INDIA’S MASSES MOVE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3843, 7 December 1936, Page 7

INDIA’S MASSES MOVE

SURGE TO CHRISTIANITY. CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCHES. London, October 15. The Central Hall, Westminster, was filled in every part on Thursday night by an audience which met to consider the present movement towards Christianity among the Depressed Classes of India, and the plans and policies which are being followed by the missionary bodies. The Archbishop of Canterbury, who presided, said that the movement presented a great problem and a very great challenge. In the ten years to 1931 the Christian community in India increased by 1,500,000, and probably 90 per cent, of the increase was due to the group movement. But while the movement was not new it was showing most remarkable signs of rapid increase. If was mainly a movement of the Depressed Classes —those who were outside the castes on which Hindu life was based. No Auction for Souls. In view of certain events in India he wished to make one thing perfectly clear to all, including the leaders of public opinion in India—namely, that all the Christian bodies represented at that meeting would never attempt to exploit any political movement in the interests of Christianity. They were not going to take part in any auction among political parties in India for the souls of any Indian peoples. On the contrary, they would seek to satisfy themselves that those who felt an attraction towards Christianity really understood what the Christian faith was and what were the obligations of the Christian life. Bishop J. W. Pickett, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, U.S.A., gave details of the survey of the mass movement in India made by him at the instance of the National Christian Council of India. It is now intended to appoint a whole-time worker to examine, in co-operation with the missionary agencies, the evangelistic possibilities and needs of each area, in the light of the principles laid down in Dr. Pickett’s report. The work was commended in brief speeches by two Free Church leaders, Dr. J. Scott Lidgett and the Rev. J. S. Whale, of Cambridge. ’