UNION OF CHURCHES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 112, 14 May 1931, Page 11

UNION OF CHURCHES

PRESBYTERIAN ASPECT “A GLORIOUS HERITAGE” CONTRIBUTION TO THE WORLD. “We may lose our name in the course of events in the larger union of the Churches, but there is one thing we cannot lose and that is our glorious heritage,” said the Rev. G. Budd, Mod orator of the Presbyterian Assembly, when preaching in the Balmoral Presbyterian Church at Auckland last Sun day. The subject was “The Witness of the Churches,” in which was shown the direct contribution made by the Presbyterian Church to the Christian life of the world. “You find,” said Air Budd, “the| people of the Presbyterian Church of I New Zealand occupying high positions in the land and contributing to every’ good work. If we enter the proposed I union we shall make a contribution that i will do much to strengthen the whole life of the nation.” Movement in Canada. Alter referring to the subdivisions in the Church of Scotland, Al r Budd said Canada had felt the burden of competitive denominations and had succeeded in a greater union embracing the * Presbyterian, Congregational and Meth 1 odist Churches. It was true that ft strong minority of Presbyterians had stood aloof, but no matter what the movement for union might be, there ' would always be a dissenting minority. ' “ Union is in the air in our own country,” said the speaker. “In the foreign field China Jed the way, so that 1 to-day there is the ‘Church of Christ’ ■

K in that land. Jn India the union takes I I in the Church of England Missions.” [ The Presbyterian Assembly met in I s Auckland in 1862, when the union ques- I *' tion w r as raised. The result was that 0 the men of Otago and Southland, who e objected, went back and formed the synod of Otago and Southland. Jn c 1901, 39 years after, the two came to- ■ gethcr again and were now working e happily together. r Three Types of Church. II By the use of a chart Mr Budd ; showed the numerical strength in New I I Zealand of all the Churches, and said that jn the Dominion there were now c only one Anglican, one Methodist and \ one Presbyterian Church. “The barriers c between the Churches are not so much •' doctrinal as governmental,” he said. H “There are three great types recoga uised jn the Church to-day. These are e as follows: “The prelatical, in which the real) II control is in the hands of the bishops l * and clergy; the self-governing Church, where there is no court but that composed of its own members; and the de-1 1 mocratic Church, which has its deacons, j 1 session, synod and assembly. This I third typo comprises the Presbyterian; i Church, in which, in all the courts, I s members are represented. II “The distinctive feature of the Pres-{ j byterian Church is its policy. The I . Presbyterian Church is not the Scotch I Church. It is in many lands. The | Huguenots of Prance, the (Dutch | Church, the Waldcnsoes, the Bohemians i in Central Europe, and the Magyars of j Hungary are Presbyterian.” II of purchasing •: is open to some doubt.