COUNCIL OF THE CHRISTIAN CONGREGATIONS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20988, 29 March 1930, Page 19

COUNCIL OF THE CHRISTIAN CONGREGATIONS.

The first meeting of the Council of the Christian Congregations for this year, which was also the annual meeting of the council, was held on Thursday evening. The Rev. W. A. Hamblett, president, occupied the chair. The attendance was one of the largest since the inception of the organisation, ORDINARY BUSINESS.

It was decided to grant £lO to the Poppy Day Funds, and also to order a poppy wreath at a cost of two guineas for the Cenotaph on Anzac Day. In response to the request of the secretary of the Poppy Fund, it was decided to send his letter all the churches, with the endorsement of the council upon it. Arrangements for Anzac Day services were made, and details were left to a committee. The morning service at 10.30 will be held in Knox Church, if the church authorities agree, and the evening at 7.30 in First Church, with the same proviso, the offerings to be donated to the Poppy Day Fund. The Good Friday service at 10.30 a.m. is to be held in Moray Place Congregational Church, the offering to be given to any unemployment fund that might be established by the City Council.

As_ the outcome of a letter from Mr E. Botting, it was decided to make inquiries from all the churches participating in the mission in October last, conducted by the Rev, L. B. Fletcher, in order to ascertain what effect it had upon the churches and what results , were _ gathered into the churches and were being conserved. During the discussion a division of opinion as regards the possibility of getting at the essentials was manifested, but a number of members at once gave evidence of the excellent results which were apparent to them.

The Rev. J. Richards reported on the Bible, lessons which are given week by week in the State schools. Between 90 and 100 clergy and helpers are engaged in this work in the city and suburbs. Valuable help was being rendered by the students in the Presbyterian Women’s Training Institute. A committee was set up to look into the matter of preparing a new syllabus for this work. The matter of lapsed church people was reported on by Mr W, Crawford, and the procedure in trying to reach them through a canvass such as was tried itf“l926 was finally decided upon, the committee to deal with the matter being Messrs D. iodd (convener) and W. Crawford, the iv v ’ “•. Richards, and the deaconesses of the various churches. A Vigilance Committee was set up to look into the various practices and to report. The matter of desecration of the Lord’s Day was referred to the executive. The Rev. L. North becomes the convener of the Bible Lessons in Schools Committee.