UNITY OF CHURCHES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23486, 25 October 1939, Page 12

UNITY OF CHURCHES

ARCHBISHOP'S APPEAL QUESTIONS TO BE FACED Certain great questions had to bo faced by Christians before they achieved that deep sense of fellowship, comradeship and service to one another and to Chi'ist Avhich was represented by the ideal of Church unity, stat«d Archbishop Averill in an address last night to members of the Auckland Council of Christian Congregations. The first of these, ho said, was that people must arriA r e at a divine dissatisfaction with things as they were. Again, Christians should not think so much of what caused the differences betAveen them, but should get back to the truth of what was Goof's will. In this no one group should be giA'en the idea that another Avas infallible; there Avas a danger that the other person ! might be asked to make all the sacrifice; but the sacrifice should be jointly shared. It Avas obvious that in the division of Christians the spreading of the Gospel Avas' being hindered, and all Christians should bo prepared to sink their differences and find out what was God's Avill rather than devise some scheme of unity for God's approval. It Avas no use talking of unity, the Archbishop continued, unless there was a foundation of real love and charity. Uniformity and absorption were alike not intended by the ideal of unity, and lie felt that if God's will were studied ■in truth then a solution of the difficulty would be found.