CHURCHES OF CHRIST.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 478, 10 April 1909, Page 14

CHURCHES OF CHRIST.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE. BOMB ENCOURAGING REPORTS. The thirteenth annual conference of the Churches of Christ in the Middle District of New Zealand was commenced at the Church of Christ, Riddiford Street, Newtown, yesterday morning. The conference . was opened by a devotional meeting, after which the roll-call of delegates was read. The following is the list of delegates:— i Lower Moutere, Mr. C. Limracr; Lower : Hutt, Mr. A. Anderson; Nelson, Messrs. W. L. Jones, E. Jackson, and F. J. Phillips; : Petone, Messrs. W. Taylor and Murgatroyd; , Spring Grove, Messrs. E. Lewis, J. Griffith, and A. Knapp; Takaka, Mr. J. G. Price; Wai-iti, Mr. W. Wadsworth; Wangarrui, Messrs. H. Allen and H. Fagan; Wellington, Messrs. George Gray, A. Wil- ; liams, and J. J. Franklyn; Wellington South ' and falbirnie, Messrs. J. Bewley, D. Campbell, H. Hearle, and J. Owen; Pahiatua, Messrs. J. Griffith, J. R. Hay, and A. Thorn- '■• son; Palmerston, Mrs. T. G. Carter; Evahr' gelists, Messrs. D. M. M'Crackett and \V. , 5. More. Mr. D. Campbell, of the local church, gave a cordial welcome to the delegates. , Presidential Address. The president of the conference (Mr. ■ James T. Hunter, of Wellington), then de- ; Evered his presidential address, in the 1 course of which he pointed out that in the 1 district represented by the conference there ' were nine preachers engaged., and that the ] visible result of iho year's work was 71 i additions to the churches by faith and bap- I tism. The president foreshadowed the time when the evangelfeation work now being carried on by the three district conferences : in New Zealand would: bo attended to'by ono ! general conference. The special feature of | the president's address was tho reference i which he made to the fact that this year the body known as the Disciples of Christ throughout the world celebrate their cen- i tennial. It was ono hundred years sinco • the movement with which they were idon- ■ tffied, for tho restoration of th 3 primitive | Christianity, was started by Thomas Camp- ; bell, and carried on by his sen Alexander, in Pittsburg, U.S.A. Thomas Campbell, a Presbyterian minister in Scotland, , left his native home for- America, ' where he gave effect to ■ the' ; thoughts that had been influencing him for ; a long. time, and left the Presbyterian ■ Church to preach with freedom what he con- , oeived to be primitive Christianity. He ; then inaugurated the movement which they ', ; were endeavouring to carry on, by preaching " the Gospel in all the simplicity with which : it was presented to the people by Christ and j His Apostles at the inception of the Chris-' tian religion. This Gospel, being free.from ; the traditions of men, and presented to the ; people as it was in the early days of Chris- ; tianity, had proved so powerful that progress ] had been made at a rate unheard of previ- j ously in connection with religions "move; „■ menis. Although their people had been"' * preaching the primifcivo Gospel for only one • hundred years, there were now throughout ' fee world 1,500,000 commnnicants. This' did not mean that half that number were infante, for they all represented believers who • had been baptised. This rate of progress was very encouraging, and they should thank Sod fox it, and be very hopeful for tie future. General Business. K was decided to send -greetings to the other conferences sitting at Oamaru, Auckland, and Sydney,' and to the Centennial Conference to he held at Pittsburg, U.S.A., in October, when 50,000 delegates are expected to meet together to celebrate tho centenary. The conference then considered the position of the Home Mission stations of Pahiatua, Nelson, and Palmerston North. Reports on these were received from their representatives at the conference. The reports were all of an encouraging nature. ■ *.r.-~'„'"-;.;-.'.; The delegates lunched together in the schoolroom, where the ladies of the Church bad spread an excellent repast. In the afternoon, the secretary read the report of a- • committee set up at the General Conference at Auckland at New Year, to consider the advisableness of establishing a separate journal for the New Zealand churches, which now contribute to the Australian journal. Consideration was then given to a model trust deed for the Church's property in the Dominion. Centennial Aims. The conference essay, on "Centennial' Aims," was road by Mr. D. M. M'Crackett; evangelist of the Church at Petone. After showing how great events were best memorialised by Iking monuments, Mr. M'Crackett urged tiiat the best celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the most rmearkable movement of modern times would bo to give fresh impetus to the movement and push forward with all their power tho great cause, which had for its object restoration, unification, and regeneration. The essayist quoted from an editorial of the "Wall Street Journal," New York, the following striking summary of the present religious situation:— ' "If there has been a decline in religious faith, that fact alters the basic conditions of civilisation,- becomes a factor in the market, changes the standards, and affects the value of things that are bought and sold, and concerns the immediate interest of those who never had such a faith, almost as much as it does the lives of those who have had the faith and lost it. There aro certainly on the surface, many signs of such a decline. Perhaps, if it were possible to probe deeply mto the subject, it might be found that taitn still abounds, but is no longer expressed in the old way. But we art obl>edto accept the surface indications. -These'' include, a falling off in church attendance: the abandonment of the family worship ; the giving over of Sunday, -more and more >o pleasure and labour; tho separation of rei flpous from secular education, under the stern demands of non-sectarianism j the growing up of a generation uninstructed as our fathers were in tho study of the Biblethe secuknsatwii of a portion of tho church itself, and its inability in a large way to gam the confidence of the labouring people. L +I ? r V ea11 ? s « ns of decay of religious faith, then indeed there is no more important problem befofe'.'us than thafof either discovering some adequate substitute for faith, or to take immediate steps to check a development that has' within It the 3f 7,1 n £ tloUa -' The supreme need of the hour is not elastic currency o' sounder banking, or bettor protection against panic or bigger navies, or more equitabfc fenffs, but a revival of ■return, to a morality which reooSTl a wnrKh' 21011 ' , and life that OT - and ™ rldng ih ™* ofl more tht T" ™ n , as s r M ,r fl " ™>™ l™p of matter jut. M Orackett then urged that the timo d&J? TwT>, S were then aiscussetl.—fhat tho Church, deally confA™ a Soho ° l in whWi the principles n-H 19 - Tu B<3om of GoA are tonght; thatac Bibb is tho text book of thil schooll and rts chief source of information; and that in studying the Church as an educational' inrtrtmtion, specml. attention must bo paid B;w„ t "}! Pr ? Vem^ t md of the Biblejchool fhese points woro well developed and many of the delegate ex _ pressed their appreciation of tho essay. Homo Mission Rally. A home mission rally was hold in tho owning, Bro. J. T. Hunter presiding A series of short speeches, each leadine up to the next, were delivered as follow:The Church foretold Bro. D. M. M'Crackett; the Church established, Bro. W. D More : the Church in Apostacy, Bro. J. G. Price! , the uharch restored,, Bro. J. J. Frankiyn and the Church triumphant, Bro. L ' J Jones. ' * Several anthems were eung with much spirit by the choir, and several solos and recitations were given. The following programme is set down for to-day:—Devotional meeting, led by Bro. E Le.vis, 9 a.m.; business meeting, 9.30 a.m. • election of executive committee. 2 p.m.; port from foreign mission committee, 3 p'.m. ; essay by Miss Richards, and discussion, 7.30 p.m.; remit from general conference on Biblo school work, to follow esfay. The conference will conclude on. Monday