Mr Hanton said it was an instruction that had come from church headquarters in Wellington and was a directive sent to churches around the country highlighting earthquake risk and the need to have buildings reach a passable standard.
The Building Act 2004 requires buildings to be of a certain standard and a building is considered to be earthquake-prone if it has a strength that is 33 per cent or less of the seismic loading standards for new buildings. This structural strength is found after an initial evaluation procedure (IEP) by a structural engineer.
Mr Hanton said St Paul's scored below 20 per cent in its IEP.
"We advised the congregation last Sunday that from this weekend our services would have to move out of the church," he told the Chronicle.
He said the board would now be looking for a much more detailed assessment that would confirm what work was needed to bring the building up to expected standard.
"This is not just affecting our church or our churches around the city. We're talking churches all over the country and of all denominations," he said.
"We got the advice on August 7, so our decisions had to be made pretty promptly."
Mr Hanton said that after an initial assessment the board had decided to look at strengthening St Paul's to 33 per cent and that would have cost the parish about $600,000.
He said at that stage the board believed it had about 20 years to reach that standard but then came the bombshell from church hierarchy in Wellington requiring buildings to meet a 67 per cent standard and that the work had to be achieved by December 2014.
"They've effectively brought the timetable forward 20 years.
"We've also been told that there will be no funding from central office either and that each parish will have to find its own funding for the work.
"We've got some very hard decisions to be made and to be made very soon, and they could ultimately decide the future of this church" he said.
Mr Hanton said the the parish had access to some funding but how far that would go depended on the extent of strengthening work that would be required at St Paul's.
He said to get to a 33 per cent threshold would mean shoring up the spire and bell tower, tying the parapets back to the church roof, as well as creating a better connection between the roof and walls of the church.
But he said reaching a 67 per cent threshold would mean significant - and obvious - structural framing inside the church.
"This church has withstood a lot in its time and next year it's 100 years old.
"It has survived the Napier earthquake and in fact is showing very little sign of any deterioration," Mr Hanton said.
If that standard cannot be reached than a rationalisation of churches within the parish might have to be considered.