HASTINGS BAPTIST CHURCH

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIX, Issue 64, 2 March 1929, Page 7

HASTINGS BAPTIST CHURCH

WELCOME TO REV. E. NICHOLLS

A LARGE ASSEMBLAGE. A public reception was accorded the Rev. Ernest Nicholls, the newly-ap-pointed pastor at-the Hastings Baptist Church, last evening, when a large number assembled in the church to extend their greetings to the new clergyman and his wife. Mr H. Farmilo presided, and the secretary (Mr F. E. Barley) read tele-, grams from the president (Mr S. Barry) the secretary (the Rev. M. P. W. Lascelles) of the Baptist Union, and Pastor Edridge, a former pastor in Hastings, and many others. Apologies for unavoidable absence were received from the Mayor (Mr Maddison). the Bev. Mortimer Jones, and the Rev. Speight. The chairman welcomed Mr Nicholls as a man endowed with the power to exalt, to guide and to preach the Gospel He assured him that the congregation would give him all the assistance they could.

Mr Simms said that they were living in a busy age when as little time as possible was given to the worship of God and a good deal was devoted to sports and pleasure. He deplored the manner in which the churches were neglected on Sundays for the sake of spending the day on the beaches. The church called for cooperation and self-sacrifice in the service of God.

The Rev. D. J. Shaw, in a welcoming address, spoke in a more hopeful spirit. People who said the churches were empty and that religion was going back, were the enemies of the Church, he said, because they should be courageous and hopeful, going from victory to victory in the spiritual advance. They certainly were in a state of great transition, in which every man should be glad to take part. The older he grew the less difference he saw in names and isms. They should abandon their difference of opinions on minor points and concentrate on what they held in common.. Hastings was not a sinful town, but there was plenty of work in it for all the ministers.

The Rev. W. J. Oxbrow welcomed Mr and Mrs Nicholls to as hahny and ns prosperous a town as there was in the Dominion. The people were optimistic, sympathetic and helpful, and would extend their new minister support. Adiutant Hawkes, on the part of the Salvation Army, extended greetings. Spiritually, he said, the Church was passing through a difficult age and it was necessary that thev be knit together in love and faith. Mr F. E. Barlev welcomed the minister and his wife, particularly mentioning the good work Mrs Nicholls had done amongst young folk and her guiding influence on them. REV. NICHOLLS’ REPLY. The Rev. Ernest Nicholls, who was received with applause, thanked the assemblage and the various speakers. Ministers, he said, were not perfect, and so they should help their minister instead of criticising and cutting him to pieces. Personally, he was going to be himself, and no one else, in the fight against the World, the Flesh ap'd the Devil, but he needed their co-operation. He was always open to suggestions from a person who was a Worker and took a practical interest in the Church. There were many religions, and each person belonged to that he believed in, and so he did not want in his church other disgruntled adherents of other churches. He was a Baptist himself by conviction and he wanted his congregation to be the same. There were many religions, but there was only one Gospel, and the Christian Church was the only organisation that had the power of the Gospel of salvation. What they wanted was the consciousness of forgiveness and not of selfrighteousness—love and pity, help and forgiveness for the erring, who are forgiven by God on their repentance. (Applause.) During the proceedings the choir, under Mr J. Bewley, sang two anthems. and vocal solos were contributed bv Mrs Evelyn Barley and Mr J Bewley. Miss McHutcheon played the accompaniments, and the meeting closed with the Benediction.