CANON GREEN’S MISSION

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26512, 29 August 1951, Page 6

CANON GREEN’S MISSION

CROWD OF 3200 IN CATHEDRAL

BIG QUEUE FORMS LONG BEFORE SERVICE

More than 3200 persons crowded into the Christchurch Cathedral last evening to hear an address by the noted English evangelist, Canon Bryan Green, Rector of Birmingham. The attendance was greater than on Sunday, when a congregation of more than 3000 was described as probably the greatest ever seen in the Cathedral.

People began to form a queue outside the Cathedral more than an hour before the beginning of the service. Some were carrying cushions and some collapsible chairs. By 7.30 p.m., 15 minutes before the service began, almost every seat was occupied, although many extra saats had been brought into the Cathedral yesterday. By the time toe service started, the long aisles on either Side of the Cathedral were so thickly packed with people sitting on kneeling pads that ushers had difficulty in making their way along them. Every vantage point in the building was in use. Members of the congregation occuSled the choir stalls, and sat on the oor in the centre of the choir.

Canon Green announced during the service that to-night and on subsequent evenings of his mission, in order to relieve pressure in the Cathe dral, the services would be relayed to the Civic Theatre, and if necessary also to Trinity Congregational Church, Worcester street. He said there would be sufficient accommodation for 4500 persons.

Before his address Canon Green replied to questions sent in by the pub-

Majdr E. R. Sansom, of the Salvation Army, read the lesson and led a prayer. Mr John Pryor led the singing of hymns before the service. Mr Bertram Allen was the pianist.