BAPTIST CONFERENCE

Evening Post, Volume 91, Issue 91, 15 October 1923, Page 3

BAPTIST CONFERENCE

WOMEN'S MISSIONARY WORK.

The annual meeting of the Baptist Wo-1 men's Missionary Union was held on Friday, in the Baptist Schoolroom, Vivian street. Mrs. Rollings, president, being in the chair. Miss Gainsford, secretary, read the annual report, which showed satisfactory progress. There are now 54 senior and 5 junior branches, with a membership of 1056 seniors and 76 juniors. The sum of £1388 14s 7d had been raised during the year, Hamilton having raised the most with £100, and Thames, the highest sum per member, namely £5 15s Bd. The money is for the union's mission in East Bengal. The treasurer, Mrs. Collins, submitted the balance-sheet, which was satisfactory. The following officers -.vere elected for the e/isuing year:—President, Mrs. T. E. Toneycliffe; vice-presidents, Mrs. H. M. Smeaton (Auckland district), Miss Jessie Goze (Central district), Mrs. F. Harry (Wellington district), Mrs. A. S. Adams (Canterbury district), Mrs. H. H. Driver (Otago district). Miss Gainsford, Mrs. Charles Collins, and Mrs. C. S. Godber were re-elected secretary, treasurer, and auditor respectively. Mrs. Rollings was again appointed representative on the. administrative committee, with Mrs. Collins as deputy. A resolution of thanks to the auditor (Mrs. Godber) and to the retiring officers was passed. At the afternoon session the president, Mrs. Rollings, welcomed all those present, including representatives of the P.W.M.U., M.W.M.U., London Missionary Sociey, and the Church of Christ, the W.C.T.U., and other bodies interested in missionary work, all those ladies bringing greetings from their own societies. For her presidential address, Mrs. Rollings chose as her title, "The Womanhood of the Bible." There are some religions, she said, which hold womanhood cheap, and in some non-Christian lands woman is degraded to the level of the brute, but in. Christian countries more than ever before women are taking their full share in the world's work and progress. Yet the world m its recognition of the worth and capacity of women has lagged behind the iiiole. in the beginning woman was the last and the supremo work of the Creator. i. • l second a"d greater beginning, from which nations Teckon time, woman' was called by God into a sacred partnership ™™ bestowal °f the care of the Holy Lnild. This proclaims that woman's highest service to God has been rendered the world through motherhood. This was also recognised in the Old Testament. Moses, the greatest man in that book, owed all that he became to his lowly mother Jacobed, who first concealed him and then saved him by strategy. In the days of Eli, God looked to a woman, Hannah, who gave her boy Samuel to the second founding of Israel. But though the Bible gives highest honour to woman in her office of motherhood, it does not frown on her entry into other relations and activities. Miriam, the sister of Moses, was one of the first poetesgps. Later there came to Israel a dearth of manhood, and the nation took refuge under Deborah, who became, by common consent, the best man in Israel. So the Bible, thousands of years before popular government, showed woman as a prophet, a poet, and a judge. In the lives of two of Christ's foremost disciples was their mother Salome, women accompanied Jesus and His disciples on their journey, and ministered unto Him. Later we find a woman, Lydia, the first fruits of tho Gospel m Europe, and we havd Priscilla. a woman whi did great service to Paul, and gained a partnership in the first great foreign missionary enterprise of tho Church. Thus the Bible honours womanhood, and women, said Mrs. Rollings, should honour the Bible. The B.W.M.U. shares in the task of making the Bible known in India. Some claim that the first missionary was Jonah, but that honour falls to a woman. The little Hebrew maid, who won Naaman for the faith of the God of Israel, heads the list, and the first person to whom Christ gave a message after rising from the tomb was a woman, Mary Magdalene. Mrs. Takle, one of the union's mission-^ anes in India, spoke of the work there which she said must prosper in spite of discouragement. Missionaries in India feel there are many there who acknowledge the Gospel, though they may not testify. The reign of Christ in India must come, but it is felt that the Indian people must take a greater part. The political difficulties in India had helped to break down barriers of caste which have not been broken down by many years of teaching, said Mrs. Takle, and the rise of national consciousness is making a rise of consciousness in other directions. The speaker talked of Gandhi, who, though in gaol, is advocating the methods of peaco and is revered by the Indians as a god. It may be that out of these disturbances may come better things. During the recent crisis in India there was danger, and at one time it was thought necessary to send their daughtera away, but a message arrived from the authorities that they anticipated no danger. The speaker appealed to her audience for their prayers, that those Indians who have received the highest education and the Gospels may help to bring their own people to believe in Christ.

Mrs. Rollings then introduced the new president of the 8.W.M.U., Mrs. Toneycliffe, who recently visited India, and who had close connections with that country, her eißter having been one of the first missionaries to go there from the B.W.M.U.

Mrs. Toneycliffe thanked the members for the honour they had done her in electing her Dominion president. She spoke a few words on the missionary work in India, giving several instances of her work showing that the results, though they seem small, are really worth while. She told some personal reminiscences of her recent visit to the mission in India, and she begged every mdmber to give their whole energy in the cause and get more workers for the Baptist mission in Bengal.

Yesterday visiting ministers occupied all local Baptist pulpits, crowded congregations assembling. The new Baptist Church in Resolution street, Lyall Bay, was opened in the afternoon, representatives from all over the Dominion attending. The collection approached £100. To-night a public meeting will be held, "Our Young People" being the topic. This will be followed by an ordination service of three young men.