CHURCH UNION

Evening Star, Issue 21286, 15 December 1932, Page 2

CHURCH UNION

TIME HOT RIPE [Special to the ' Star.’] CHRISTCHURCH, December 14. Considerable discussion was provoked by a report on the vexed question of ‘ Church Union,’ read to the Christchurch Presbytery to-day by the Rev. T. W. Armour, on behalf of tbo Life and Work Committee of the Presbytery. The report stated that the Presbyterian Church had always boon part of the Catholic, or universal church, ami did not consider that the visible church should be one in orders or organisation. However, just as there had been occasions when loyalty and conviction called for protest and separation, and the church had been enriched by her experiences of secession and disruption, so there were times when the church was called upon to close up her ranks in the cause of efficiency and fellow-nip. The Presbytery was reluctantly convinced that the time was not ripe for an incorporating union between Congregational, Methodist, and Presbyterian Churches of New Zealand, but realised that there was need for closer co-operation between those denominations. Presbytery recommended that the Assembly instruct the committees to confer with the relative committees of other churches for the task of surveying the problems of the church in New Zealand, confirming fraternal relations between the denominations, and employing the resources of the churches in men and means to the best advantage. “ While we are in fellowship with every effort for co-operation, we are not yet prepared to take this very forward step to Church Union,” said the Moderator, the Rev. W. R. Hutchinson. After several members bad aired their views, it was decided to forward the report to the General Assembly as an overture from the Presbytery.