JUNE CONVENTIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 130, 4 June 1930, Page 3

JUNE CONVENTIONS.

AUCKLAND BIBLE CLASSES.

PRESBYTERIAN AND BAPTIST

SESSIONS AT PAPATOETOE.

Two June conventions of Bible class members were held at Papatoetoe yesterday. Three hundred of the Ngaruawahia Easter campers attended a gathering in the Papatoetoe Town Hall, and 170 were present at the bi-annual rally of the South Auckland Presbyterian Bible class district, held in St. John's Church hall. In some cases the visitors had travelled long distances, and a large fleet of motor cars was in use. The Town Hall gathering was arranged to welcome back to New Zealand Mr. and Mrs. John Nicholson, missionaries from Nigeria, and to farewell Miss Molly Muir, of the Gisborne Presbyterian Church, and Miss Molly Jenkins, of the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle, who will leave this month for service in the Solomon Island mission field. Mr. Nicholson gave a stirring account of his five years' service in the Western .Sudan, and Miss Reeves Palmer, of the Egypt General Mission 1 , spoke of her experiences. The Rev. T. Thomson, of the Thames Baptist Church, who has been appointed to the mission field in Southern India, also addressed the convention.

A report showed that 30 missionaries had gone from -the convention during the past ten years, and that the mission fund amounted to £80. Mr. A. J. W. Sims stated that the new dining room, erected at Ngaruawahia camp at a cost of £126, had been paid for, and that £150 had been paid off the buildings at the ladies' camp. This year's Easter camp was the most successful the convention had held.

The Rev. A. S. Wilson, in an address in the evening, made reference to the fact that each Friday night since Easter had been observed at the Grange Road Baptist Church as a night of prayer, and said that over a hundred had remained throughout the night on each occasion. An address on "The Power of Pentecost" was delivered by Mr. Wilson.

The Presbyterian rally was attended by visitors from the lower Waikato and the districts immediately south of Auckland. The Rev. T. H. Roseveare, as president and also as minister of the Papatoetoe Presbyterian Church, welcomed the delegates, and the Rev. S. C. Francis, 8.A., of Clevedon, returned thanks. Papers by the Papatoetoe, Mangere, Papakura, Clevedon and Manurewa Bible classes of various chapters of Stanley Jones' book, "The Christ of Every Road," were contributed at a session during the morning. In the afternoon session the Rev. T. N. Cuttle, of the Somervell Memorial Church, gave an address on "The Call of Christ." Mr. Roseveare presided in the morning, and Mr. Francis in the afternoon. Those who assisted were the Rev. T. A. Speer, of Waiuku, Mr. J. Cumming, of Tuakau,'and Miss Agnes Dow, girls' secretary. At an athletic meeting in the afternoon a district shield for team competition was won by Howick. The members of the winning team were Misses Irvine (two), Mac Murray and Mclntyre, and Messrs. Mclntyre and Blank.