A SALUTARY CAMPAIGN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21279, 5 September 1932, Page 8

A SALUTARY CAMPAIGN

With the meeting in the Town Hall this evening, the Campaign of Christian Witness will reach the end of its encouraging effort to awaken in the community a deeper sense of spiritual needs and resources. Such an effort has justification at any time, for experience proves that the success of the Church, like that of every other enterprise for the good of man, has always a margin of* relative defeat and disappointment; but in days of stress, especially when mundane difficulties absorb compellingly so much attention, the service of religious appeal is particularly timely. As a matter of recognised fact, the way out of depression, whatever its nature, cannot be surely found without recourse to the verities at the heart of religion, and no real solution of industrial and commercial problems is possible unless the moral and spiritual factors are given due heed. To infuse a spirit of righteousness, joined to an ardour of self-forgetting kindliness, is fundamentally necessary to the smooth and serviceable running of the mechanism of business ; otherwise what should be a social boon is apt to degenerate into a most un-Chris-tian conflict, with sore results for the less selfish or less fortunate. Endeavouring to bring all back to this deep truth for life, the Church fulfils a large part of its mission. In this campaign, the various denominations have allured to a brighter world and led the way by waiving their own differences and combining in a common ministry to need. They have thus exemplified the. spirit of their own counsel. That alone should prove of great value ; those who worship together can be expected to honour fraternal principles in all relations. Added to this is the evident quickening of concern among themselves about spiritual realities. How far the campaign has made a beneficial impact on the large part of the community indifferent to religion cannot be easily gauged. It is well that the final public meeting of a general character is not meant to be the end of this enterprise, but rather the climax of preparation for a sustained endeavour to enjoy lessexclusive fellowship and do wider work. In this the Church will have the approval and aid of all folk of goodwill.