CHURCH MISSION WORK

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 220, 6 December 1927, Page 15

CHURCH MISSION WORK

URGENT NEED FOR GREATER RECOGNITION An appeal for greater recognition of the value of mission work was made by Bishop W. R. Mounsey, formerly Bishop of Sarawak and Labuan, Straits Settlements when speaking at a special service in connection with the Diocesan Missionary Festival in St. Mary’s Cathedral last evening. From reports from missionaries throughout the world, received at a recent meeting of missionaries in London, it was apparent, he said, that the world was calling the Church to Africa, where the needs of education were paramount. It was found that in India the Church had been unable to grapple with mass movements and multifarious religions, and there was a call to the Far East, where revolutions were a daily occurrence. At this meeting, said the bishop, there was a wonderful feeling of enthusiasm, but also a sense of fear and humility. It was there realised that the world could not answer the call. It was conscious of the need, yet could not pay the price of sacrifice. > The world to-day had a notion that the Church was inefficient. The days of persecution were over, but the days of supreme- indifference were upon them. • There were three ways of dealing with the question, said the bishop/ There was the policy of despair; the spirit of compromise, which was akin to fear; and there was the policy of victory. It was the offensive attitude that would win through. Archbishop Averill took part in the service, which was conducted by Canon Percival James. Among the clergy present were Archdeacon Mac Murray, Canon F. W. Young, and the Revs. C. A. B. Watson, G. C. Cruickshank, G. Gordon Bell, and E. Chitty. Specia' prayers for missionary work in all part of the world were offered by the archbishop.