STUDENT CHRISTIANS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 182, 3 July 1936, Page 15

STUDENT CHRISTIANS.

AVORLD-WIDF MOVEMENT. The visit to Palmerston North, this week, of Rev. C. F. Andrews, one of the leaders of the Student Christian Movement, draws attention to a re- ! markable organisation whoso influence has spread to almost every corner of , tlio world. In August, 1895, a small group of | students representing national student I Christian movements in America, Great Britain, Germany, and Scandinavia, met m the ancient. Swedish castle of Wadstena, and laid tho foundations of the World’s Student Christian Federation. In this group was John R. Mott, then a recent graduate of Cornell University, and under his leadership as secretary and chairman for 33 years the influence of the federation was extended into every continent, and into almost every country where students are to be found. In July, 1896, 40 years ago. the Australian and New Zealand Student Christian movements , were formed.

The federation now embraces 21 fully affiliated national movements, and five “corresponding movements,” i.e., movements not yet sufficiently strong to he fully affiliated. About 300,000 students in 45 different countries are united in the federation. Its membership is open to students of all denominations, and of all the Christian “confessions.” All the movements have their distinctive features, but one of the most interesting is the Russian Student Christian Movement in Exile, with headquarters in Paris.