MINISTER LEAVES CHURCH

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25552, 21 July 1948, Page 3

MINISTER LEAVES CHURCH

DIFFERENCES WITH PRESBYTERY ANNOUNCEMENT AT DANNEVIRKE (P.A.) DANNEVIRKE, July 20. The Rev. R. B. Spence, who has been in charge of Knox Church, Dannevirke, for some years, is leaving the church to enter business at Mangere, near Auckland. *He announced this at a social gathering last evening given him by friends. Mr Spence, who in recent weeks has not occupied the pulpit at Knox Church, said he would probably return to Christian work at a later date. “I have had a hard decision to make, but I am discontented with the Presbyterian Church,” said Mr Spence. He alleged that the Hawke’s Bay presbytery had become moribund, and that he and his former assistant had been sacrificed for public opinion. Mr Spence said he retained faith in his fellow men and considered that if the dispute, which had caused him to leave the church stimulated Christian interest, whether in the Presbyterian or in another church, it would be for the benefit of the Christian way of life.

Mr Spence was presented with a substantial gift of money from the gathering. which comprised representatives of the Salvation Army, the Orange Lodge, the Methodist Church, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and town and country representatives of the Presbytertan Church. No statement has been made by the presbytery or the church authorities as to the nature of the differences between the minister and the congregation.