CHURCH GOES TO PEOPLE

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 May 1931, Page 10

CHURCH GOES TO PEOPLE

MODERN FRIARS’ SERVICES.

Since people will not go to tlie Church, the Church is going to the people, says a London newspaper. During the next few months the Church of England is to conduct an evangelistic campaign to attract the attention of thousands in England who never attend ordinary service. Informal open-air services are being held in beauty spots frequented by Sunday motorists, by roadsides, on the beaches of the popular resorts, and almost everywhere where crowds are to be found. Highways and by- x ways aro to be visited by clergy apd layworkers. Manv clei-gymen, with the approval of the’bishops’* are introducing an atmosphere of “intimacy’ into ordinary church services on the lines popularised by ,the Rev. “Dick” Sheppard at St. and familiar to all wireless listeners. “Each incumbent is being left to adopt the methods suitable for local conditions,” an official at jQhurch House said recently. “ The vie.w of most of the clergy is that people cannot be got into the churches merely by condemning such amusements as cinemas, tennis and games that many enjoy on Sundays. Much more latitude ns now allowed in church services to meet local requirements.”