EVIL-DOERS' CONVERSIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21160, 18 April 1932, Page 12

EVIL-DOERS' CONVERSIONS.

OXFORD "GROUP MOVEMENT." SPREAD OF BUCHMANISM. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT-] LONDON, March 1. Further evidence of tlie effect of the Oxford "Group Movement" was given at the Oxford Police Court a few days ago. Geoffrey Howard Sanson), aged 25, a Headington (Oxford) mechanic, confessed to (ho police that lie had done wilful damage to a window in a liouso at Hoadinglori. Tho magistrates bound him over for 12 months. Sansom was a friend of John Cook, who was recently before the Oxford Bench on a charge of housebreaking, and who reformed under the influence of the Oxford ''Group Movement. It was stated that Sansom and Cook had been associated in the house-breaking incident.

"I have handed my life over to God," declared Sansom in Court, "in (ho same way as the captain of a ship, on entering a river beset with shoals and sandbanks, hands over his entire charge to a pilot. It is Cook who did th:s for me. After ho had left mo ho changed in a way that was very startling. 1 did not know what tho change was, but with the assistance of a friend 1 was shown how to find out what he had which I had not g"t." Sansom then had approached tho "group ' in Oxford at whose meeting Cook had been converted, and had been advised to confess to the police. This movement, which was originated bv Dr. Frank Buchman, an American Lutheran minister, is said to be permeating tlie churches. There nro several "groups" that meet for prayer, guidance, and "sharing." "Sharing' is tho sharing of experiences, and at lirst these experiences were so intensely personal that much calumny was poured on tho movement. It was sa:d to make young students morbid, and besides, as women were admitted to tho group, such open confessions were "not desirable." Now, however, while there is ono "mixed" group, most of them arc composed of young men. Buchmnnism has as yet no set creed, hufc is feeling for literary expression of its aims and teachings. It. is a "higher life" movement, and is already being compared to the "Oxford" movement and tho John Wesley revival. It is spreading far beyond Oxford. There is a "group" in Edinburgh, and a strong section has established itself in South Africa.