Voluntary religious societies may be viewed either as powerful instruments for mobilising the Christian community, or as bodies which divert its energies from their proper function. They tend to be enclaves where distinctive values and activities are encouraged and confirmed. They have been marked by a greater degree of internationalism than the broader church, no doubt because their narrowness and specificity make their transfer outside their home context less problematic. Evangelical voluntary organisations provide good illustrations of these features. It is the intention of this paper to examine the establishment of two evangelical movements which appeared in the distinctive environment of New Zealand. One of them, the Inter-Varsity Fellowship, is a well-known force in twentieth-century voluntarism in the western world. The other ultimately became a branch of the Children’s Special Service Mission, now known as Scripture Union, but it began as a movement unique to New Zealand, as its original name, the Crusader Movement, suggests. The origins of these two evangelical voluntary societies in New Zealand give some indication of the potential and problems of new evangelical movements.