Rhema Broadcasting Group
Encyclopedia
Rhema Broadcasting Group is New Zealand
's largest Christian
media organisation, broadcasting four radio networks and a television station
, and publishing a quarterly devotional publication, from the Rhema Broadcasting Centre on Upper Queen Street in the central Auckland
suburb of Newton
. The group is named after its flagship radio network New Zealand's Rhema and is the founding organisation of United Christian Broadcasters
.
The group was started by Richard Berry. In the early 1960s, the Christchurch evangelical was inspired by Ecudorian Christian short-wave radio station HCJB
, and by the Biblical passages of Matthew 7:7, Matthew 19:26 and John 14:12, to develop a plan for Christian broadcasting in New Zealand. Private radio was neither a reality nor a possibility at the time, and many people were sceptical of his plan. However, with a friend from the Salvation Army
Berry started a studio in the garage of his Banbury Street home. This studio was initially called Banbury Recordings Incorporated and later became Gospel Radio Fellowship. It was a small evangelical ministry which believed in the value of prayer and recorded preaching.
In the mid 1960s the group started preparing to begin broadcasting. Radio Hauraki
had begun illegally broadcasting as a pirate station, and a government unable to enforce its regulations on the industry was forced to allow private broadcasting. Gospel Radio Fellowship used an old church building on Glenfield Crescent, Christchurch to set up new studios and a transmitter. The station failed to obtain a license in 1972 as Gospel Radio Fellowship, because the Broadcasting Authority believed there was not public interest in such a station, and that the station lacked professional staff and finance. The group changed their name to Radio Rhema and gained the endorsement of Pat Robertson
, but still failed to obtain a license in 1974.
The station did obtain licenses for a one day broadcast in Christchurch
in November 1974, Petone
in October 1975 and Christchurch
for 10 days over Christmas in 1976. It had funding to employ Berry and twenty other staff by 1974. At a hearing for a full license in 1978, after the three broadcasts, it had 7,235 members and 48,433 other supporters, as well as endorsement from churches and community groups. The application was successful and Radio Rhema, since relaunched as New Zealand's Rhema, was officially launched by then Prime Minister Rob Muldoon in November 1976. Muldoon described the evangelical faith that inspired Rhema was "a faith that moves mountains".
Rhema continued to develop during the 1980s. In 1980 the Christchurch station obtained an 18-hours-per-day license and had thirty five full time and ten part time workers. In 1982 it gained a license in Wellington and had property and six staff in Auckland.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
's largest Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
media organisation, broadcasting four radio networks and a television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
, and publishing a quarterly devotional publication, from the Rhema Broadcasting Centre on Upper Queen Street in the central Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
suburb of Newton
Newton, New Zealand
Newton is a small suburb of Auckland City, New Zealand, under the local governance of the Auckland City Council. It had a population of 837 in the 2001 census....
. The group is named after its flagship radio network New Zealand's Rhema and is the founding organisation of United Christian Broadcasters
United Christian Broadcasters
United Christian Broadcasters is an international Christian broadcasting and media group. Through affiliates in twenty five countries, it operates radio and television stations and publishes and broadcasts Bob Gass's free daily devotionals The Word for You Today and word4u2day...
.
The group was started by Richard Berry. In the early 1960s, the Christchurch evangelical was inspired by Ecudorian Christian short-wave radio station HCJB
HCJB
HCJB, "The Voice of the Andes", was the first radio station with daily programming in the South American country of Ecuador and the first Christian missionary radio station in the world. The station was founded in 1931 by Clarence W. Jones, Reuben Larson, and D. Stuart Clark.- History :Radio...
, and by the Biblical passages of Matthew 7:7, Matthew 19:26 and John 14:12, to develop a plan for Christian broadcasting in New Zealand. Private radio was neither a reality nor a possibility at the time, and many people were sceptical of his plan. However, with a friend from the Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
Berry started a studio in the garage of his Banbury Street home. This studio was initially called Banbury Recordings Incorporated and later became Gospel Radio Fellowship. It was a small evangelical ministry which believed in the value of prayer and recorded preaching.
In the mid 1960s the group started preparing to begin broadcasting. Radio Hauraki
Radio Hauraki
Radio Hauraki is a New Zealand radio network, specialising in album-oriented rock and classic rock. It was the first private commercial radio station of the modern broadcasting era in New Zealand and operated illegally from 1966-1970 to break the monopoly held by the government...
had begun illegally broadcasting as a pirate station, and a government unable to enforce its regulations on the industry was forced to allow private broadcasting. Gospel Radio Fellowship used an old church building on Glenfield Crescent, Christchurch to set up new studios and a transmitter. The station failed to obtain a license in 1972 as Gospel Radio Fellowship, because the Broadcasting Authority believed there was not public interest in such a station, and that the station lacked professional staff and finance. The group changed their name to Radio Rhema and gained the endorsement of Pat Robertson
Pat Robertson
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a media mogul, television evangelist, ex-Baptist minister and businessman who is politically aligned with the Christian Right in the United States....
, but still failed to obtain a license in 1974.
The station did obtain licenses for a one day broadcast in Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
in November 1974, Petone
Petone
Petone is a major suburb of the city of Lower Hutt in New Zealand. It is located at the southern end of the narrow triangular plain of the Hutt River, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour...
in October 1975 and Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
for 10 days over Christmas in 1976. It had funding to employ Berry and twenty other staff by 1974. At a hearing for a full license in 1978, after the three broadcasts, it had 7,235 members and 48,433 other supporters, as well as endorsement from churches and community groups. The application was successful and Radio Rhema, since relaunched as New Zealand's Rhema, was officially launched by then Prime Minister Rob Muldoon in November 1976. Muldoon described the evangelical faith that inspired Rhema was "a faith that moves mountains".
Rhema continued to develop during the 1980s. In 1980 the Christchurch station obtained an 18-hours-per-day license and had thirty five full time and ten part time workers. In 1982 it gained a license in Wellington and had property and six staff in Auckland.
Radio Networks
- New Zealand's Rhema
- Southern Star
- Life FM
- The WordThe Word (radio network)The Word is a New Zealand Christian radio network broadcasting continuous spoken Bible readings. It has been owned and operated in Auckland by Rhema Broadcasting Group since its formation in 2007...