INDUCTION OF MINISTER

Evening Star, Issue 18047, 15 August 1922, Page 3

INDUCTION OF MINISTER

RAYE NSBOURNB PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. The Rev. R, L. Walker, M.A., of Auckland, was inducted minister of the church with the usual formalities at Ravensbourne Presbyterian Church last evening. The Rev. W. Fairlie Evans (Moderator of the Presbytery) presided, and the Rev. E. J. Tipler preached. The Rev. Professor Davies (moderator of the Ravensbourne and St. Leonards charge), in detailing the changes which led to the Rev. Mr Walker receiving the call to Ravensbourne, said that the parish had been without the services of a local pastor for nearly a year, as the late Rev. A. Gray had been ill tor about nine months previous to his death, and was not able to carry out his duties. The Rev. Mr Walker had just returned from Great Britain, and he felt sure that the congregation would 1 be very glad once more to have a local pastor in their midst. The Rev. Mr Evans then proceeded with the induction, and offered up prayer. Professor Davies, in congratulating the Rev. Mr Walker on being to the Ravensbourne charge, said that he felt that the new pastor would enter into his work ■with every hope of success. A number of names had been considered, but the congregation was unanimous in extending the call to Mr Walker. One great thing that a minister had to decide was how much labor to devote to spiritual and how much to practical work. One must balance the other, and if too much practical work was done it tended to oust the spiritual from its proper place in the church. However, the Presbytery was confident that the work in the parish would) be richly blessed. The Rev. F. M. Beattie, who preached from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter iii., verso 9: “For we are laborers together with God; ye are God’s husbandry 5 ye are God’s building ’’—exhorted the congregation to support their new minister in every way, as it was their part to share his work so that he could feel that those behind him had a real live interest in his ministry. The singing of ‘ Fight the Good Fight ’ and the pronouncing of the Benediction brought the service to a close.