LORD'S PRAYER

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 93, 21 April 1939, Page 8

LORD'S PRAYER

CHILDREN DO NOT KNOW IT .

TESTS BY MINISTER

A test he had carried out among school children which showed that only a small proportion were able to recite the Lord's Prayer in full was referred to by the vicar of Kelburn, the Rev. Gordon M. McKenzie, when speaking at the annual meeting of parishioners of St. Michael and All Angels' Church last night on the consequences of neglect of Sunday worship.

"I take a period of Scripture instruction in two day schools every week," said Mr. McKenzie. "I have been appalled at the ignorance of present-day children of the simplest matters in connection with the Christian faith. It is only fair to add that such ignorance is not confined to children. "Recently I made a simple test in connection with the Lord's Prayer, and the result is a challenge to every professing Christian. The test was conducted among the children of Standard VI, the senior class, the average age of the children being 12 or 13. In our local Kelburn School, the result was a surprise, although I had expected a sad revelation. Out of 33 children only six knew the Lord's Prayer in full. Spelling mistakes were overlooked, but in spite of that only 18 per cent, of children of an average age of 12 or 13 knew the Lord's Prayer. And that in a professing Christian country! A similar test conducted in a private school revealed that onlyi 27; percent; tot' the^pupils iknew'-iEJ""