OXFORD GROUP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22421, 18 May 1936, Page 12

OXFORD GROUP

jWOBK IN THE WOBLD "VITAL RELIGION REVIVED" ADDRESS FROM THE PULPIT " The Oxford Group is the most vital and significant spiritual movement in the modern world," said the Rev. P. Gladstone Hughes, in delivering to a large congregation in St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church last night, the first of a series of addresses on the Oxford Group. " For a great many years, we have been waiting on the revival of vital religion," Mr. Hughes said. " During the period of waiting, the need seems to have grown, and the needs of the modern world are tremendous. We all realise that the world to-day demands a new type of personal character, one to withstand the difficulties of modern civilisation. One naturally turned to the churches, and asked what was wrong, and found that a tremendous amount of the energy of the churches was being wasted in mere sectarianship. Emotional revivals, which wore heard of now and then, did not solve tho big problem. " Then one heard of the Oxford Grbup," Mr. Hughes continued. "One heard of lives being changed; of pagans becoming Christians; of people in all Walks of life becoming active missionaries for God. People said that every idea in the Oxford Group was already in the Church, yet there was a difference. I had to come to tho conclusion that ideas .for the majority of Christians were mere ideas, that Christian ideas for a very large proportion of us were museum curiosities.

" As I looked at tho Oxford Group I found that tho same ideas were in their hands high-explosive shells, demolishing the castles of evil and sweeping men away from the path of unrighteousness. These very same ideas were alive, and that makes all tho difference in the world. The reason is this. Wo h ave been keeping these ideas to ourselves, and because of this, they have lost their power even on ourselves. The reason why the churches are ineffective and the work of tho Kingdom of God is, not prospering is because wo are not sufficient]v bravo to testify.

" I feel that the Oxford Group movement will be a tremendous help to the cause of Christianity. If it can break down the unreasonable barriers between the churches, if it can give men the power to testify, and it is doing it. then I hope we shall welcome it with open arms; yield ourselves to it, and so help to bring about the realisation of the promises that 'all tho kingdoms Of the earth shall become the kingdoms of Our Lord.' "