Waiapu Church Gazette. JULY 1st, 1917. What can we Learn?

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume VIII, Issue 1, 1 July 1917, Page 4

Waiapu Church Gazette. JULY Ist, 1917. Wha t can we Learn ?

The Church has much to learn or re-learn from the study both of her own former history and of contemporary movements; The present War has been the occasion for wonderful developments m associations and religious bodies outside the Church, but ■he herself seems terribly slow m learning the lessons that are being emphasized on every hand. One of the discoveries of the War has : been the V.M.C.A. It existed before, of course, it has been for many years a strong, vigorous. institution, but it has used to the full its present opportunities and is forcing itself forward as a powerful agent for. the moral and physical. welfare of young men, especially o| our soldiers. There is a great deal about the V.M.C.A. that a Churchman cannot possibly approve oi;— we do not propose, to deal at present with this side of the question —but there is much that we must admire arid many things that we may learn from it.. The first we may learn is the value of progressiveness. The V.M.C.A., although it;does not consist exclusively by any means of young men, yet exhibits a youthful zeal, a. .progressive spirit of optimism, faith, and determination, and a self conceit that we may well envy. .'The; Church is weighed down /frith convention, old age arid stodgy pessimism : she has not risen to the great occasion. Owing, t to her unwieldly .-, organisation she, cannot act except through General Synod; and General Synod irioets !for two or three dpy's once m every three years, arid '.General Syriod is most cautious pud most unprdgreasivei ;

, We have the deepest respect, for ,old age and long service but m these days of life and movement surely we must recognise that men who ; are past the ago of , vigour and pp,timism,.men who can think .off hotlii n g .more desirable than keeping things as they always have been are not the men to send to General Synod to rule a; young and vigorous branch of the Church.. Every Churchman should be heartily ashamed of pur failure to deal promptly with the various problems that have arisen out of the War. Now that the War is nearly three years'; old Mr R. W. Simpson is endeavouring, tp raise £ 1 0,000 m the. whole of New Zealand ; 'we^aveho idea what PUrPWn'Church people have given, to . the V.M.C.A. during the past three years' f or exactly the same worhhyxt.it myx&t be hundreds of thousands : Why ? Because the V.M.C.A. is properly organised and advertised, arid has young vigorous men m charge of it; it is doing the wOrk which the Church ought to be doing arid Would be doing 1 if it were not asleep. - ! It is said to have taken "a million pounds of ammonal and trinitrotblulPl to blow, up the Messiries Wytschaete ridge, we believe it would take a million tons to adequately awaken the Church of NeW Zeaiarid to a sense of her responsibilities arid deficiencies. ; A Churchwarden recently stated that he gives £2^600 a -year to War charities arid organisations, • of which £25 is giveri through the Church ! ! And there are a thousand niore Churchmen who are doing similarly 1 To the Y:M.C.A; the £10,000 which We are Striving so hard to raise is a mere trifle ! : That is then anoth er less6ri*we need to learn— to look- for : big things. We have so little faith, so little courage, we ask for little and we. sometimes" get it, the Y.M.O;A. looks for big things and gets them — from the very same people who. grudge the Church a mere pittance. Do We realise that the Catholic Church is.God and those who have been baptized into His family? , Not a, mere sect but the very! Body of Christ? And: that Christ demands frOm: everyone' Who ; will follow Him a complete surrender Of , Body, ,Soul, : and Spirifc-i-with all his riches and vigour and mind thrown -in?!,:--: :■-.,- : •■; 0:r0^,,. ■ . . : Why^dp We, tjinoroUsJy gp round with hiat iii; handj asking : forlutff-

crowns when Christ demands the whole ■iiMv'-vr.:': .="'': yr: -Z s; : o'^\ .-.. ., 5 j.i_. ....... .. ....... . ... .. . _ r . i ; And the next: lesson^ we; can learn fro|i the V.M.C.A. is .«•« Publicity;*' Every newspaper we pick up has, two or three paragraphsj sometimes Oolr umris, to tell what the V.M.C.A. is doing, has done or is going to do. We do Ifate self-advertisement,, but there is, : ai happy , ; mean between ■ blatant seifridvertising and making our needs known.; -Thousands and thousands of pounds are given -by Churchmen to the Salvation Army, Y;M.O.A., Barna.do's Homes and so pri— while pur own Societies Which do identically the !Same work' are starving merely .because we ; Seem to' try to keep their very existence a secret. We too Want .;" Publicity Agents." Tho Y.M.G.A. ■ 'appointed" an expert Publicist as its chief " Publicity Agent" m Wellington the other day. ■ No wonder everybody knows what' the V.M.C.A;. is doing| arid that; our Churchriieri;iriiaginethe sleepy old Church is 'doing nothing' arid are helping'her to do ; it so Successfully;' ''' '''■■"• ■ ' "■"■ ';. : .<.; ',:*'' . -The ; next thing is .to tie business likoand united, to. scrap : our narrow Pertpehialism and. Diocesanism wiih regard to both management arid funds. ■Sp; long as we have some hundreds Of Watertight compartments or parishes Sei!|cp'ntairied, self-financedj : ;selfSufiScient, self-centered and self-satis-fied we shall do. nothing i at all.;; The simplest simpleton can see that ; if>We wilh ever to solveOur Educationprobleriis, Social -^problems, " Beclamatioii problems, Or Missionary probleiris dr arij|6ther probletris We can do; it only by'acting as one uriited Church -proper|v organised as' regards authority and!lfinanceY able to move- at once Whenever the need arises without waitihg years? to Send round begging forfsynipathv and subscriptions if or every little thing-we want to do; =>j 'A 8 T^gards the Y.M.Q: A. We heli^ye that if Churchmen and above all, the Clergy would take as active a pa.rfc is they can m the mfinageinent" of this organisation the defects tp which as Churchmen we object might be larjgely eliminated. Apart from its religious • attitude towards . Qathplicism Anglican! and .Roman) We peiievp, ifche V.M.C.A, to be doing excellent WOrk, arid that narrow religion^ , attitude could no doubt beniuchbrpadelied'by . the Bympa,theticjnflueiice of !! Cpn^chm&:'6)a.]tie^(_)bupQf.' p|". itie-^^P^ioifk'. tiQUr ~'.r/ o'--\ :, ;0 ■'' ■'■■ - .'■•'""7.-' ,i ;' ;i -