About 40 people turned up to the meeting in Coronation Hall, held by brothers Richard Macknight, a businessman and academic, and structural engineer Stephen Macknight.
The brothers are attempting to stop the demolition of the Highgate Presbyterian Church, and have offered to pay for a full engineering assessment of the building, an offer which has not been accepted.
Church minister Rev Geoffrey Skilton did not attend the meeting, but parishioner Tom Makinson strongly stressed the importance of knowing the work the church had already done in the six years prior to making the decision to demolish.
Fellow churchgoer of 50 years Tony Borick was more critical, saying he felt the decision was ''incomprehensible and unbelievable''.
The Dunedin City Council had a presence at the meeting. Heritage adviser Andrea Farminer spoke about her work restoring old churches in the UK, and city councillor Chris Staynes also spoke at the meeting and said the city and community had to ''step up'' when it came to preserving the church.
One possibility was moving the community hall into the church itself, and offering Coronation Hall for ''commercial use'', he said.
The church has threatened the Macknight brothers with legal action for ''spreading misinformation'' after they publicly questioned the reasons for the demolition.
Mr Skilton released a media statement before the meeting saying there had been ''years of thoughtful discussion'' around the decision to demolish.
An engineer had assessed the church, and the church was advised it posed a safety risk - and even if it was strengthened there were ''other issues'' with the building, he said.
''It's hard for the community to lose a building they are used to seeing standing for so long, it is very sad for us too. Because it is unsafe, we have not worshipped in the building for over two years ... We do not wish to knowingly place anyone at risk by worshipping or working in an unsafe environment.''
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Comments
As the Minister is aware, only an initial earthquake assessment of the church has been carried out, not a full detailed assessment. To say the building poses a safety risk and needs to be demolished on this basis is misrepresenting the information they have. A full detail analysis has been offered at not cost to the Church. On what grounds has this offer been declined?