CHURCH'S FUNCTION

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 125, 23 November 1944, Page 6

CHURCH'S FUNCTION

STRESSING TRUTHS OF LIFE

'The real function of the church is to be a witness to the truth," said the £r eVL W,-- A- Burlev > M.A., chairman of the Methodist District Synod, in his address to Synod yesterday. "I do not mean the mathematical or scientific truth, but the truth about life in its ultimate aspect. This would include evangelism in all its meanings, but while it includes evangelism, it does not exclude the application of the truth to ( the conditions of the day. "All Christians are agreed as to the former, but many are extremely sensitive as to the latter. We are told that we must enunciate principle, and leave it at that. No doubt that would be easy and effective. The Christian Order Movement is criticised on these grounds, but if it makes people think of the application of Christian principles it has done something nositive for the Dominion. It is no concern of the Church whether it grows popular by its work or not. Unlike politicians, we are not dependent on the vote of the people, but we are responsible to God.

An example of the unpopularity of our message is the truth that no life is lived to the utmost without selfdiscipline. Pleasure-loving people who are out to have a good time do not relish that. When we condemn greed and exalt unselfishness, when we condemn excessive profits and state that service to the people should be the true motive of our work, we are out of step with the age. The Church does not exist merely to protest—she has to show men positively what life can be individually and in the community, bhe is herself the answer to a problem that so far no politician has been able to solve. We live in an age which exalts the State and the community "The world is moving towards what the politicians call Socialism. In the past the individual was prominent. Every man was for himself. But to hold the balance easy between the rights of the individual and the State is not easy. And no State has yet done so. For the State must not rob the individual of his inalienable rightsnor must the individual forget his full obligations to the State. The Church stands unalterably for the true value of man. He is an end in himself, and not merely a means to an end. He is not a pawn to be moved about at the will of another. Personality is sacred, the primary and victorious element of this universe. Christianity has taken up the cudgels for personality, for its Divine origin, spiritual nature, and its infinite worth."