CHURCH MEETINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 187, 7 August 1914, Page 3

CHURCH MEETINGS.

ST. STEPHEN'S, PONSONBY. The annual meeting of St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church was held in the i] Church Hall on Wednesday evening, the ■ sth August, there being a large attendance, the Rev. Isaac Jolly presiding. Reports of tire different departments ] in the church work were presented, and i proved in a general way to be of a very i satisfactory nature. The total receipts for the year amounted to £1,146, against i £1,005 for the previous year; ordinary ! collections were £520, special collections i £172, while the balance-sheet carried forward to the next year ,is £96 odd. Dur- I ing the year new junior Bible Class • rooms hire been erected at a cost of ' about £420, and this had all been cleared off with the exception of about £75. This amount, together with a debt on the manse of £375, represented the total ; liabilities. Special donations amounting to £158 were collected for the Canton j Hospital, while missions in general were ( well supported. i Satisfactory reports- were also pre■•■•nted in connection with the Sunday . School, Church {Thoir, the various Bible Classes, Ladies' Guild, etc., the last mentioned body being responsible for raising g the handsome sum of £140 towards tire • building of the new Bible Class rooms. During the evening an election to fill certain vacancies in the Board of Management took place, with the following result:— Messrs. J. H. Creamer and 5. 8. Kenning (re-elected), and Messrs. ,1. ■ Gillies. A. F. Ellis, and Captain H. H. . Sergeant. Interesting addresses were given liy the chairman, and the Rev. CJ. B. In.slis, while some excellent musical items were rendered by the choir, with solos by Mrsrlnmcs McConnell and McKinney, Miss i Rhodes and Mr. Cameron. ST. DAVID'S PRESBYTERIAN. A Targe and representative meeting of St. David's congregation was hnld on Wednesday evening to receive the annual reports. The Rev. J, M. Saunders occu- ! pied the chair, and was supported by most of the office-bearers. The meeting opened by all joining in the National Anthem. ' S Mr. J. J. Ker eradt he Session report, ' which was of a comprehensive nature, • and included the reports of the various organisations of the church. The out- , standing event, it.-wiis stated, bad been ( the conference for the deepening of spiritual lifi> conducted by Revs. H. B. Gray, , of Diincdin, and E. R. Harries, of Wei- " ling'on. This had been the means of manifesting a greater zeal for the cause of Christ. Fifty-three names had been added to the roll during the year, and 23 had been disjoined, leaving the number at _ 470, of whom 53 were connected with . the Morningsidc branch of St. David's. I The work of the Sunday school had been fuithfully carried on by a s'aff of , 20 tnachprs, the number of'scholars on the roll being 245. A groat honour lmd been guinpd during the past your by the • school having won the championship ban- ' nor from all tlit' Presbyterian schools in the Dominion. The Bible in Schools movement was rpfenvd to, and as there was some difference of opinion it was decided that the whole matter should be loft an open ques- ■ tion. The managers' report was of an exceedingly satisfactory nature. The attend- ' ancee at church services had hern excellent, and the revenue from ordinary srr- . vices was a record for St. David's. The . amount received from collections was £C<i9 4/4, giving an average of £12 17/4$ i • per Sunday. £141 12/S was received for scat rents, anil mission receipts (including ] special donation to Ko Tong Mission, '] with which Dr. Kirk is associated) , amounted to £330 6/2. It hnd benn arranged to guarantee at least £50 a year to the new Social Service Association, to which the Rev. F. R. Jeffries had been j appointed. This association had been • evolved from the late City Mission, in connection with which Mr. Duncan Mac- ] pherson had done such faithful work for ■ many years. It had been decided to erect soon as practicable a new and up-to-date Sunday school in permanent material. This would probably cost about two to three thousand pounds, but would not lie undertaken until a large amount of the money was in hand or provided for. It was hoped as soon as the present war crisis was over to under- i take the preliminary arrangements. The following managers were elected? Messrs. Commons, Fordyce. Doughty, , Elliffo, GribWe, Finlay and Profrssor Owen. Mr. George Peace was re-elected •auditor. —— —