Billy Graham May Not Come In 1967

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30827, 12 August 1965, Page 5

Billy Graham May Not Come In 1967

Member churches of the National Council of Churches will be asked to decide whether they wish the council to continue negotiations for a return visit to New Zealand by the American Evangelist, Billy Graham, in 1967.

This decision was reached after a fairly long debate at the recent meeting of the National Council of Churches. Churches must make their decision by November this year.

Negotiations for the visit had been under way for some time, said the Rev. D. M. Taylor, general secretary of the council, but no real progress has been made, as the Billy Graham Organisation required two years’ notice. If Billy Graham did come to New Zealand it would probably be at short notice, said Mr Taylor. A letter from Walter H. Smith of the Billy Graham Organisation received at the national headquarters of the National Council of Churches stated that their engagements this year had to be suddenly adjusted in order to accept several pressing invitations to Alabama. Mr Graham and his team felt that their schedule should be flexible enough to move into a particular area of need at short notice, said Mr Smith. For that reason they were accepting all future engagements with that proviso. The Rev. Roland Hart, a former minister of the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church, endorsed Mr Smith’s statement in a letter received by the National Council of Churches. The team did not wish to be committed to New Zealand in 1967 because Australia was anxious to have a Billy Graham Campaign in 1968, and it would seem that the team wished to visit bc '.h countries when it came south, said Mr Hart. In the same letter Mr Hart commended Billy Graham’s recent crusade in Alabama. He said that the main purpose of the crusade was to endeavour to heal some of the wounds inflicted on the community in recent days. “This is, of course, another indication of Billy Graham’s deep concern that the Gospel should touch the problems of society as well as the sins of individuals,” said Mr Hart.