METHODIST CHURCH

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 3182, 6 January 1928, Page 3

METHODIST CHURCH

QUARTERLY MEETING OF OFFICIALS.

The Eev. G. P. Hunt presided over the quarterly meeting of office bearers of the Leeston Methodist circuit, held on Tuesday evening, at which there was a representative attendance. Sympathy was extended to Mrs A. A. Croy, of Brookside, in the death of her father. '

Mr G. Mumby was appointed lay representative to the annual conference which takes place in Christchurch during February. It was pointed out that, so far as Canterbury was concerned, February was an inconvenient month in which to hold the conference, being the busiest period of the harvest season, when very few farmers would be able to attend as lay representatives of the various circuits.

Mr R. Gr. Bishop, junior circuit steward, presented the financial statement for the quarter, which showed that in some1 parts of the circuit, notably at Leeston, there had been a falling off in collections and envelope contributions. The ordinary income was not nearly sufficient to meet the expenditure, and although a good sum had been raised by a special effort, there was still a debit balance. Mr Bishop said he thought it advisable that members of the church should be acquainted with the position in order that donations might be sent in to make up the deficiency in the allocations. With a little extra effort on the part of the church stewards there should be no great difficulty is showing a credit every quarter. The statement was adopted. The minister nominated Mr A. Tong for re-election as senior steward and Mr R. G. Bishop was unanimously reelected junior steward. Appreciative references to the work of both officials were made. It was reported that the matter of having the section of land adjoining the parsonage fenced was in the hands of a special committee. Part of the fencing material, stated Mr Tong, had been procured and the work would be put in hand shortly.

A further report stated that Mr L. W. Hewitt would be carrying out minor repairs to the parsonage shortly in view of the decision to have the building painted in the autumn. The chairman asked for suggestions as to the most suitable date to be ob served as harvest thanksgiving Sunday. Last year the special services had been held in the middle of March.

Members were of the opinion that even the end of March would be too early for the services this year, owing to the lateness of the harvest, and it was finally agreed, on the motion of Mr J. H. Skinner, that April 15 should be observed as harvest thanksgiving Sunday.

It was also unanimously decided that, in order to relieve the ladies of the circuit of much hard work which the holding of an after harvest fair would entail, members and adherents of all the churches in the circuit should be invited to make a cash thank-offer-ing, for which special envelopes would be sent out, to be returned on harvest festival Sunday.

The chairman reported having been in communication with the District Loan Board in Christchurch in regard to the proposal to dispose of the present parsonage in order to build a new one. The reply received was that the Board would be prepared to fully consider the matter when definite proposals were submitted.

The chairman reminded members that all contributions to the Foreign Mission Fund had to be in the hands of the general secretary before the end of next week.