HALF-FILLED CHURCHES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19766, 14 February 1927, Page 6

HALF-FILLED CHURCHES

Sir, —As recorded in your paper, an eminent preacher in Auckland, the Rev. J. W. Kemp, gave an address entitled “The Deplorable Condition of thc Ungodly in Auckland,” some few nights ago, in which he said: “The young people of to-day are growing up in colossal indifference to the things that had made thc nation what it was. ” He also said: “The note of warning was no longer sounded from the pulpits, and many of thc churches were only half filled. Now, sir, there must be (a reason for this deplorable state of affairs, and, further, someone or something is the cause of thc present position. Mr Kemp also referred to thc subject of commercial dishonesty, stating that he had recently been told by la Christian man tliat it was thc hardest thing in the world to be honest in business to-day.

In thc first place the parents are largely to blame. I mclan parents who are professed Christians. I say the parents are not honest with their children, and I will say that the ministers arc not honest with the parents in the first place, nor tare they honest with tho church. They preach something that tho people like, not what they should get. The ministers are after thc “best paid jobs” which they call “calls.” The calls are usually to better stipends and better houses. The ministers themselves do not practice the doctrine of self-sacrifice. They are of the world to-day, no different from the average man who walks down the Avenue. True, they are flesh and blood like the average man, but ihe aveiUge man does not say he has la “call’ to the better job. The ministers profess to be spiritually minded. Tho question is: Are they? I think not.

Thc reference to the honesty of the business man of to-day is silly. As if the business man is the only man who should be honest! If the business mlan is not honest, his business soon goes. The foundation of all business is confidence and I think the same thing applies to the churches. Going to church by the majority of people to-day is purely a habit, a good habit no doubt, but it is only a habit. Let the ministers first live Christian, spiritual lives, then the rank and file will follow suit! —I am, etc., A. S. JOHNSON.