BAPTIST COLLEGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 53, 4 March 1926, Page 16

BAPTIST COLLEGE.

DfAUGXTKATED LAST NIGHT. SPECIAL SERVICE HELD. The inauguration of a Baptist College in Auckland for the training of ministers and missionaries, was the occasion of a service in the Baptist Tabernacle > last evening, when iV-re was a large j attendance, the president of the New Zealand Baptist Union. Mr. F. X. Andrews presiding. Prior to the service, brief addresses of -welcome to the first principal of the college. Rev. J. J. North, of Christchurch, were made at tea, at which officer* of the Baptist Churches were present. A sheaf of letter? and telegrams, conveying- congratulations on the foundation of the college was read by the Rev. W. S. Rollings, honorary secretary of the college committee. He explained '• that the college would commence with nine students, one of whom was a young woman, and it was a matter for thanksgiving that six were to be trained for the foreign mission field, so that the college at its inception had a missionary outlook. Over forty years ago. when the Baptists of Auckland met for worship in a building in Wellesley Street, the plot of ground on which stood to-day the Tabernacle, and the Tabernacle Buildings, was planned to be the site not only of a church, but a theological college, said Mr. Andrew?. However, as the town grew, it became apparent that the upper portion of the site, on which the business block stood to-day, would not be suitable for a college, which would have to be- built further from the centre of the city. Many people believed that the Tabernacle must be a wealthy church, since it derived an income from the buildings, but the speaker was glad to say that it had been decided many years ago that that income should be used for purposes apart from the needs of the church, and he hoped that the resolution would never be broken. (Applause i. Till such time as the collepe building was erected, the Tabernacle would be Uf-ed as a place of study for the students. The Baptists of Wellington had hoped that the college would be built in the central city of New Zealand, but they had acquiesced when Auckland was suggested as the best place for it. said the Rev. F. E. Harry, of Wellington, who offered the congratxil&tions of the Baptists of that town. The speaker believed that Mr. North had been asked to perform the greatest task that they could ask of anyone. The ideals of Baptists were s-o high that the heights could only be trod by men with bleeding feet. They wanted yireachers of character, force and magnetic personality. There were always plenty of people to tell ministers what soft jobs they had. and plenty ever-ready to puncture a minister's pride. The Rev. J. J. North, who was received with applause, said that in a sense he was completing his education by coming to Auckland. Tracinp his career, he said he had arrived in Dunedin wearing knickerbockers. As a young minister he spent eight years in Christchurch. followed by eight exciting years in Wellington. Then he returned to the city of the plains for 21 years, and hot he had come to Auckland in the eventide of his life, as it were. He had been called by the denomination to do this work, and he realised what a lack there had been without a college for the training of ministers. In the days when dissenters were only tolerated by the Church of England, members of the Establishment had planned to keep dissenters, out of the universities, believing that by doing so they would kill their hope?, since no denomination could live without an educated ministry. Up till now, the Baptists of New Zealand had left the fashioning of their ministers to other people. They had imported some great men. and some not very great, at great expense, and the training of some young men had been left to a sister denomination. Educated ministers were needed, and no group of people in the world needed educated ministers more than the Baptist people. A Baptist church •without an adequate ministry would disintegrate to-morrow. Mr. North said that an anonymous donor had handed him bonds for £2000 for the college, and the speaker knew that the Baptist? would all give liberally of their money and prayers.. Eventually it was hoped to have a building which would serve as a residential college for about twelve students and their principal. At the tea which preceded the meeting, addresses of welcome to the Rev. Mr. North were given by the Rev. E. R. Harries (Presbyterian I. Mr. G. W. Smeeton I president of the Congregational Union), Mr. H. Field (Methodist Church, and Council of Christian Congregations), Mr. C. J. Rolls (Bible Training Institute). Mrs. H. M. Smeeton and the Rev. R. Turner (Bible Class Unions). The Rev. H. Knowles Kempton was welcomed on his return to Auckland Province as pastor of the church at Whangarei.