NEED FOR LEADERSHIP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21342, 17 November 1932, Page 15

NEED FOR LEADERSHIP

CHURCH'S OPPORTUNITY HOPEFUL SPIRITUAL SIGNS CHARGE TO METHODIST SYNOD The present-day need for greater leadership, which he said gave the church an opportunity to deliver a message of hope, was stressed by the Rev. E. D. Patchctt, chairman of the Auckland district, in his address to the Methodist Synod, which opened its general session yesterday in the Pitt Street Church. " Has the Church a clear and authentic message in tho present crisis?" asked Mr. Patchctt. " With the shaking of the foundations of mait's material security, there is evidence of a reassertion and release of his spiritual instincts. This is the most hopeful aspect of tho present crisis from the standpoint both of the world's substantial rehabilitation and of tho Church's opportunity. It is not a false instinct that has led many leaders of thought to express the conviction that the apparently insoluble problem which at present threatens to paralyse tho world is at Ilea;! a spiritual and psychological problem. It is the voice of a prophet mora than the voice of a statesman or financier that is needed to call the world out of its confusion and hopelessness." The need of God was being evidenced by many signs. There was, for instance, the spontaneous and gratifying interest shown in the united missions held in tho four chief cities of the Dominion during the past year. At present it was evident that tho people were only waiting for strong and wise leadership to renew their allegiance to God. "We may not welcome the extravagances which characterise faith-heal-ing missions, but we cannot be blind to the fact that they are symptomatic of a growing need and of a stretching out of helpless hands for spiritual as well as physical healing," continued Mr. Patchctt. " Surely one lesson for us is that the Church militant must be more militant." Another hopeful sign was the responsiveness of youth. There was abundant evidence that the youth of to-day was taking life seriously and facing its problems with spirit and resolution. A further hopeful sign was that the Church stood upon the threshold of a newera of humanitarian service. Because tho Church moved slowly that might be doubted. But even within living memory there had been a revolution in her understanding of the social implications of the Gospel. If the same progress was niado ill the future there would open up vast new areas of social enterprise and possibilities of Christian leadership. Tho Church leaders had readily collaborated with the Government and civic authorities in helping thoae who had suffered through unemployment, but even with the State taking over the major task of unemployment, there were still many social services that could best be rendered by the Church.