FIRST CHURCH PASTORATE

Otago Witness, Issue 3593, 23 January 1923, Page 58

FIRST CHURCH PASTORATE

REV. G. H. BALFOUR’S RESIGNATION. As liia medical adviser* have insisted on his having a prolonged rest this year, the Rev. G. H. Balfour intimated to the session clerk cf his church a week or 10 days ago his intention of handing in his resignation as minister of First Church to the Presbytery of Dunedin. It is with great regret that he has taken this step. As one of the elders said at the congregational meeting held a short time ago, the congregation has never been more loyal and united. But, as he has been advised that his future usefulness might depend on his having rest and change now after his 12 strenuous years in First Church, he felt that no other course was open. * The following statement was made by the Rev. G. 11. Balfour to his congregation in First Church at the evening service on Sunday;— “'1 he other day I intimated that I would make a statement to the congregation regarding the proposed resignation of my ministry in First Church. 1 have little to say except that 12 years of work here, covering the whole period of the war, have considerably drained the reserve force which is necessary in order to carry on efficiently the* work of a large church like this. “ Though I am better now than 1 have been for a year, the medical advice is that rest and change are necessary during the greater part of this year. And so, in view of the fact that I bad already been away so long last year, I felt it to be my duty to inform the session clerk that I proposed to hand in my resignation to the Presbytery to take effect at the end of March. “ The thought of severing my connection with First Church is a very painful one. My association with the congregation has been of the happiest kind. And while realising something of the responsibility of preaching to the large congregations that worship here, I have felt it to be an inestimable privilege to occupy this historic and influential pulpit. “ I am assured that with nine months’ rest and change my health will be completely restored, and I shall be fit for whatever work may offer. I have no Higher ambition than to bo a praacher of Uie Evangel and to make known the ‘unsearchable riches of Christ.’ ”