(3) To Pat the Gospel First, Without Neglecting Social Needs.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 29, Issue 8, 1 November 1938, Page 3

(3) To Pat the Gospel First, Without Neglecting Social Needs.

: Even m the Twentieth Century the primary function of the Church is the same as it has always been, to bring men into personal fellowship with God, that working m and through their lives he may establish His Kingdom on earth. She must be always alert both to detect and to oppose existing evils m society, be they industrial, economic, or moral. For such evils, by oppressing or misguiding the people will render impossible the full development of their characters as individuals. But the Church to-day is almost painfully over-conscious of the fact that m the past there have been |fcimes when sincere and well-meaning Christians were not fully alive to the challenge of social evils and injustices, whose continuance was incompatible with the teaching of Our Lord. But not,even such knowledge can justify Christians for allowing themselves to Kbe. driven by the fear of the atheist's taunt about "dope .for the people" into weakening their emphasis upon such fundamental doctrines of the faith as those concerning "the immortality of the soul" and the "life of the world to come." For m the last resort it will be to God and not to man that the Church must answer for the nature of the message that she has taught.