CHURCH FINANCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 222, 18 September 1940, Page 5

CHURCH FINANCE.

TITHE SYSTEM* ADVOCATED. "CHRISTIANITY AT CROSSROADS." GISBORXE, thk day. The adoption of the tithe system far church finance was advocated by the Rev. L. B. Xeale, president of the Methodist Conference, in addressing a meeting in Gis borne, when he suggested a contribution of 2/ in the £ for the church. "Christian democracy is at the crossroads," said Mr. Xeale, "and you cannot run a church on threepenny bits and bazaars. It is no good giving something that does not cost you something. If you are earning £3 a week then 6/ belongs to God, and if you are not giving it to Him you are robbing God. Ths Church needs men who will give money before they are dead. Pyjama prayers are not enough. The tithe system is commended and is almost commanded throughout all books in the Bible." Gospel salesmanship was another suggestion made by the speaker, who said that ministers should become consulting spiritual specialists selling religion. They should not be confused with mass endoctrination, for the human mind was never more idiotic and stupid than when in the mass. The greatest religious [ propagandist in the world to-day wa* ! the Communistic atheist, he added, He I was succeeding because he was doing ;he talking and making all the noise. The message of Christianity, he said, was still too far advanced for the world to grasp it fully, even in this streamlined age. The young people of to-day were facing the most tremendous hours in history, and they must have something to believe in.