MEMBERSHIP OF THE CHURCH.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 29, Issue 2, 1 April 1938, Page 6

MEMBERSHIP OF THE CHURCH.

What does membership of. the Church mean? Many people fail to understand it. The Clergy do not form the Church; the Laity are equally members. Sometimes you hear people say "the Church ought to do something about so-and-so," as though they themselves were not included amongst the persons who ought to do something. Yet if they are baptised they themselves form part of the body whose supposed inaction they are criticising. All this goes to show how little people understand that the ordinary layman is as much a member of the Church as the parson. The Clergy have their special part to play m the Church's life and work, but they cannot do it by themselves, the Laity must work with them. Through the different organisations, Clergy and Laity work to-

gether m province, diocese, rural deanery and parish. The ordinaryman is just as much a' member of the Church as Bishop, Archdeacon' . or Rural Dean. So do not forget when you criticise the Church that you are criticising: yourself (perhaps quite rightly X Every baptised person is a member of the Church who cannot escape his- . share m all the Church does or fails, to do. You may feel a lonely individual cannot have much effect on Church life; but it is not God's plan that, you, as a Christian, ever should be lonely. Each one is part of a body and is meant to live m fellowship, with other members of the body. By taking your part m the corporate life you have a chance to help iii shaping the policy of the body and. to further its work.