TOC. H.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 1 August 1927, Page 9

TOC. H.

SPIRIT OF SERVICE. ORIGIN OUTLINED. “There are none of us here who do not deplore the great divorce of church and youth. Our half-empty churches and our overcrowded pleasure resorts on Sundays convince us against our will that the youth of to-day has no time for the church. . Despite this, the heart of youth to-day is still as sound as ever it was.” These were the words used in the Christchurch Cathedral on Sunday last by the Rev. P. G. Leonard, chaplain of the Toe H movement in Manchester, in giving an address on the aims and aspirations of the Toe H movement, which is the outcome of tiie Great War. The speaker described the founding of Talbot House in 1915, in the Ypres Salient, by Padre “Tubby” Clayton. There, he said, was to found an unusual combination, humour ami holiness. In the upper room of that battle-scarred house, over 100,000 took Communion before an altar which had formerly been a rough carpenter’s bench.

After the war was over, some ol those connected with Talbot House, which, in the parlance of Army signallers had become known as Toe H, felt' that only one war memorial was worth while —that of inculcating a new movement in the hearts of men. Some of these men gathered and founded the Toe H movement in the spirit of biotherliness, fellowship, and service. The resolution carried pledged them to think fairly, love widely, witness humbly and build bravely. Those were th? four points of the compass of the Toe H movement.

To-day, Toe II was just a band of young men of alt sorts and kinds, seeking to rebuild • the world on the principles of Christ. Toe H attempted to recapture for an unhappy world three forgotten stresses. The first, said Mr Leonard, was the fundamental brotherhood of man, which so many thought to be the equality of man. Christ did preach of the brotherhood of man, but He never preached the equality of man. All classes and creeds were wanted in the Toe H movement so that a beginning could be made to break down the barriers of mistrust which at present held men apart. The second forgotten stress was that of service. The preacher gave as an illustration Christ washing the feet of His disciples at the Last Supper. So Toe H demanded of its members that they he prepared to show that spirit of self-forgetfulness and thoughtfulness for others, not only in words, but also in deeds Thus, in the Toe H movement, there was what was known as a “job-master,” whose duties were to ferret out those who were too proud to ask for help, and to send out members to give assistance. It was tbe happy combination of humour and holiness that stamped the Toe H movement that formed the third stress. Why the youth of to-day was divorced from organised religion was because they thought it dull and stupid. Tt was. perhaps due to overzealousness on the part of the church workers and the desire of some to keep themselves unspotted from sin and sinners. Toe H members went out with cheerful faces that came from bnppv frames of mind in the knowledge that they went on their Father’s business. The preacher concluded his address M-ith an appeal for the prayers of the eonsz;relation for the Toe H movement, tvllicll liad spread over tlie -whole of the Empire and even further afield, ft was not formal prayers that they wanted, but it was real intercession.