METHODIST CHURCH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21404, 31 January 1933, Page 6

METHODIST CHURCH

t DOMINION CONFERENCE MEETING NEXT MONTH The annual conference of the Methodist Church, which will be attended by about 250 delegates, both laymen and ministers, from all over New Zealand, will be held in Auckland this year and will open on Thursday, February 16, in the Pitt Street Church. It is four years since the conference was held in Auckland.

At the official opening on the Thursday evening the retiring president, tho Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt, will preside, and will induct tho president-elect, the Rev. A.; J. Seatner, and the secretary of the conference, the J. H. Haslam. The most important feature of the evening will bo the delivery of the inaugural speech: by the president-elect. The vicepresidents will also be elected and inducted.

Although the official opening will take place on Thursday, an important youth demonstration will be held in the Scots llall the previous evening. Items will be given by various Sunday .schools and •Bible classes, and there will also be addresses. The examination committee will meet on the Wednesday morning, and other committees oil the Thursday morning, but the general business sessions of the conference will commence on Friday, February 17, and continue until the following Friday.

Among the special functions arranged will be a garden party in the Domain on the Saturday afternoon, a fellowship meeting on the Saturday evening at the Collegiate Church, a Bible class rally at the Pitt Street Church on the Sunday afternoon, an ordination service at Pitt Street Church on the Monday evening for probationers b/ting received into the ministry and a missionary tea and rally on the Thursday evening. Of special public interest will be the musical festival at the Town Hall on the Tuesday evening. Selections from the oratorio " Elijah" will be given by a combined choir under the baton of Professor Charles Moor and items will be given by leading Auckland artists. One of the principal duties of the conference will be the appointment of ministers to circuits for the ensuing year. All matters of church policy will be discussed and reports received on the various activities of the church. Among the general subjects of discussion at the conference "will be "Unemployment and the State," ' n Schools" question. The Jrubjic Questions Committee is also expected to bring down reports on the Sun- ■■ films and censorship questions and the temperance question.