A brand-new Documentary available to stream: https://www.shinetv.co.nz/videos/filled-with-the-spirit
What was the movement that shook up the Anglican Church in New Zealand in the 60s and 70s?
From the late 1950s onward, the Anglican Church in New Zealand underwent a period of change unlike anything in its earlier history. A movement of charismatic renewal – a baptism of the spirit – emerged quietly, then rapidly spread through parishes across the country. Worship styles shifted, congregations grew more expressive, and a sense of spiritual optimism took hold. For many Anglicans, it was a time of discovery and energy; for others, it raised difficult questions about authority, theology, and the future direction of the church.
Filled with the Spirit, a new feature documentary premiering on Shine TV on 8 September 2026, revisits this era with a level of detail and balance that has not yet been attempted. The film draws on archival footage and pairs it with interviews from key figures who either shaped or studied the movement. Their perspectives illuminate both the excitement of the renewal and the tensions that gradually developed as enthusiasm met institutional caution.
Featuring
Peter Lineham
Peter Lineham MNZM is one of New Zealand’s leading religious historians and Professor Emeritus at Massey University, author of numerous books on the history of Christianity and religion in Aotearoa — most notably Transplanted Christianity: Documents illustrating aspects of New Zealand Church History — and is a frequent media commentator, regularly called on by New Zealand’s major news outlets to explain and contextualise religious events and trends in public life.
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Don Battley
Don Battley is a retired Auckland-based Anglican priest who served for more than four decades, including as Vicar of five parishes, National Coordinator of Anglican Renewal Ministries NZ, and Archdeacon of Manukau. He holds a Doctor of Ministry from the San Francisco Theological Seminary and is the author of No Way Back, an insider’s account of the Charismatic Renewal in the New Zealand Anglican Church.
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Dale Williamson
Dale Williamson is a retired Anglican priest whose work focuses on the Charismatic Renewal within the New Zealand Anglican Church. She completed a PhD at the University of Otago, writing her thesis An Uncomfortable Engagement, a major study of the Charismatic Movement in the Anglican Church from 1965–85. Her research remains one of the most detailed examinations of the movement’s development, tensions, and impact on Anglican life in Aotearoa.
Inkling Productions 