CHURCH UNION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 67, Issue 244, 28 July 1947, Page 4

CHURCH UNION

Second Step in Sequence of Events METHODIST AND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES, (P.A.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The second step in the sequence of events which may have farreaching results in the unifying of, three Christian denominations took place at the Wellington Trinity Methodist Church last; night.

“The congregations of the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches have been negotiating for some time towards union throughout New Zealand,” said the Rev. W. Elliott, of St. James Presbyterian Church, Wellington South. “We have been making our local contribution toward the spirit of unity,” he said. 1 Mr Elliott explained that the first step was when the three began to exchange ministers at their morning meetings. The first of these was in May, and the next will be in November. Three combined evening services were then planned, and the first of these was held at Trinity Methodist Church last night. The tyewtown Congregational and St. James Presbyterian Churches were closed for the evening. The speaker was the Rev. K. A. Bell, and the combined choirs of the three churches sang under the baton of Mr Oscar Dyer. Next month’s combined service will be held at the Congregational Church, and the following month at St. James Presbyterian Church. “I do not think there have been such combined services in New Zealand before,” said Mr-EllioTt. “There have been combined services at Christmas and Easter, of course, but not an ordinary Sunday night service with other churches closed down.” I