MORAY PLACE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24450, 8 November 1940, Page 5

MORAY PLACE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

ANNUAL MEETING The annual meeting of the Moray Place Congregational Church was held in the Hanover Street Hall last evening, the minister, the Rev. J. H. Harris, presiding. The meeting was opened with a devotional service, after which Mi; Harris gave a brief survey of the year's! work. Mr Harris then read a cablegram from the church's senior deacon, Mr P. Barr, who is at present in Sydney. Mr Barr sent, greetings, and congratulated the church on its seventy-eighth anniversary. The annual reports of the various church organisations were then dealt with briefly by the secretary. Mr J. A. McCall, who referred to the number of young men from the congregation who had, yolun* teered for military service. The' church was to be congratulated, he said, on this contribution to the Empire's war effort Despite the depletion this had made in the ranks of the church's supporters, the various functions throughout the year had been very successful. Speaking to the balance sheet, the treasurer, Mr R. H. Henderson, said that there had been an increase in the amounts collected, and he hoped that this was a sign of more intense interest in the organisation. The report and balance sheet were then adopted. The retiring deacons were re-elected At the conclusion of the business an interesting address, calling on laymen to become militant churchmen, was delivered by Dr J. D. Salmond. Dr Salmond said 1 that to combat the growing indifference to Christianity the Christian congregations must become a vital fellowship, depending not only on ministers, but on laymen. The layman would have to cease to be a neutral. To-day the world was more used to action than words, and people I were looking io the church for " action." I In an army the most important man was the common soldier and in the church the layman. i Although he was very interested in youth work, Dr Salmond said that he had greater faith in the family as a force I for the good of the church and the I nation. He advocated the use of a " family pew " service. Everyone could practise discipleship through the home. Expressing concern at what he described as a moral " Fifth Column," Dr Salmond said he frowned on gambling, not because it was wasteful, but because it appealed to greedy motives. This was one of several expressions of paganism, which evangelism would have to combat in the modern community He had been impressed at the effectiveness of the propaganda methods expounded in ? book by Dr Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister, and much as he despised their aims he felt that the church could employ similar tactics for good. During the short programme which 1 followed, the Minister said that Mr Barr I had presented the church with 50 new j hvmn books. Items were given by Misses M. Green, A. Guy, and Mr J D. McKechI nie.