CHRISTIAN REUNION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20890, 4 June 1931, Page 12

CHRISTIAN REUNION.

Sir.—When I was in Enplane! last year two things, among others, left a very deep impression on rny mind, which showed mo plainly that amid all the welter and confusion of world forces, the Spirit of God was giving strong evidence of His presence in a very remarkable way in leading the divergent thoughts and views of separated Christian communions (or, at least, of many of their members), into a new and rnoro comprehensive conception of Christian unity, in which the old prejudices and half truths and misunderstandings were lost in a fuller grasp of the meaning of the Gospel message. Those two things were, first, the privilege of being present for ten days at a "house party" at Oxford, to which 600 of us had * been invited by members of what is known as the Oxford group movement—a movement which unites into a common fellowship members of nearly every Christian communion, every school of thought, and Christians of every race in a fellowship of witness to the power of Christ to meet the world forces of materialism and secularism which threaten the stability and the very moral foundation upon which our civilisation rests. The movement is clearly a movement of the Spirit of God, and is no now gospel or new sect, but only a new method of bringing homo the power of tho Gospel to meet modern needs. During tho wiiolo ten days there was an entire absence of the controversial spirit, and, on the other band, a united desire to share anything of value that anyone had experienced so that others might enjoy the benefit. Tho movement, which has come to tho fore since the war, . is producing marvellous results, especially among (lie young men and women who are in search of reality, but often fail to find it in an atmosphere of controversy and religious strife. The other thing which impressed me in a similar direction and with the same conviction that it was undoubtedly the work of Ihe Spirit of God, was tho very valuable and far-reach-ing results of (he deliberations of the Lambeth Conference, which deserve the very careful and prayerful consideration of all Christian people. They are not only a call to unity ;is one of the most pressing and urgent needs of to-day, in face of the qrganised forces of the antiChristian world, but in the widest sense and'with the utmost charity they put forward -die only constructive basis that is before the Church, apart from the basis of absorption, which tho Roman Catholic Church demands as the price of unity The Lambeth scheme is evidently not yet fully understood, or it would not be criticised as it has been in quartors where the prejudices of tho past have obscured the new vision. It was a disappointment to read the letter of so valiant a Christian soldier as Dr J. J. North in your issue of' June 1. One can only conclude that he has not yet seen the new vision, or realised the needs of the hour in the Church and in the world I may say. without fear of contradiction, that an unbiassed study of the reports of Lambeth Conferences from ten-vear period to tenyear period, shows that the bishops have gone steadily forward in their united conception of a truly Catholic\Church in the real sense of the word," and have certainly not gone back on anything they said in the great and magnanimous appeal they made to all Christian people in 1920. F. W. CIIATTETITON. Rotorua, June 2.