METHODIST MISSION.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 2743, 8 September 1923, Page 6

METHODIST MISSION.

“THE FACT OF CONVERSION.” Last night at Broad Street Methodist Church, a large congregation assembled in connection with the Mission, when the Rev. Harold T. Peat presided. The preacher was the Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt, who based his address on “The Fact of Conversion,” on the text, Acts 3, 19. The preacher said that “conversion” was one of the great, words of Christianity and he defined its relation to and difference from such words as repentance and regeneration. Conversion was a fact of experience, attested by millions of earth’s noblest souls. Its trophies were not fossils, dug from a dead past but warm, living, presentday facts. The preacher’s task was to win converts and the church’s work was to win the reversal of the wills of sinful men. To convert meant literally to reserve the direction of movement. It was that crisis in which man turned from sin to seek the Lord. Conversion was not something dene to passive men. It was their own act of turning to God by the free choice of the will. It was not the acceptance of an idea but the surrender of love and loyalty to a personal Lord. That act involved turning from all that diverted our service and reverence from God. No conversion was complete that did not bring a man (o God. The aim of conversion was to create a Christian character and to fashion a Christlike personality. Conversion was a power to shake and shape the world. The motive that turned men from the sorry post to the better future was the force of love. The preacher said that his text raised not only a problem to be discussed but a command to be obeyed. Its word was imperative and until that word was heeded there must gape a chasm of cleavage between man and God. After an appeal many renewed their vows of consecration and fresh decisions for Christian living were made. Miss Nellie Killick was the soloist. The mission will be continued every night next week in the Cuba Street Methodist Church when the Revs. H. T. Peat a.nd M. A. Rugby Pratt will discuss important religious questions. The Sunday services In connection with the mission for both churches are announced in our advertising columns.