CHURCH AND THE PEOPLE

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 54, 27 November 1928, Page 12

CHURCH AND THE PEOPLE

Sir— According to your report on Thursday, the Rev. W. J. Elliott, in his presidential address to the Auckland District Methodist Synod, complained that barely 47,000 out of 140,000 in that city attended church. . Admittedly our age is not as perfect as it might be-no age <tver• wil be—but if the people in these Christian lands are as evilly inclined as this and other reverend gentlemen frequently state they lire, then they sweepingly condemn- the efficacy of the Christian Church, after nearly 2000 years of teaching. Of course, his statements (as reported) are a gross exaggeration of real facts. Statements made by the Rev. H. E. Bellhouse at Dunedin on November -1 are a gross reflection on the inhabitants of this Dominion. The debacle suffered by prohibition was due to none of the reasons stated by the reverend gentleman, but due rather to the realisation that prohibition is basically wrong. It everything is to be prohibited because it is abused —including the free speech by mistaken ministers —then there would be nothing left, and even human life itself would soon cease to exist. Unless the Church mends its way, signs are not wanting that it will snon become a negligible factor in human life. It might begin by curing its myopia. It should cease to view vices through a magnifying and virtues through a reclucing glass, and endeavour to obtain _a sane view of human life as it really is. It should cease to regard people as god. less because they refuse to go to church, but instead should examine its many own deficiencies. , There is ample evidence to prove tnac these woeful Wullies of the ministry are sadly astray in their estimate. of human ‘nature. The ever-increasing keenness of the struggle for existence, the incessant demands for greater and still greater efficiency, leave but little time for vice, for vice and. efficiency are like fire and water in one respect they cannot exist together, Even the Church must become efficient or die. I certainly believe in the great truths of Protestant Christianity, but I don t go to church. Why should I? fl o listen to the puerilities of parsons? It is not the people but the churches that badly need a true revival. Christianity, not churchianity, is wanted —it lives in the hearts of the people, not. tiro ehm-ch»s.— I am, etc., J. BERRICK. Wellington, November 24.