Religious Practices 'Give Wrong Idea Of Church'

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30406, 3 April 1964, Page 7

Religious Practices 'Give Wrong Idea Of Church'

“The chief obstacle to the advance of Christianity is religion,” said Dr. Alan Walker, head of the Sydney Methodist Central Mission, in an interview in Christchurch. The present world had been given a wrong image of Christ's church, because of the ways religion was practised, he said.

“Clerical dress, the exclusive association of worship with special, so-called sacred buildings, and elaborate ritualism in the church have become barriers against the spread of the Christian gospel.”

Dr. Walker is in Christchurch to conduct a mission. “Meeting and Mating” will be the title of his address on Saturday evening.

Asked in an interview his opinion of young people, Dr. Walker said he thought they were pretty accurate mirrors of the society in which they lived, and that in the pres-ent-day confusion they had little help in bridging the gap between childhood and the adult world.

A total of 11,664 calls were handled during the first year the Sydney Central Mission’s telephone counselling centre, Dr. Walker said. Opened on March 26, last year, the centre had been strained to the limit by the demand, and another 50 telephone counsellors had recently been trained to assist with the work. Commenting on the establishment of a similar service in Christchurch. Dr. Walker said he was convinced that in the future similar services would be found in all cities of the size of Christchurch. There was now a big vacuum in the society, and people living in cities hardly knew the names of their nextdoor neighbours. The personal relationships with people such as the family physician were disappearing, and as the majority of people did not go to church and thus know a minister whom they could ask for help, people with grievous problems did not know where to turn. To ? be able to gain help at a moment’s notice over the

telephone was a great assistance. Dr. Walker has conducted missions throughout Australia, and has visited several other countries, including New Zealand in 1951, and South Africa last year. He will conduct a mission in Kansas, United States, in September, as well as fulfilling preaching engagements in London.