GORE THIRTY-SIX YEARS OF EXISTENCE

Southland Times, Issue 23817, 15 May 1939, Page 4

GORE THIRTY-SIX YEARS OF EXISTENCE

ANNIVERSARY SERVICES AT CHURCH OF CHRIST

To celebrate the thirty-sixth anniversary of the establishment of the Church of Christ at Gore, special services have been held during the_ past week by Mr A. W. Ladbrook, MA.., Dip. Ed., a foimier member of the church and At present on holiday from Australia. ... Preaching on the subject The Church God Meant” at the concluding anniversary service yesterday Mr Ladbrook said :“Any great work of art such as a painting exists first of all in the mind and heart of its creator before it exists on canvass. First, there is the vision, then the effort to translate the vision into terms of concrete reality. The church was conceived in the mind and purpose of God long years before it was born on the Day of Pentecost, as recorded in the book of Acts Chapter 2. The church was notan afterthought. When Christ came to the Cross He looked nbt just at it, but through it and beyond it. He saw in vision the great company of the redeemed and with that vision glorious before Him He laid His life on the altar of sacrifice. / , , . . “What are some of the characteristics of the Church as God meant it to be? In the first place the church was meant to be the means through which Christ could express His Will and spirit to the world. It is not enough for the church to wear the name of Christ. It must also exemplify His spirit and standards if it is to fulfil the function it was meant to fulfil. Second, the church was meant to be united. That is one of the great messages of Christ’s intercessory prayer recorded in John Chapter 17. The unity of Christians with their Lord and with one another was meant to be a Witness to the world to the power of Christ to change lives and to weld folk of various dispositions and nationalities into a unity. How far has the church fallen short of the Divine ideal in this respect! Third, the church was meant to have a twofold purpose. That purpose is firstly evangelistic, ‘go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost’; second, educational, ‘teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. The world’s chief need is the spiritual need for regeneration, and that need can be met only through Christ. Many have been prepared to pay tribute to Christ as a teacher, but yet have not been prepared to accept Him as Saviour. The order must be, first accept Him as Saviour, then sit at His feet and learn of Him. Fourth, admission to the church is by birth. One becomes president of the United States by election, by the will of the people. One becomes King of England because of birth into the Royal family. This is the way one becomes a member of the church, the family of God; one must be bom into it by that great spiritual change of conversion.”