FUTURE OF THE CHURCH

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10715, 8 October 1920, Page 5

FUTURE OF THE CHURCH

A PIONEERING STEP .iSTERS. AND MISSIONARIES JL-KOJil ABROAD. RETURN OF REV. GIBB. After an absence from New Zealand, of about nine months on. a special mission on behall or me. Presbyieriau Oliurch, the Rev. Dr. James Gitib,, who is in charge of St,. J onus' Presbyterian Church in Wellington, returned yesterday by tfco midday express, lAi-ving reached Auckland by the rv.-U'.o. Niagara from Vancouver. As convenor or the Church Extension Committee of tho. General Assembly, Dr. Uibb, accompanied by Mrs. Gibb, journeyed..V> England..in, order to endeavour to, secure, the- services,of twenty homo missionaries and twenty ministers for the furtherance .of tho wprk of tho church in ; the Dominion. Tho extent to which he.was- successful, and, several of his. impressions. gained abroad, were told: by the. Doctor last evening when interviewed, b.v a. representative of this journal,, "My mission to the, homeland wa3 to secure, if possible,. 40 men for. the work' of. tho , Presbyterian , Church, iv. this country,'' said ; the Doctoi. "It n-as desired that of these, 20 should bo lioine missionaries and 20 ministers. Wo have hud far too many, vacancies for some, years past, but apart from these, the hope was entertained that by means of. the new men we should bo in a" position to take a forward pioneering step, and to supply with the ordinances of the church ei number of., tho. districts 6f New., Zealand; that are now destitute of the.. ineans .of grace. I knew. I was facing a difficult task-, for the home churches are as hard-pushed for men as wo are ourselves. = I received but little encourage, ment from ,the,leaders of. the churche» r and downright opposition . in 6om<? quarters, but by keeping steadily at it and refusing to be. bqaten I got at last some S& men of whom twenty are home missionaries.. They are all of a good type isind will jiirovo a valulibio asset to. the church and the community.

THE UNION. "Utiion is Everywhere iri, the,, air,' he continued.-wheii asked -for. ali opinion upon the proposed union,.of. tho churches, "but I cannot sayi that much of it is on,the solid earth.. Everybody feels the uee.d r of clvurcb union, and schemes to/bring churches of different orders together aro legion. The vtobt pect, however, is riot i 66, hopefuL In. saying this I aini thinking., especially of the proposals for. a. union, of the. Anglican Church with the non 7Anglican communion);., As far .as the .Presbviorian Churches of the tTnited, Kingdom aro concerned, the proposals , are doomed, to failure.:, ThesW-churches, would nnito with tho Church.of England readily enough, but. it must be on a basis of absolute, equality., The suggestion mado by tho Anglican Bishop's. Conference ' that. Anglican ministers should bo. recognised ~ as Presbyterian ministers, by a. , simple; declaration that this standing; ,h,as heen granted them, while Presbyterian ministers, in order to obtain , A... similar standing in the Anglican Church must receive ordination at the hands of. a bishop, will bo turned;down by the. vast majority of the ministers'' and people of the Scottish churches. There are a few very high churchmen in the Church of Scotland who would no doubt stoop to this; but while the, world lasts, the churches of Scotland as a whole will utterly refuse, such terms. There is much more hope of union between the non-Anglican churches. In England there is, already a successful federation of these, and "a. scheme is under consideration aiming at drawing the bonds still closer. In Scotland, union hetween the Church of Scotland and tho United Free Church, is almost a certainty. I say ''almost" for there is a small, but Very resolute section of the United Free Church who are extremely dissatisfied with the -union- as pro-; posed. Tbov contend that when all is done the Church, of, Scotland will still be the Church of Scotland; established by the law of! the land, and: with this union thev sav thev will have nothing to do. Biit the feeling for. union is so strong that in all probability these protestors will be. o\ e.rcome, and inn few years' time the dividine, walls will be levelled, and tlm.Scottish people. with but. few exceptions, will be found within the pole of one groat national I church. CHURCHES BADLY HIT.

"Tho churches have been badly hit," slated Dr • Gibbs, referring to the. after effects of the, lvar. "Before the.war they were having a hard, fight with manifold tendencies . inimical to religion and moral ideals. . . Since the,war every such tendency has been intensified. I did nob meet a single minister in England, or Scotland, or Canada,, who is., not absolutely convinced that ' tho war has been ,a. curse to all, the things for which the churches stand. Dr Jowett, the great London preacher, said to me that ho had never seen, religion and tho church, at so low, an j ebb, but ho added that ho was con r ! yinced wo„.had.,reached the, bottom of the downward curvo, and thafc-.ek.bettei-day would ere long dawn. Personally I am more than ever convinced thai a, strong church is simply indispensable to a healthful and prosperous c6mmonf wealth. In Scotland—to tako tho country which apart from New, Zealand I know bestr-oirimo is . rampant, drunkenness is swiftly increasing, divorce and all that divorce usually means RroWs apace. That is the one Pldo of the shield; the other is that the churches, are; half empty—a vast number of them much' more than half empty. Happily, there are many who | are coming to seo tho, nexus between these thing's. , Neither Scotland nor the churches, of Scotland w ill down. Tho better day Dr Jowett predicts, is sure, to come, and as. far as. one could judge, from tho tone, and temper .of the General Assemblies, tho churches are determined that no effort. will bo spared to face and overcome tho difficulties and perils of tho situation. ENGLAND AN© AMERICA, In conclusion, tho Doctor gave tip. interesting expression of opinion upon tho xosults of tho Leatfuo of Nations. There was, unhappily, he said,, a- good deal of irritation irt the Britieb mind against America- Tho enthusiasm with, which tho entrance of tho United States into tho war was greeted had all evaporated and it is unfortunately quit© tho thing to expect that when America was mentioned that great country would bo spoken of in terms of disliko and even contempt. It seems that the Americans Wore boasting that they won tho war. No doubt they wero too much inclined *u talk big. but thero were Americana and Americans, just as there are Englishmen and Englishmen. But Who could doubt that tho great majority of the pooul© <*£ ihp United States

know perfectly well that tho part they played in tho great conflict vnis utterly insignificant as compared with tho colossal efforts of Britain. Misunderstandings and discords between Britain and Amorica wero most -earnestly to bo deprecateVi, and it behoved not only our political leaders and publicists to do their utmost to prorhoto friendly ifeelinge "between these two great peoples, but it was also necessary that every common man should do the same in (his own restricted sphere. The League of Nations Beemed td have died at its birth—a profound caJariiity—and yet tho.calamity Would riot, be so deplorable if Britain and America camo really to under- 1 stand and appreciate' each other. Their concord would surely mako ware to cea3o to tho end of tho earth.