The Waikare Community Church is located within the small rural community of the same name, in the Bay of Islands District. It is stated in Maori Land Court Records that local Maori Pou Werekake (Wilcox) set aside land at Waikare on the ninth day of December 1910 as a reservation for a church site, listing the administrators as the Methodist Church of New Zealand. Waikare's initial enthusiasm for religion stemmed from the strong missionary presence of Reverend Charles Baker in the year 1840. On 10 April 1840, the missionary Reverend Charles Baker purchased land in the village of Waikare and moved there with his family. Early records of Charles Baker's journals describe some of the activities he used to participate in during 1840-1842. These are probably the earliest recorded incidents of the growing exposure and participation of the people of Waikare in religious activities. He was the first missionary to live amongst, and bring his family to the small and predominantly Maori community which strongly set the religious scene in Waikare. This is largely significant because of the subsequent interaction between Maori and Pakeha in this religious setting and engaged the local Maori community in the growing of fruit trees, farming practices and acted as role models of the Pakeha way of life. By 1912 Pou Werekake was the primary driving force behind the establishment of a Maori Church in the Waikare Community. It was noted that the Home Mission Executive granted the money for the roofing iron, sashes, doors, nails and paint, while the people of Waikare raised the money for the timber and labour. On 9 April 1913, approximately three years after the land was set aside, the newly constructed Waikare Church was officially opened and dedicated by the Superintendent of the Northern Maori Mission, T.G Brooke. The subsequent ordination of Pou Werekake in 1915 brought to fruition, through his practice of religious instruction, the seed of religious devotion and hard work that was sown by Reverend Charles Baker during his time in Waikare in the year 1840. Pou Werekake was the sole owner of the land before it was vested in the Methodist Church of New Zealand as a Maori reservation. The current shareholders of the block are descendants of Pou Werekake and the values instilled by him during his time as a Maori Minister remain strongly within the Waikare community. Pou Werekake was a practicing minister up until 1930 and died in 1936. Sister Atawhai Wilcox began her religious training in 1928 and after completion she finally returned home to Waikare in 1943 to work with the church. She took up the important legacy which was left by Pou, and local families recall her hard work in the whole district, maintaining a Methodist influence within the Waikare Community. She held fortnightly bible classes at the church throughout her years there and was responsible for bringing various ministers to Waikare Community Church to hold church services. She was awarded the Queen's Service Medal in 1984 in recognition for her services to the community. From 1960 onwards under the influence of Sister Atawhai and her brother in-law Hautika Henare Hoori, services at the church became more frequent. Services still continue on a regular basis. Sister Atawhai is the only sister recorded in the Waikare Community Church records and died in 1994. The church plays an integral part to the community. The Waikare Community Church has serviced the local community for 94 years. It is the only place of worship accessible within the immediate area. The next closest churches are located at Russell and Taumarere, an approximate 40 kilometre round trip. The cultural environment of Waikare Community Church is very strong and active in its weekly services with most of the karakia (prayer) and himene (hymns) conducted in Te Reo Māori. Many of the people buried at the adjacent urupa (burial ground) are whanau (family) members who have had a strong affiliation with the church dating back some 90 years. In July 2007 a freak storm ravaged Northland which saw the Waikare Community Church blown off its foundations. The building moved more than a metre, with the walls and floor separating so the upper part of the church is now leaning on an angle to the west. The building has been braced along the western wall with wooden poles. The regular church goers have formed a group called the Waikare Community Church Support Group (WCCSG), whose main objective is: 'To investigate ways and implement strategies to restore the church to its original state'. The WCCSG have commissioned an engineers report and quote along with architectural drawings and funding sources to investigate.

General Location: Waikare Community Church is located within the small rural community of Waikare. The hub of the Waikare community consists of this church, a Marae, a School and several houses, mostly of inter-related whanau. The church is situated 500m along the Waikare Valley Road off the main road (Waikare Road) between Kawakawa and Russell. Description of Site: The Waikare Community Church sits on a small rise overlooking the Waikare Valley Road to the north and west with a relatively level ground around the church building itself. The area immediately around the building includes the urupa (burial ground) with a number of headstones. The urupa contains a number of headstones belonging to members of the Werekake family and others closely associated with the church. The Waikare Community Church's other immediate neighbours are the Te Kura o Waikare school to the east, and a private residence to the south. The church grounds are completely fenced. There are no paths or driveway. External Appearance: The Waikare Community Church is a single-storey, small wooden church with an approximately 50 degree gabled roof, measuring 9.3m x 6.1m, orientated along a northwest-southeast axis. The exterior of the church is clad with kauri in the vertical board and batten style, and has a corrugated iron roof. Three identical pointed arch windows run along the southwest and northeast facades of the building, and a larger pointed arch window is centrally located on the southeast gable end. The window frames, door frame and roof are all painted a dark red, and the rest of the exterior is painted white. The roof is approximately 3.5m high at the centre, and is strengthened with two scissor trusses in addition to rafters with collar ties on a heavy top wall plate. At the northwest end of the church is a small vestibule entry with a lowered gable roof, and a six-paned pointed arch window on the northwest face. The vestibule window has been painted green, however the previous red colour is visible though deterioration of the upper coat. There are turned wood finials at all the gable end peaks of the building, which along with the pointed arch windows imply a simplified Gothic Revival aesthetic. The build is set on totara piles, and the vestibule is entered through a solid wooden door on the northeast side, accessible up two small wooden stairs. Internal Description: The church has a timber plank floor on 150 x 50 joists supported on four lines of bearers. The interior of the building is unlined, with no insulation, and the framing (which includes some cross-bracing) is visible. The lower two-thirds of the interior is painted pale blue and the upper third is painted white, however the ceiling and pitched gable end is unpainted. The interior layout includes a central aisle with five rows wooden bench seats on either side. The bench seats and altar are both painted the same dark red of the exterior of the window frames, although the benches have lost much of their colour.