CHURCH UNION.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20308, 6 August 1931, Page 13

CHURCH UNION.

♦ EFFECTS IN CANADA. A GENERAL GAIN IN STRENGTH. The results of the union of the Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregational Churches in Canada, under the name of the United Church of Canada, were outlined by the .Rev. Dr. P. B. Thornton, for 17 years minister at St. Paul's Church, Winnipeg, in tlie course of an interview last evening. Dr. Thornton remarked that his visit to New Zealand was purely* by way of friendship and goodwill, and was in no way connected with propaganda work for Church union. "I am an enthusiastic supporter of Church union," he said, "and 1 believe that the joining together of these three great Protestant Churches is on# of the greatest events in tho history of Christendom since tho Protestant Reformation. Each Church has brought to tho Union its own traditions ana heritage, and each has supported and augmented the others. To the Congregational passion for liberty has been added the Methodist evangelical fervour, and the Presbyterian devotion to truth and principle. Support Given tho Union. "All the Methodist congregations joined in the Union, practically all the Congregationalists, and 83 per cent, of tho Presbyterian congregations, , or 70 per cent, of the membership. There is still a surviving Presbyterian Church in Canada. The United Church is still adding to its formation, for progress is being made with other negotiating bodies for union. " The Unified Church to do more than the three component Churches were able to do as individuals/This applies to all phases of the work, from tho honie mission field, where independent congregations in one locality are joined | with consequent gains in strength and : savings in the cost of working, to the I central organisation and foreign mission j

work. Thero has been also a great spiritual advance." A notablo difference between youth work in Canada and New Zealand, said Dr. Thornton, was that in tho northern Dominion there were more mid-vveek meetings, which took the form of Bible study and not of mere social activity! One of. the most encouraging features ho had met in New Zealand had been tho fine typo of young people. The challenging times were compelling the young people of the world to face the facts and to think of moro serious matters. A New Zealand bookseller had told him that young people were reading more economics, biography, and 6tudies of international problems than ever before. He had been impressed by the number of young people in tho churches, and the fine work being done by the Bible Class movements of tho various denominations. Common Interests. As New Zealand and Canada belonged to the same family, and were both young countries, with many of their problems similar, they could be of great help to each other. They should be encouraged by each other's success, and warned by their failures. He did jiot thinK,however, 1 that they knew each other well enough. There was need of a new world spirit of understanding. Dr. Thornton, who has been commissioned by the United Church of Canada to visit its foreign mission fields in India, China, Japan, and Korea, has already visited Australia, and has tour- I ed most of New Zealand, speaking' an youth rallies. On Friday evening addresses a meeting of representatives of the Bible Class Union, at the Y.M. C.A.; on Sunday ho preaches at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in the morning, and at Durham street Methodist Church in the evening, while in the afternoon, at 3 o'clock he addresses a youth rally at the Civic Theatre. On Monday afternoon lie will attend a meeting of tho Ministers' Association, lie leaves for Sydney on his way to China, on August 14th;