VACANT CHARGES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 174, 25 July 1928, Page 8

VACANT CHARGES.

SELECTION OF MINISTERS.

PRESBYTERIAN DISCUSSION.

PLAN ADOPTED IN CANADA. A special report on the question of the tenure of office of ministers of the Presbyterian Church was presented at the annual meeting of . the Auckland Presbyterian Office-bearers' Association last evening. The report said that the selection of ministers was largely left in the hands of congregations, and that the filling of vacant charges was not always expeditiously dealt with. The problem had been solved by the United Church of Canada with a settlement committee, - the congregations having a right to call. The system had proved a success. The chairman (Mr. H. B. Burnett) said that the United Church of Canada was a combination of Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational, which had sought to combine the points that were best for each of the churches. In the supply and appointments committee they had in New Zealand the nucleus of a settlement committee. Under the Canadian system the pastoral relation had no time limit. Mr. A. J. Entrician said that the proposal was bordering on prelacy and the giving up of the system of Presbyterianism. The chairman said yiat it was not proposed to take away the right of people to choose, as every congregation would have its right of call. The report was adopted with minor amendments, and will be forwarded to the Presbytery, with the view of having it sent as a remit to the General Assembly.