CHURCH ARMY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 810, 10 July 1933, Page 9

CHURCH ARMY.

Members are Blessed by Bishop. With an injunction to go out into tlie highways and by-ways and take to men and women the message cf Jesus Christ, members of the Church Army Column were received and commissioned for their work in New Zealand by Bishop West-Watson at a special service held in the Anglican Cathedral vesterdav afternoon. After being welcomed and told of the opportunities which awaited them, the nine members of the column knelt at the Communion rail, there to receive the solemn blessing of the Bishop. In giving members of the column a warm welcome. Bishop West-W atson told them of the remarkable progress which had been made by the Church in Canterbury in the short space of time which had elapsed since the founding of the province in 1850. Six years later, he said, the first bishop—Bishop Harper—arrived, and in 18S1 the first part of the Cathedral was consecrated. The Bishop traced the growth of the Church and pointed to the Cathedral as a monument to the wonderful faith of a devoted band which had worked for many years to secure its completion. Bishop West-Watson recalled how, in 1883, the beloved head of the Church Army, Prebendary Wilson Carlile, had been shouted down at a Church Congress for advocating the use of lay workers on social and evangelistic missions. He had lived to see his ideas grow and to-day the Church Army was the spear-head of the evangelistic work of the Church. There were many in New Zealand who would not be satisfied until the Church Army was organised as part of the Church of New Zealand. The Bishop enjoined members of the column to go forth in peace, to be of good cheer, to honour all men, to love and serve the Lord and to rejoice in the power of the Holy Spirit. Following the sermon, the members of the column received the blessing and then each of them, from the chancel steps, told of his native town and of his ambition to work for Christ in New Zealand. Yesterday morning, the members of the column were present at the Church of St Barnabas, Fendalton, and in the evening were at St Saviour’s, Sydenham. At both services Captain S. R. Banyard was the speaker.