VITAL WORK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24236, 1 March 1940, Page 12

VITAL WORK

CHURCH MISSIONS CALL FOR SUPPORT There was a large crowd of Methodists in the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall last night, when a missionary demonstration was held in connection with the Centennial Conference of the Methodist Church of New Zealand. Various aspects of the missionary work of the church were explained and commended by a number of speakers, chief among whom was Professor A. E. Albiston, presidentgeneral of the church in Australia. The singing of a large combined choir was a distinctive feature of the gathering, over which the president of the conference (the Rev. L. B. Neale) presided. During the evening a sum of £2l contributed by the ladies of the Mission Auxiliary was handed to the Rev. T. A. Pybus to swell the fund he has sponsored for the building of a memorial church at Otakou, scene of early missionary endeavour. Among those on the platform was Miss W. Watkin, granddaughter of the first missionary in the South Island, the Rev. James Watkin. “There are many things that still divide us,” said Mr Neale, in opening, “but we are all united and stand together to-night as Methodists in support of our great missionary work. I hope that in the coming days we shall make great advances, because I think the greatest call on our church to-day is to foster our missions. We were the first missionary church in this Island; let us jealously guard our great spiritual heritage.” Practical Support Needed The need for practical support of the church missions was emphasised by the Rev. H. J. Odell, assistant superintendent of the Home and Maori Missions Department. The extension of religious teaching, he said, was the primary object of the church, and was worthy of the best its members could give. “In the early days of missionary activity in this country there were a great many conversions among the Maoris,” said the Rev. Eruera Te Tuhi, senior Maori missionary. “ The pakeha came here, however, and he brought something that damned and damaged the life of the Maori people. There are people in this country who seem to think they have no responsibility towards the Maori, and that the Maoris have had sufficient chances to enable them to toe the mark with their pakeha brothers. That, however, is quite contrary to my own opinion; but I will say this, that the Maoris have done splendidly to come up to the standard of the twentieth century civilisation of the pakeha in the course of 100 years.” Mr Te Tuhi emphasised that the lead of the pakehas would be followed by the Maoris, and it depended on the type of lead given what the results would be. He outlined some of the work done by the Government and the church for the educational and social advancement of the Maoris, and emphasised the need for more workers in the field of Maori missions. Test of Maturity “Missions, particularly foreign missions, may be regarded as a fair test of spiritual maturity,” said Professor Alibston. who was applauded when he rose to speak. “ The Christian is one to whom missionary enterprise is beyond all question—an absolute necessity. You never find Methodism at its best except in the world that has no limits. When we come to the spiritual there can be no limits, so that in the field of missions if is difficult to tell where the home field ends and where the foreign begins.” Professor Albiston said he was a sympathiser with the theory of evolution. in that some of the people of the world had been endowed with advantages of race, culture, and environment which others did not enjoy. There were some, known as the primitive peoples, whose evolution seemed to have been arrested, but even they had certain beliefs and codes of conduct which could provide the foundation for fruitful missionary activity. It was the duty of the civilised people to do their best to compensate the unprivileged and to share with them the higher life which they had been denied. That was the spirit in, which mission work should be undertaken: it was a marvellous work, and one to which every Methodist should be devoted. Professor Albiston, who illustrated his address with many an apt anecdote, was heartily applauded.