MAORI CHURCH NOTES

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 30, Issue 5, 1 July 1939, Page 7

MAORI CHURCH NOTES

Inspiring Mission At Wairoa

The Bishop of Aotearoa and Canon W. G. Williams conducted a mission at Wairoa from Tuesday* May 23rd, till Sunday, 29th. The services were held afternoon and evening m the new Takitimu carved Meeting House. The deacons had arranged an altar and curtains on the platform, a fitting symbol of the way m which ancient Maori religious consepts, as represented m the carvings and wall panels around the building, had found their fulfilment m the Christian Gospel. On the Thursday evening His Lordship gave a most interesting lantern talk on the Tambaram Conference, and its testimony to the power of the Gospel to unite peoples of every creed and race even m these days of international unrest and discord. On the Friday evening the Bishop of Waiapu came from Napier to deliver a message to the people. Those who were present will . not soon forget the Bishop's impressive address on the great heritage which we possess m the Christian Church, with its divinely given doctrines and sacraments, and the seriousness of forsaking these for something else which is less than the whole truth of God. At the closing service of the mission on Sunday evening, which lasted for two and a half hours, and a short service held by special request at a private home the following morning, 53 people stood to dedicate or rededicate themselves to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. At the conclusion of the service many of those present stood up to express their gratitude for the fresh inspiration which the mission had brought to them. The Rev. H. Huata, Vicar of the Pastorate, said that m the whole 40 years of his ministry this had been his first experience of a parochial mission, and he wished that he could have had the experience years before. W. G. WILLIAMS, Superintendent.