INTENSIVE OR EXTENSIVE?

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 930, 24 September 1910, Page 6

INTENSIVE OR EXTENSIVE?

. The 'progress of the Anglican General Mission, which-' is to be opened in Wellington' with a 7 mass meeting in the Town Hall to-morrow 'afternoon, is. being -watched with keen interest, not by; Anjglicans alone, but also by members of, othei religious bodies; for;any important .-move-' men V.which. 1 directly .affects, a_ large, section-of the people must indirectly affect' the . community as' a " whole. During the early part of October no fewer,, than seventeen' •speciallyselected clergymen .. from England , will be at work . in the Diocese of Wellington with the obiect -of 1 . up, deep-, ening, and ;ihtensifyilig the'religious life- of;'members ;of . the .Anglican. Church. ; The: intention of the.inis-f I sioners., is . not to . make proselytes from any o.thk' religious. body; but. their 'appeal is first :to their own people,' and then to that large section . of ' the; community who ■ stand aloof from all the Churches.. Many of !the"leading--.minds'of/the ■ Anglican Church liave, come to the con- , elusion-' .that the ' great need of 'the Church at the present time,'is: not so much to increase; its nominal membership . as - .to maker that membership a. >re'ality;',. It is., contended that it -is' an' intensive- rather, than an extensive ; policy .-that is': at "present -required. - T.he Bishop ;of -Birmingham (De. Gore), one of the greatest intellectual forces in-the Church of England of the present day," recentlydeclared' that"';the."'tendency "-'to .diffuse; Christianity 'by cheapening its : cost to the individual is extraordinarily prevalent'. 'This:' applies ..with special.:' force . to .'-the - Anglican Church, which -is,- as- Dr. Gore states, being pressed,at.all-points,-in-accordance with the' .spirit of the times,",to -ihiniiniM; -, theX\d^tie's.Via®!l. responsibilities' ' of .''its ■' members ' .in" order to secure a more or'less cheap .'and - nominal, 'cpmmunion with. the Church of a-, larger number of' per- : sons.. He, goes on to state that :it is our-duty at all-points to-resist this' tendencyand .to -insist upon making, the obligation of membership real.- One of our first- duties to-day. is "to make'it plainly understood , that to. r be a'member of; the. Church must ,bo understood to : involve not only financial obligation, though It involves. that, but' also all.-. that ■is im-' ■plied : in active membership . of; a ,60ciety which is. entrusted with' an 'exacting message to, a.'reluctant-.world. It is felt by many' churchmen that the great "principle of Mazzini,- that privileges should' be, correlatives of duties' done,V; ought to' be _ more strictly, enforced. -The -, idea is not, to narrow that comprehensive freedom of thought' in which the Anglican .Church-takes pridey but to. emphasise the practical obligations of its lay members. ■ The latest Bampton lecturer at Oxford' (Me. Hobhodse) seems to bo in, entire agreement with Dit. •Gore in, this matter. He goes right to. the - heart -of the question when he asks : ; ( - '" '• ; -". Are wo-right in allowing.membership in the Church to mean.little .ornothing? . . . We appear to bo drifting .rather . than'sailing by. a chart! , We. rightly accept aiid prize the principles of- religious freedombut' men sometimes have:strange ideas- of. what-religious freeilom; implies. I It 'must always imply the freedom vo join- or not to join any.' religious /body; . . . -but it "Surely' does not imply any freedom to" ignore the rules of the body and .t.he -obligations of membership ,while you still'belong, to it and claim its privileges!. Yet that'is' the practical interpretation; which many put upon it. .. . Have wo any .settled policy as to'frhjetlier the methods of the Church .should .be primarily-extensivo or intensive/ whether that' is,, quantity is to'.'bo','.preferred to quality, or'quality to quantity?. If. ;.jve rightly understand the idea of the General Mission which is at present at work in New Zealand, it has, in the main', adopted the intensive method. It is" a- teaching' mission whose''principal object' is to. make churchmen better'; churchmen, and to get them to realise more, fully the duties - whi<jh membership in a religious'." society involves. Such: : a' t-ask is a great and worthy one, and in their efforts' to accomplish . it the. ■missidners will have the .hearty sympathy;,of all right-thinking, people. No- one ; ;can\ estimate - the enormous power,, that .might -be exercised for •gbod'jin .a community by a'great society like the Anglican Church,:, if. every, one. of -its members was indeadly,, earnest, and . zna'de' a. resolute ondeayour;;t6 live _up_ to the privi-leges-'and responsibilities whieh membership in such;;a; society, involved. If the intensive method was wisely and consistently applied there would. bo.no need to worry about the ques-' tion of extension, for that would follow in due timo as a matter of course.;; . '