The Fairlie cure extended up to Mount Cook Village and Davies realised that the Mackenzie Basin needed its own church; he first suggested this to parishioners in September 1933.

[4] The land for the building was given by the owners of Braemar Station, which is (mostly) located on the eastern shore of Lake Tekapo.

Esther Hope, a local artist from Grampians Station, provided sketch designs for the proposed church.

The Christchurch architect Richard Strachan De Renzy Harman (1896–1953) based his 1933/1934 design on Hope's drawings.

[2] The foundation stone for the church was laid by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, on 16 January 1935, in the presence of the bishop of Christchurch, Campbell West-Watson, and vicar Davies.

[2] The Church of the Good Shepherd is one of the most photographed items in New Zealand; photography within the building is no longer permitted as it interfered with worship.