THE INFLUENCE OF YOUTH.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20905, 12 July 1933, Page 10

THE INFLUENCE OF YOUTH.

ITS RISE IN THE WORLD. ADDRESS BY .MR J. 1.. HA). '"Although I have no intimate asi sociation with the Christian Enideavour Movement I do know of the i splendid work it has done and is 'doing in many countries of the ' world, ,: said Mr J. L. Hay, national president of the Young Men's Chris'.- ■ ian Association, in welcoming the . Rev. S. Varcoe Cocks, vice-president iof the World Christian Endeavour Union, at a rally of young people and members "i Christian En- , deavuur Societies held in the Dur- '■ ham Street Methodist Church last ievening. "That this movement has within j it an appeal to youth is indicated by ; its impressive growth in New Zea- ■ land,'' said Mr Hay. "A few years I ago it was in comparatively small ; numbers m the Dominion, but with ;the impetus given by the vigorous . leadersnip of the Rev. Lionel B. j Fletcher it lias grown rapidly until | to-day there are 330 societies with : 7400 members. In Canterbury alone : there are 94 societies with 1300 i members."' Thus New Zealand was taking her part in a great world I movement which had more than 15.000.000 members m 100,000 indij vidual societies. The Rise of youth. I "One oi me, most remarkable, icai tures of tnc post-war years nas oeen i tnc rise ana development oi movci men is ot youtn, .vir nay. "So potent have tney Decomc m tne political spnere that whole nations nave become revolutionised under the sway of their cmnusiasm and vision. Whenever leadership is forthcoming, welding togetner those turbulent youtn elements, impatient oi tradition as they are in their new-found freedom, yet cnarged with idealism, they have become an irresistible power. The historians of the future will record such revolutionary events as we have seen taking place in less than a decade in Russia, Italy, and Germany, as being largely the achievements of youth, determined rightly or wrongly to cast aside a system that denied them the right to self-expression." Similarly the post-war years had witnessed a great accession of strength in the youth movements that had the Christian ideal as their basis, said Mr Hay. The figures he had quoted about the Christian Endeavour Movement were typical of what was happening in other Christian youth movements. In few countries of the world were these movements more virile than in New Zealand. It was significant, for instance, that there were about 35,000 young men and women in the ranks of the Bible class movement connected with the Protestant churches of New Zealand, and this movement was only one among several.

Worth of the Individual. The strength of these Christian youth movements lay in the emphasis they placed on the supreme worth of the individual—first, in establishing a personal attachment and loyalty to Christ, and second, as a factor in building up what was commonly known as the Kingdom of God, which, reduced to everyday terms, was simply the reign of brotherhood, goodwill, and justice among men. It was this practical expression of Christianity, the active principle wrapped up in the idea of the Kingdom of God, that constituted its great dynamic force. The challenge of a world brought to the verge of collapse by materialism, greed, and un-Christian philosophy of life, found a ready response in the hearts of young people, who saw that the solution of the problems of a world that was adrift stood in vital relationship to the principles that Christ had laid down.

"Christianity is not a religion of the cloister." said Mr Hav. "It never was. The highways of the spirit led men and women into the world of affairs, there to demonstrate that Christianity has a vital and living message for individuals and naHons. Such a life calls for courage, devot on, and sacrifice. It thinks in terms of others rather than self —of stew- | ardship rather than material possessions."

The Appeal to Youth. It was this element of the heroic in Christainity that on the one hand found youth in increasing numbers willing to embark on the really adventurous life, and, on the other, was the reason why so many less courageous people were unwilling to aUy themselves to a cause that frankly speaking, made big demands. This, then, was the basic principle underlying all the activities of Christian youth movements, Mr Hay concluded, and a' ' ugh their methods of work and approach might differ, they had, in the final analysis, one co: .mon objective. In this great campaign the Christian Endeavour Mov aent was making its contribuiton and other youth movements welcomed it as an ally.