CHURCH PROBLEMS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 218, 25 June 1943, Page 3

CHURCH PROBLEMS

INVESTIGATION WANTED. WORLD-WIDE DECAY OF FAITH. NON-WORSHIPPING COMMUNITY. (N.Z. Press Association —Copyright.) (Rec. 9.50 a.m.) LONDON,June 24. The Church Assembly carried a resolution asking the Archbishop to appoint a commission to survey t)ie whole problem of modern evangelism, with special reference to spiritual needs and the prevailing intellectual outlook of the non-worsliipping community, and to report on organisation methods whereby such needs may most effectively be met.

The Bishop of Chelmsford, the Rt. Rev. H. A. Wilson, declared: “The decay of faith is a world-wide phenoenon. This is not merely a problem troubling England or the Church of England. Every Christian community in Britain and the world is experiencing the same abysmal situation. It is. a condition which is slowly and steadily taking shape, and assuming an increasingly alarming shape, over a long period. “On one hand we have the complete disappearance of Sunday. It has gone as the day of worship. We have collapse in public worship, an enormous increase in divorces, grave moral decline among multitudes of young people, an increase of venereal disease in the last few years of SO per cent and an enormous increase in juvenile crime. On the other hand there, are the splendid qualities of our people—generosity, gay courage, good temper, sympathy. I almost think that there are never more lovable people than the rank and file. Why are these people untouched by Christian influence? That is the bewildering and astonishing problem.” The Bishop added that the growth of juvenile crime was due to the war, pointing out that it was serious in 1936. “We know people do not go to church to-day, but there is a great deal of Christianity underlying it all —we are all very Christian at .heart,” lie said.

It was estimated that 10 per cent of the population were definitely attached to some Christian religiou, but he thought that too optimistic. Thirty per cent were kindly disposed to Christianity and put in an appearance at church on special occasions. Fifty per cent were , totally indifferent, and 10 per cent definitely opposed. He asked for the careful planning of the whole position by a competent body, adding, “I would like to go much farther and see set up in the Church of England a permanent headquarters staff.