U.S. Church Life “Still Gaining Impetus”

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30050, 7 February 1963, Page 2

U.S. Church Life “Still Gaining Impetus”

Any suggestion that the post-war religious revival in the United States is on the wane gets no support from an American Methodist bishop’s wife, Mrs Bess Owens Smith.

“On the contrary, I believe the United States is becoming more interested in church work; the people are deeply concerned with what religion means in their lives,” she said in Christchurch yesterday.

The growing, consolidating interest of women in church work in her husband’s vast diocese—Oklahoma, New Mexico and part of Texas—was “almost a miracle,” she added. And when women were active in church affairs their families were also involved.

By this Mrs Smith did not infer that men had to be led to church by their womenfolk. “Our men’s groups are very strong,” she said. “Churchgoing and church activities are a family affair. Church

life is still gaining impetus. “In my own church in Oklahoma City, which seats 1800, we have to bold two Sunday morning services now to accommodate the worshippers,” she said. Mrs Smith travels continually with her husband throughout his own area and

she is convinced that the people go to church because they want to, not because it is a popular pastime or because they feel it gives them status. Appealing Projects Aware of the needs of its flock, the church planned its programme accordingly. It held adult Sunday School classes and organised big projects designed to appeal to modern youth, such as Sunday night and after-church snacks. Mrs Smith, when travelling with her husband, addresses thousands of women a year

on topics ranging from marriage guidance to the duties of ministers’ wives.

“I try to interest women in the missionary work of the church, the opportunities in the field, the need for prayer and in giving monetary contributions,” she said. The American Indian population of Oklahoma, the biggest in any State of the Union, are held in high regard in the community, she said. Many were very rich and held high positions, such as presidents of banks and other professions, and lived in firie homes. “Though they are welcome anywhere, they still prefer to worship in their own churches, where some services are held in Indian dialects,” Mrs Smith said.

Accompanied by his wife, Bishop W. Angie Smith, who is president of the Board of Evangelism of the Methodist Church, is visiting the Australian and New Zealand Methodist Church as official visitor from the United States Council of Bishops.