Relationship Between Church And People

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30899, 4 November 1965, Page 8

Relationship Between Church And People

The gulf between church and people was widening and deepening, the new president of the New Zealand Methodist Church conference, the Rev. A. R. Witheford, of Ashburton, said last evening at his induction in the Durham street Methodist Church.

Mr Witheford said the gulf was part of the cumulative effect of assertions from all parts of the world that the church in a world of turbulence had become, in the main, an ineffectual force.

“We are made aware that during the last few decades the church has increasingly lacked relevance and decisiveness. In some areas a desperate rearguard action is being fought to keep churches open. In a world of staggering population increase, the membership of the church is static and is certainly not keeping pace with population trend .

“The cost of maintaining the Church is now exhorbitant, so that if we were to caclulate the cost of adding one member to the noli, the result would be disquieting in the extreme. There is desperate need for renewal, or some alternative drastic, revolutionary action.” Mr Withefbrd said, however, that there remained a certain vitality and resilience in the church. In spite of forceful and pertinent criticism, the Christian faith was more widely accepted than ever before.

Geographically Christianity bad a coverage more widespread than any other world religion, and was more deeply planted among more peoples than ever before.

“Nevertheless, if we need to be aware of escapism or retreat, we surely need to be equally aware of the dangers of lack-lustre conformity, of the feeling that we have arrived at solid maturity,” he said. “We may erect our buildings, we can string our fences about them, with parking areas for the worshippers, and serve coffee on occasions so that we can endure to the end. “HOLY CLUB” “So we can enclose our people in the church as a sort of holy club where the jargon and the cliches can be meaningless to one who happens to meander in from the street, where the acts and procedures and vestments can be wholly alien to those involved in meeting the harsh realities of life.”

Mr Witheford said within the fellowship of the church were those who were clambering over new fences and breaking new trails.

“I reflect that from the early hours of our Lord’s public ministry, tension and opposition were aroused be-

cause he dared to bring new insights to traditionally accepted ideas and behaviour. Whale sonje followed him gladly, others were horrified. “A destructive, negative reaction to those seeking to cross modern mountains in search of new and wider fields of service can surely bring sadness to our Lord’s heart.” FIERY OPPOSITION Mr Withef ord said the early Methodists had provoked fiery opposition, but they won through triumphantly. “I am not advocating a return to the horseriding era, but I am looking for some similar basic approach that will assist us to make a meaningful contribution to this day of crisis.” Mr Witheford said the day had not yet dawned for the abolition of the church’s institutional life. Buildings with worship and fellowship activities were still basic, but valid only 'if used as living centres of concern for the local and world community. “In the movement that is gathering momentum to discover new concepts through which the vitality of the gospel might be expressed, and new modes of communication, we need to be sure that the basic doctrines of the church are safeguarded,” he said. Faith, joy and glad assurance were previous spiritual possessions, but they were mis-handled unless they were used for the alleviation of the world’s pain and stresses. “We may need increasingly to tread with Jesus the path of agony in seeking reconciliations in a world of pauperism and illiteracy and hunger.”