‘New Vision, New Action’ Needed For Church

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30576, 20 October 1964, Page 18

‘New Vision, New Action’ Needed For Church

The Bishop of Christchurch (the Rt. Rev. A. K. Warren) told Synod yesterday that the church must be jet-propelled into new vision and new action.

“Within a matter of months, jet planes will regularly be arriving and leaving Christchurch Airport,” he said. “Wherever and whenever the jet age has overtaken a country, vast changes in the outlook and life of the people ensue.” The Bishop referred to the Toronto Document which stated, in part, that “we are aware that such a programme as we propose . . . will mean the death of much that is familiar about our churches now.

“It will mean radical change in our priorities—even leading us to share with others at least as much as we spend on ourselves. It means the death of old isolations and inherited attitudes. It means the willingness to forego many desirable things in every church.

“In substance what we are really asking for is the rebirth of the Anglican Communion, which means the

death of many old things, but —infinitely more—the birth of entirely new relationships. We regard this as the essential task before the churches of the Anglican Communion.” “Our General Synod,” the Bishop said, "asked that the Toronto programme be adopted and be studied at all levels in the church, and then asked the church of the province to pledge itself during the next five years to find £lOO,OOO extra to our present commitments, which means £20,000 a year additional to our overseas missionary giving, which was £93,000 last year.

“Of this £lOO,OOO, £25,000 is to be given to each of the Dioceses of Melanesia, Polynesia andthe Church Missionary Society. The other £25,000 will go to help one or more of the projects contained in the central directory projects for the Anglican Communion which is circulated by the executive officer, Bishop Stephen Payne; and this may give us involvement 'in work with which at present we have had no dealings so far. “I understand there was some opposition to the use of the words ‘pledges the church’. There are those who felt that the more appropriate word would be ‘urges’. But those who wished the General Synod to pledge the church

withstood the strong attack, and the pledge remains on record. “I am heartened indeed to have had from the executive report in which he says: ‘Nine churches or councils have so far been involved in a response. The Canadian Church has made the largest impact, in numbers and in total amount, closely followed by New Zealand’ I hope that we, in this Diocese, will be able not only to give our share of support to what was pledged by General Synod, but perhaps even to do more. “That the Toronto Message has already begun to affect this Diocese has been shown in the fact that St. John’s Parish, Latimer Square, gave their Centennial Fund of £2200 entirely away, in spite of the fact that there were many things they would like to have done with it for themselves. It has gone to provide a mobile evangelistic unit for the Diocese of Victoria Nyanza in Africa. The Parish of St. Mark’s, Opawa, also has given us a lead. The ladies’ guild had collected £5OO for the reredos for their Church. This was diverted overnight to Melanesia to help with the building of dormitories to make it possible to train brothers for the brotherhood started by Dr. Fox in the British Solomon Islands," said the Bishop.