EXPERIMENT IN CHURCHES

Southland Times, Issue 23829, 29 May 1939, Page 6

EXPERIMENT IN CHURCHES

OPEN FORUM AFTER SERVICE PRESBYTERIAN BODY IN WELLINGTON (Special to The Times) WELLINGTON, May 27. An experiment which is understood to be new to the Presbyterian- Church in- Wellington, by which the evening Sunday service is shortened and is followed by an open forum for the discussion of questions on the meaning of the Christian faith and the application of Christian principles to everyday life, is in progress at three churches, Kel-. burn. Karori and Wadestown. It has been followed for some six weeks at Kelburn, and the minister, the Rev. J. S. Murray, in an interview, said the indications already were that the innovation was meeting a real need. At the Wadestown Church the shorter form of evening service followed by the open forum has been in vogue for more than a year. The minister, the Rev. W. H. P. McKenzie, said the people were' looking forward more and more to the discussions. They were free not only to ask questions, but also to take part in the discussions. The minister of the Karori Church, the Rev. A. Salmond, said the innovation had been tried for about a month and it had given people An opportunity to express their viewpoint. NON-CHURCH MEMBERS Outlining the reasons for the introduction of the change at the Kelburn Church, Mr Murray said the session felt that the normal arrangement of morning and evening services, which were almost .identical save for the subjects of the preacher’s addresses, was not suitable for the needs of people who | had little religious faith or experience. Such people were liable to find the ordinary church service, which was designed chiefly for church members, too advanced, too “unreal,” or too dull, and accordingly attendance at church had come to be confined largely to people of some Christian conviction.

One of the Sunday services, the session felt, should be specially designed to meet the needs of non-church members. For that purpose the worship period should be shortened and simplified, the sermon made evangelistic in tone and aim, and the whole atmosphere of the service inclined toward the informal and intimate, yet without losing dignity and reverence. The form of the regular evening service, therefore, had been altered in accordance with this view. Members of the congregation were now invited to send in questions to be answered and subjects to be dealt with by the minister. At the close of the shortened service a discussion group was held for those who desired to go further into the subject opened up in the sermon. CONSIDERABLE DEPARTURE

“This marks a considerable departure from the church’s usual method of carrying on its preaching mission,’’ Mr Murray said. “It is a recognition of the value of closer relation between the preaching of the pulpit and the needs and thoughts of the people. “It seems probable that the Church has lost a good deal and has been less effective in her work than otherwise might have been the case, because of her failure to give the people an opportunity of expressing their view, ( and to understand what the people are really thinking.” The extent of the discussion had varied according to the subject, he said. On several occasions discussion had been keen, and this was particularly so when the Christian attitude to war was under consideration. There could be no doubt about the interest of the people. The avowed aim of the service and discussion was evangelistic, but experience so far had shown that the relation of Christian belief to everyday affairs inevitably brought all kinds of modern problems into the limelight, so that the range of discussion was much wider than might at first have been expected.