WORLD MISSION OF CHURCH TODAY

Chronicle (Levin), 21 February 1947, Page 5

WORLD MISSION OF CHURCH TODAY

— ■ ■■ m WELLINGTON, Feb. 20. Tlie yellow c'oud of tbe.Bikini at.om bomb tests had spread its sicldy sliadow over the world causing dread •.uspicion and unhealthy rivalry, said 'he President of the Methodist Conferenee, Rev. W. G. Slade, tonight in his inaugural address to the conferenee in Wellington. The prime cause of this distrust, said Rev. Slade, was nndoitlitedly that the atom bomb was introduc *d to modern warfare by the two nations which had spokeii so clearly oi' Christian traditions and of the'inalien able rights of man, and that oue of them was continuiiig its research and boasting through its war departmeni tliat more terrible things were contemplated. The world mission of the churcli in this atomie age consisted in' guiding it toward emluring security and iasting peace. The major problem of Ihe postwar world which was probnbly blocking Ihe mad to world peaco more than any ''actor, without overlooking the colossa! task of rehabilitation and reconstruelion, was iiow to control the almost superhuman atomie power now at nan 's disposal. "The least of all," said Rev. Slade, "should the churcli be silent about. wai if the (®onScienCe of tlie world is ever to be roused against interiiational strife. The churcli will have to speak out more plainly tlian she has ever doiie and she may even have to dissociate herself from the. pernicious doctrine of balance of power. We say this while ae.knowledging gratefully that. she has been to the fore in declaring that atomie weapons overstep tlie bounds of humanity. The clmrch must. inspire the "xperts in international politics to de vise ways and nicans of uniting tlm world in a great international comniunity in which war is impossible. " The time xvas overdue for a tlie rough overhaul of evangelistic ideas and melhods wliich were adopted verv largely in the psychological atmos idiere of Georgian and Yictorian areas. He was hoping, said Rev. Slade, tliat speakers would emyihasise tlie peculiar fitness, in an age when governments were ereating conmuinity centres and were seeking to make citizens commun jry conscious, of the Gospel which made it plain that the only enduring sense of community was to be found in the love of Christ. y