Church Leadership.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume VIII, Issue 1, 1 July 1917, Page 2

Church Leadership.

Bt Mr. B. Crompton-Smith.

(Continued./

The principle outlined ahiove is that we jn&edjexperls, ;«no,t niere^ dilißttantr- or " iS^sual f io fead-; tiS ; "nieh j deeply itnbufed ftlsd with the ' s Ch^iirtly ■;; principles of love and pity; Assum- ' ing that we Church members hold by the inherent efficacy, .necessity* and practicability of the teachings of Christ "as 'applied' to secular relations, how shall we train expert leaders who, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, will inspire us m our .course.? . Let us take as an. instance of the sort of expert the writer has m view, Charles Booth, lately deceased, who for many years studied the conations of Darkest England, with the result, as one may suppose, that no purely secular expert could neglect his contribution to the nations knowledge on the subjects he dealt with. . We must, , then, provide such men as Booth, im.bued with the Ohristly spirit, combined with a sincere, rigid and scientific endeavour to arrive at the basic facts underlying their particular investigations. How shall we provide such exceptional men ? First, they must be men of dedicated lives, maintained as scientific investigators and researchers are maintained. They could be either clerical or lay, the condition being that their lives are devoted to their work. Hence their maintenance must be adecjuatej not dispensed with the niggard Imnd of a Church, which too often sweats its Clergy. They would be selected as young as possible, and trained m Arts and so forth as their secular brethren are trained at the Universities. After their Academic work was far enough advanced, they would enter the ranks of those whose conditions they were studying. If, e.g., a, student were devoting himself to Industrialism, it would be incumbent oh hiih that he live ahd ; woi:k as a worker, e.g.', a boiler-ithaker, wharf labourer, carpenter, tram conductor, or the. like for a sufficient time toreuable him to know tlie very ihnermpst of the conditions and factors that "induce strikes, lock-outs, and other industrial phenomena. With the, like thoroughness he must know the conditions obtainihgiin the employer class — Ws own, vtb /winch access wpuld'be • comp.^ratwely easy. The ideal m this fostqhoe wbuld he to produce one who,

out Of the intimate knowledge obtained by Ms life and work would be able to oyoicp, if necessary, the wants, ideals, hopes, heart-breaks and lifestories of the employed class, and who yet would; to hold the scales of justice eveniy between them and their employers. Is this an irriposaible ideklvfor such astydent? What, then, is the alternative at the present time ? So with the students who take up other branches of social investigation, such as the running sore we know as Impurity, that disastrous waste and vitiation we know as Intemperance, Such students would require; ito'doubt, . medi;cal training ; .others would .require technical training: of ; jeyery s<*rt as chemists, electricians, engineers, educationalists,- and what hot-; so also as journalists, biisiness ... men; possibly lawyers, philanthropists, etc. The underlying principle m all cases would be thai they should so live and study that their knowledge of their proV.lems ' must be the intimate : first hand knowledge of those who- have worked and lived m the conditions which are to bo -permeated with the. Ohristly law.; and their lives must be- dedicated, as the life of a monk or the member of a sisterhood is dedicated. Considerations of space will not allow of -further elaboration .of _ these points. When these men (or women, for m some branches women could work better than -men) were- trained, aiid while training, it would be their business to lecture, travel, write, publish articles and statistics, . institute experiments and research wprk, m combination perhaps with 'State:; and University.: work, ■;such ; e.g. as that . .undertaken by the Universities m England m connection with Workingmen University Extension Lectures •and classes, all conducing to. create and inform public opinionamongstchurchmen — m other words, the creation of "atmosphere." One/of their special functions would be, m addition to the chief one of educating the ordinary ruck of Church members m the knowledge nec.essai'y for dealing with the various social problem's needing solution, that of aiding and advising the Bishops and Clergy, when e.g. General Synod proposed to touch .social matters, or a Vicar of a large town parish desired to arouse public opinion m his tOwm < "' ..These suggestions, which are here, owing to lack of space ; so scantily outlined, involve, it is apparent, the great . ; difficulty with which!; tjie State js at

present so strenuously grappling, viz., the provision ot'men and money. It. is the Church's function, as a spiritual body, to inspire the men and women to enter on and dedicate iltieit lives m the way I- Jiave pointed *but. Ca!n we doubt thait they would be forthcoming '? To do so would %c to doubt the efficacy of the very institution of the Church by Christ and its continued inspiration by the Holy Spirit. If the Church will only look into its own affairs m the light of its clamant necessity for inspired leadership, and regard its heeds m a spirit of Ohristly statesmanship, can We doubt but that the money will be also forthcoming? For we are not dealing with to-da}' or to-morrow ; we are dealing with the future generations of the. Church. If the necessity for leadership be/ brought home to vs r shall we doubt that — as m the case of the State's dire need — the means can be found amongst the large body of those who own the name of Christ ? I speak of course, of those who do not belongonly to our own communion. The matters dealt with here, of their very nature, cull for practical union of all Christians. Who knows but that the sharing of such a task -as is outlined here, might be one bond drawing men of differing beliefs together.,; Lastly, to summarise, the object of this paper is, iirat, ; to draw attention to' the lack of all leadership in' the Church m the matter of the definite creation of "atmosphere," strictly Christian m seiciilar matters, 'and secondly, to emphasise the analogy between the State's policy m its hour of dire need, and that of the Church m its equal need of expert knowledge and" guidance.