Youth Group To Study Missionary Work

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29178, 12 April 1960, Page 2

Youth Group To Study Missionary Work

An Easter house party for about 140 visitors will be held in Christchurch this week-end. Organised by the League of Youth, it will take the form of organised Bible study, discussion groups and films, all aiming to explain the missionary work being done in New Zealand and overseas.

A daughter body of the New Zealand Church Missionary Society, the League of Youth was formed in 1948 by a small group of young people from the Church of England who were interested in missionary work. There are now six branches active in New Zealand and the full members are committed to God's service at home and abroad. These members, with associate members and delegates, will be officially welcomed at a tea on Thursday evening by the Bishop of Christchurch (the Rt. Rev. A. K. Warren). Mrs Warren will also be present The Rev. D. L. Aiken, who is home on furlough from Sind. West Pakistan, will show a short documentary film after the tea. Entitled "Witnesses in Sind,” the film depicts. the work of the mobile medical unit in the villages there.

On Good Friday Mr Aiken will begin a series of discussions on the Epistle to the Phillipians. The visitors will meet in groups for the discussions. A lecturer from a theological college in India will arrive in Christchurch on Good Friday and will address the house party in the late afternoon and evening. He is the Rev. Bruce Nicholls who will conduct an “information session on Central India,” assisted by Mrs Nicholls, and will later give a lecture entitled, "The Cross and the Christian.” On Saturday evening the Rev. R. F. N. Thompson will speak on “The Cross and the Sinner," and on Sunday delegates will present their own questions tor general discussion among the groups. These groups will again be led by Mr Aiken. The whole theme of the house party will be summarised in Mr Aiken’s talk on Sunday evening and the missionary challenge will be re-emphasised. A similar house party for North Island members of the League of Youth was held last month at Paekakariki. These week-ends are the main gatherings of the year for the league, members of which otherwise meet once a month in their own branches. They are organised primarily to acquaint those interested with the widespread activities of overseas missions and to encourage young people to consider the work for themselves.