CHURCH UNION

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 47, 25 February 1942, Page 7

CHURCH UNION

METHODIST DECISION

PLAN OUTLINED

The question of union between the Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregational Churches was considered by the Methodist Conference yesterday afternoon, and was strongly supported. The conference agreed that the question was primarily one for the adherents of the church and the proposed basis of union was referred to synods and quarterly meetings for consideration.

The report on the negotiations that had already taken place and the proposed basis of union was presented by the Rev. W. A. Burley, who said the Methodist committee had felt, after their meetings with the committees of the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches, that if all the members of the three churches could meet, church union would be a simple matter. Great interest had been shown in union right throughout New Zealand.

Discussing the basis of union, Mr. Burley said that none of the churches could expect the United Church to be wholly of one of the three. The basis of union arrived at provided for a parish with one minister in charge. A group of parishes would form a presbytery, the duty of which would be to supervise the work and deal with the problems of the parishes within its bounds. The presbytery would also ordain the minister, a departure from the Methodist system of ordination a£ the general conference. The presbyteries, in turn, would send forward repx'esentatives to the general conference which. would be the supreme coui't of, tfhe church, exercising -rule over all of its synods, presbyteries, sessions, and parishes.

Giving details of the proposed parish management, Mr, Burley said in the parish a session would be set up consisting of the minister or ministers of the parish and ordained elders. The j session would exercise rule in spiritual matters and would Represent the parish in the bighe^courts of the church. A board of management would be set up to administer the temporal affairs of the parish, and a parish council, con-1 sisting of representatives of the other two bodies, tfie Sunday schools, youth work and men's and women's organisations, would co-ordinate and review the activities of the different organisations of the parish. CALLS AND APPOINTMENTS. The itinerant nature of the ministry in the Methodist Church had been, met in part, Mr. Burley said. Where a parish was self-supporting it would have the right of "call" as in the Presbyterian Church, but where a parish had to rely on a grant the minister would be appointed for a stated term, and if that term was not extended he would be appointed elsewhere when it was ended. Urging the union of the three churches, Mr. Burley asked those who opposed union what they would lose by it. He contended that nothing would be lost. Disunion was hampering the work of the church, and the ] Methodists would take everything they had into the new church with them. He moved that the proposed basis of union should be sent to the synods of 1942 and the circuit quarterly meetings for their decisions. Seconding jTthe motion, the Rev. Rugby Pratt said that he was against precipitate action. They were initiating a movement that would bring as much, of Methodism as possible into the United Church. They were striving to bring' something t brighter and, better into' the United Church than could be found in any of the individual churches. He felt that they were, perhaps, hasty in bringing a basis of union before the supreme courts of the churches, but what was before them was incomplete. They were not asked to approve union. If the lower courts of the church approved the basis of union then the higher court could consider action. •

Other speakers strongly supported union, but said that the question should be considered by the congregations before the conference reached any decision.

The motion was carried on the voices without any dissent, and the president (the Rev. W. Walker) expressed appreciation of the way in which the,question'of union had been approached and handled. - \