ELTHAM.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 18 February 1925, Page 8

ELTHAM.

KNOX CHURCH YOUTH WORKERS. (From Our Own Correspondent). A service unique in the annals of the Eltham Presbyterian Church was conducted on Sunday evening by the Rev. E. J .Orange, when the Sunday school, teachers and Bible Class workers of the district under control of the local church were re-dedicated to the work ql’ instructing the young in the teachings of Christ. There was a large congregation, and workers representing Eltham, Mangaiuingi, Mangatoki, and Matapu were present. During the service Air Orange administered to the youth workers present the vow of rededication to the work. Taking as his text Judges 13, 11: ••What shall be the manner ol the child, and what shall be his work." Mr Orange, in opening his sermon, remarked upon the willingness oi the staffs of the Sunday Schools and the Bible Classes to dedicate themselves to God and to this most importan Wwork. He went- on to stress the necessity and importance of the work, because upon its success depended the future of the Church, the community, and the nation —a future in the hands of the boys and girls of to-day. it should always be remembered that only the very best would satisfy God, and the attaining ot that very best meant unseen sacrifices of time and pleasures on the park of those engaged in the work. The question might he asked : “Y by do they do it k ” and the answer would be: "Not for the thanks they got, nor for the worldly gain they obtained, but lor the love oi the work, and because it is the work of training, moulding 'and fashioning the plastic young life in their hands into the church, the community and the nation to be, by the inculcation of right habits and the formation of right ideas.” ‘‘Great is your task. O teachers, and vour fruits shall abide for iaye,” said the speaker, and then went on to refer to the recognition by the leaders of tociav of the greatness of the work among the youth, and particularly to the Rt. Hon* W. F. Massey’s appreciative New Year message to the youth workers oi the Dominion. Before the close of his address, Mr Orange referred to the need for co-operation of parents and guardians in this all-important work and for practice and encouragement o. Christianity in all homes. “In ori children.” he said, “are bound up great and epoch-making possibilities for the future of our race. Our children are a sacred trust, given to, us so that we mnv bring them up in the paths o, rio-ht ” In closing, he likened the Sunday schools and Bible classes to a great factory, the teachers to the labourers therein, the children to’the raw material, and the parents to the shareholders. The community as a whole was vitallv interested in this development, and in his final appeal Mr Orange earnestly requested that because 1- of that great fact- parents and others would all dedicate themselves to God’s service for the sake of the young. He urged his hearers to remember that the teaching in the Sunday school but supplements' the teaching in the home, not supplants it.