WELL-FILLED CHURCHES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20602, 28 June 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

WELL-FILLED CHURCHES.

EASTER CON6REGATIpN^. EXPERIENCE IN LONDON. MANY PEOPLE TURNED AW£Y. Was the attendance of exceptionally largo congre'gations at the. fchurfches of London on, Easter' Sunday an isolated phenomenon ? was being, asked in London at the end of. April. . - The increased attendances were attribii; ted by many experienced clergy, to the revival of religious thought created by the campaign of tho Christian Protest Movement against tho religious persecution in Russia. An article contributed by Dr. Kempthome. Bishop of Lichfield, to the May issue of tho Lichfield Diocesan Magazine warrants' the belief, however, ' that this stimulus was added to an alrealy steadily progressing tendency toward religious observance. " Sursiim Corda"<—Lift up yoiir hearts —is the title' of Dr. Keii^thome's arti'cle, and in.it'he reviews the .pessimistic beliefs which lid finds "abound. ' - -OA 1 .tho subject of the ndglfe'.ct of ; re)igious obsei-v' anco lio Writes' Undoubtedly many hold the curious opinion that they.ban maintain Christian living without any public wor-

ship and with very little private prayer. Moreover, there is a grave danger of a secularised Sunday.

" Yet it is. significant that when the chufches and chapels in a Lancashire town, at the invitation of the Mayor, arranged a simultaneous evangelistic campaign, a personal canvass revealed tho fact that 80 per cent, of tho families in the town claimed a connection with some religious body. • " Again, a friend of mine who has intimately known a large town of this diocese for nearly half a century assures me that the church attendance is better than it was forty years ago. Indeed, I am finding for myself that old age has its compensations; I havo heard the same croakings and groanings from the pessimists any time since the latter years, of Queen Victoria; and the pessimists have never been right." Dr. Kempthorne then refers to tho result of an appeal to his diocese for funds which in six months has yielded a sum conservatively estimated at £70,000. "God forbid that wo should be contented with things as they are," he adds, "or satisfied with ourselves! But the increased Care for missions, the greater use of the

Sacraments of the Church, the growing desire for unity, and—to speak of recent, experience—the splendidly loyal response to the call within our own diocese, absolutely forbid despondency. " Doubtless everyone of us have failed, but the Church has not failed, and is not failing now." '

Largo numbers of pcoplo had to bo turned away from St. Paul's Cathedral, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and other Loudon churches on Easter Sunday. A representative of tho Morning Post, who interviewed a number of parochial clergy, commented on tho unusual proportion of young men and women in tho congregations everywhere