WIRELESS AND THE CHURCHES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3137, 2 October 1922, Page 2

WIRELESS AND THE CHURCHES.

(By S. Paul Shipley.) Though no on© can ■foresee all the possibilities connected with wireless telephony, it seems tolerably certain that the Churches will not be slow to recognise its utility. "Broadcasting" should help to t-olve many problems and bring new life and interest into large numbers of parishes. There is the problem of the isolated church, for instance. In many parts of England it is only with the utmost difficulty that preachers can he found for the' Sunday services. There must be hundreds of cases every week where congregations disperse on Sunday without bearing a sermon. Wireless telephony will put an end tfi this state of things. For, as broadcasting will be allowed at any time on Sunday, what could be easier than for a discourse to be sent out by Dean Inge or Dr Jowett at sermon time-' Even in the well-attended churches, where there is never any difficulty in securing a. preacher, a wireless message might occasionally bo given to the congregation. , Thus the Archbishop of Canterbury could address all the congregations in his province at one and the same time if he wished to make a special appeal or to deliver a special message. The isolated parish will disappear, and it may be that "broadcasting" wi.ll help to bring about the reunion of the Churches. . , The Churches will also find wireless a useful ally during the week. Every evening of the week there are guildmeetings, services, lectures, concerts, or socials to be arranged. What could be handier than the installation of a good receiving set in lecture hall or parish room for these purposes? The week-night activities of the church, which are often so difficult to maintain, would be thereby greatly benefited. Interest in them would be stimulated. Groups of people would gather in the most isolated village schoolrooms for the purpose of "listening in." In places where it is difficult to arrange a lecture or a concert, wireless telephonv will be a veritable godsend. The long dull evenings will disappear when the little church or chapel installs a receiving set, and the villager will be as up-to-date as the townsman. Another remarkable possibility wireless holds out to Churches bears upon foreign missionary work. At present news of missionaries and their activities only reaches the churches through the medium of the post or the newspaper. But in the near future churches will bo able to hear the voices of their missionaries speaking to them from the foreign held !