ST. JOHN'S CHURCH

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 282, 17 August 1918, Page 2

ST. JOHN'S CHURCH

ANNUAL MEETING The annual meeting of St. John's Presbyterian Churoli was hold on. Wednesday livening, Dr. Gibb presiding. Following )s !i summary of llio aiuiuiil report presented to tlio meeting:—

The roll of honour contains i 52 names, vi whom 27 uavo been killed, GO woundsd, and of the wounded 37 have returnid to New Zealand. The absence, of so many young wen makes itself felt in Ihe 'activities of tho church, and even in the attendance at public worship, but Iho work of the year has been, nevertheless, very successful in most respects. There <n\: twenty-six elders in tho kirk session, and Kpeoinl men lion is made of tlio signal honour that befell one of their number, tho Hon. J. G. W". Aitken, in :.k election as tlio first layman Moderator of tlio Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. Tlio report makes mention of a sketch of JTr. Aitken's career, written by the minister, a copy of which, in tho form of a brochure, was presented to tho Moderator by his fellow-oMers. Tho loiter asking his acceptance was in these terms.

"Your ■fellow-elders' in St. John's have singular pleasure in asking your acceptance, in more permanent form, of tho sketch written by tho minister to commemorate your modcratorship, and which r.pnenred first in tho 'Outlook' of November 20. They do so in token of their sense of the well-merited honour conferred upon you by tho General Assembly, ;m<! as a mark of I ho affection and esteem in which you are held by St. John's session, who, in their appreciation of you, are truly representative of the eongroga--1 ion, and indeed of the Presbyterian Church of Now Zealand.

"Praying that tlod may long spare you to carry on that work of faith and labour of love which havn made your life, rue unbroken record of beneficent service."

Tlio communion roll , contains SS7 names, of whom during the year 38 wore r.dded by profession of faith, 05 by certificate, !W we.ro removed, 1) by death, 53 by certificate, and 31 otherwise. I'ho quarterly communions were attended in September by 485; December, -ISO; March, 455; June, 533 — iho highest recorded attendance. Tlio sacrament of baptism was administered to twenty infants aud three adults.

Tlio attendance- at public worship and the prayer meeting has been large throughout Iho year, especially the Sunday services. The service of .praiso is commended as (food, but the choir is too small. Mr. Kerry is congratulated on his. skill as organist and leader of the choir.

The Committee of Management has 2! members. Among the matters of 6pecial interest dealt with by the managers was the erection of a hostel for young, women on a vacant p'ece of ground belonging to the church in Mncdonald Crescent. Plans have been prepared for a building to accommodate SO boarders, but tho project has boon delayed owing to the difficulty in financing tho scheme under existing conditions. The work will be proceeded with at tho earliest possible moment.

Tho work of a deaconess is discharged gratuitously by Jfiss .Steel, who is congratulated on her disinterested and capable, service. A mothers' meeting is held once a fortnight at which the mothers receive not only religions instruction, but also material aud much appreciated gifts. The Women's Association has a membership of 1C working, and 37 honorary member?. It acts, as the congregational Dorens Society, and as such has made, and .distributed a very larue nuniher of garments anion? the nnor , , also socks and stockings for the soldiers, and for, the children' in the orphanage. Blanket', clothes, and boots have, also been Riven away, and a sum of .£sl was spent in the purchase' of milk and coal for deserving folk. The wounded soldiere in the hospital have been treated to motor drives, gifts of books, and musical entertainments. 'J'hfl association has also assisted at the. Bed Triangle Room. The sum expended in this way has been close upon ,£IOO. As a missionary society the association has raised JCISB for foreign and home missions.

Tho Young Women's Guild has worked mostly for the Red Cross effort, and collects annually the amount of tho two Inirsaries provided for the Maori Girls' School at Turakina. The Sunday School hns 2C9 mipilsa gain of 32—and 26 teachers. The income of the school was JEIOO. The Junior

Bible Class, boy?, has 10 members, and

girls 2G. ■ The Young Men's Bible Class, including the G3 members at the front, has a roll of 113—13 increase. Tho religious activities of the class are the providing of members to conduct services in suburban churches, and holpipst m the Sunday School. The social swine of (lie class is evidenced in the Boys' Institute and the Orphanage. Various social and athletic clubs exist in connection with i the class, which owns its (wn tennis court and swimming pond. The incomo of the class was £\VI, most of it donated to missions and philanthropy. Tho young women's class has S7 members, a'u increase of 5. Of these 05 are in full communion with file Church. Help has been given to the orphanage, and cakes are sent regularly to tho camp at Tnuherenikau. Tha income has been Xi'l mast of it donated to missions. The contributions of tho congregation fo foreign missions amounted to .£317, to Maori missions .-El9. to homo mia- • eions .£2Bl, a total of .£617. To patriotic funds tho sum of ,£9B was contributed; to the orphannge, <£lf>s; to ihe poor, XS7; and to various other philanthropic and religion': objects, X3IG, or a total of JISGB. Including certain other funis tho congregation has given away for purposes outside its own work upwards of .£I2OO. In purelv congregational finance, the Stimlnv collections amounted to JCliliiJ, or ,f:25 10?. lid. per Sunday. Adding special collections to this,- (he total was .£17(10, or «C 32 Is. per Sunday. Tho total income for congregational purposes was .■CISTiO. the. expenditure .-ClB5-J. A very considerable sum had been spent on repairs and improvements to the pronerty. Tho total revenue of the church for all purposes— congregational and altruistic—wns .£3061. The- adoption of 11m report wns moved by Mr. S. Clarke Johnson. Mr. ,Tolmson had one fault, he snid, to find. Dr. Gibb hud prepared the report, and nmni'ir other documents handod to him for ivfilusion was <\n appreciation of himself by the office-bearers. This .Dr. Gibb had suppressed. and so. the report, wh'cli referred lo so wnrw ht-""!* and mutters, .made no reference to thn minis'.or. who was the mainspring of it all. Hβ read (he suppressed paragraph, and moved that the. mcctintr record its appreciation of the groat abilities of tho minister, of bis pulpit and pastoral work, and of his untiring energy and devotion in carrying out not onlv the duties pertaining' to St. John's, but also in tho service of the Church and community. This was seconded by Mr. W. /Ulan, ami carried bv automation. Continuing, Mr. Johnson ('ailed attention to various features of tho report, and expressed his sense of the magnitude of the congregation's efforts, and thanked God for tho prosperity that had attended their labours. Tho motion to adopt tho report waa carried unanimously. Mr. A. Howit spoke of tho work of tho Young Women's Guild, and Mr. C. Bary of this worlc of the AVomen's Association. Mr. T. 11. Gill moved a motion with rcard to their soldiers at the front, "recording deep satisfaction that their sons ond brothers wero not only fighting valiantly in the cause of their own country, but also witnessing a good confession hi tho cnuso of Christ." Mr. Gill emphasised the fact that in fighting in this war they wero truly fighting in the best interests nf mankind and therefore of. tho ivingMom Mr. i). Douglas referred to tho work of the Bible Classes, pointing ont_ the iliiliciiHii'd the men's class was experioncing with 60 many of its members at tho i v ont. A motion of appreciation of the jicv. G. 11. MacNeur, tho congregation's missionary in Canton, was moved by Mr. Crawford. In Buinming up, Dr. dibb said Ihoro wero periods of ebb and (low in the lifo of overy congregation, and happily in their experience when in any department tho tide had gone back they had not had very long to wait for its reluin. Jin expected to see a turn of the tide at the week-night prayer service, which had not of late been well attended, ihe re--1 port they had adopted was a true record,

neither over-estimating nor under-estim-ating thfi work in any particular, Where success had been achieved it hud been noted; where Haws existed these, too, wero noted. But as tho report said, eurely no one could read the record of the year's work without a feeling of thankfulness to tho great King and Head of the Church to whoso grace they owed everything. Uβ desired to thank all those who had assisted him during the Inst twelve months. It would as invidious as it was timiccees.'iry to mention individual workers, but ono name lie must men-tion-that, namely, of Mr. Snodgrass, who fiiive tho wholo of his time to the service of tho Church and was in a very real neneo the minister'e assistant. He moved a voto of thanks to Mr. Snodgrass, which was carried with much heartiness.