not of the faith.To provide as much information as possible at an affordable price, it was published in a large format with a soft cover. Unfortunately, this makes it a little unwieldy for casual reading as it spreads outside of one's lap area with the pages flopping. It is easier to read when it is open on a tabletop. Also, the pages can be inadvertently separated from the binding. Regardless, it is a groundbreaking volume that needs to be widely available, which is a problem because of New Zealand's isolation from the United States, where most scholars of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints live. Despite its location and the relatively small Church population, New Zealand's significance to the international history of the Church is profound. A focal point of missionary success in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it has many firsts in the international arena as noted previously, including this volume as one of the most comprehensive histories, if not the most, of a single country.