ST. JOHN'S CHURCH

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 268, 8 August 1919, Page 3

ST. JOHN'S CHURCH

ANNUAL MEETING

Tho annual meeting of St. John's 1 resbyteriau Church was held on Wednesday evening, when there '.vus a very largo attendance.

The report made reference to the close of the war, ami indicated the difficulties with which the church has had to contend in a year of exceptional restlesshess and excitement. This notwithstanding, much work had been done by tho congregation, progress in various departments achieved, and the amount raised for other than congregational purposes was much larger than in any previous year.

The rollof honour numbered 27", of whom 36 had been killed, and 79 wounded. A permanent memorial was presently to bo erected in the church buildings. It was stated that the kirk scission had 32 membeis, of whom eight were added during the year. Reference wa9 made to the departure of Mr. I?, 13. Snodgrass to Dimedin, and the death of Sl'r. James H'JCorrow, tho oldest member of session. The death roll for the year, exclusive of nine soldiers who had 'been killed during tho period under review, was 17, and of these 12 had died during *"he epidemic. The service rendered to the community in fighting that visitation was recorded. All tha buildings were offered to and accepted by tho Ilealtli authorities, and provision made for 80 patients. A large number of the women of tho congregation hail served as nurses and assistants in tho kitchen, and a great quantity of food had been eent in by the poople of tho church. Tho communion roll contains 750 names. The additions were fewer than usual, the epidemic in November, and tho minister's illness in June, having reduced the opportunities of securing additions from i to 2. Fifty-seven names had, however, been added to the roll. The highest attendance at any one communion had been 505. The minister had paid upwards of 1000 visits, most'.y to the sick, during the year. The attendance at the morning service on Sundays had been largo, the evening fluctuating, the prayer meeting gcod. The choir has 30 members, and Mr. Kerry, tho organist, was congratulated on his work. The Committeo of Management has 3G members, -of whom 12 were added this year. _ Apart from routine business, tho committee had had under consideration the erection of a hostel for gilts on tho vacant spaco at tho back of the church. I'lans of a building to cost .£IO,OOO had been prepared, but tho work was held over fill the way opened of successfully financing it. i

Tha Women's Association has 50 ordinary and 37 honorary members. Hundreds of garments had been prepared for the orpiia.iwgo children and tho poor, and a sum of aljout JSIOO- spent in the same behalf. Various social efforts had been made for the soldiers, especially tho sick. The mother.?' meeting conducted by the association was attended by a largo number of struggling women, to whom much assistance in various forms was rendered. li'or missions the association had raised, altogether upwards of JE26C. The Young Women's Missionary Guild hud worked for tho Red Cross and for Maori Missions, to which they had contributed .£lO. They had also sent fo the front last Christmas parcels to 143 soldiers connected with the congregation, tho money for purchase of tho samo having been prol'idod hy a retiring collcctiou of ,C 33. Tho Sunday School roll totals 23G, with a, teaching staff of 2G. Tho income of the school had been .CBS, of which J3IS had been donated to missions The attendance of the scholars at Sunday morning church continued to improve. Tho junior Bible class for boys had 10 members, and for girls 20. Tho Young Men's Biblo Class has a roll of 105.(including tho men on active service). Of theso 50 are ill full communion with tho church. The class had dons much work in supplying outlying pulpits, helping at the Boys' Institute, the Orphanage, etc. The gymnasium had been largely used, and the tennis courts belonging lx> the congregation lind been thoroughly renovated. The income of the class had been ,£6l, ot which close upon ,£4O had -been donated to missions, etc. Tho Boys' Institute, of whese management committee certain officials of the congregation nre ex officio members, had a roll of 500 hoys, with 17 boarders. To the equal regret of the congregation and of the teachers and boys of' Scots College, it had been necessary for the latter to give up their conncction with St. John's, owing to tho distance of tho pew school at M;irnmar from the church. The progress of the collego was noted. It. has now a roll of ISO, of whom 113 are boarders. Reference was made to the fact that o!' tho J!5000 donated to Scots Collese, JMOOII had been contributed by members of St. Johns.

Tho Young Women's Biblo Class has 57 members, of whom 55 aro in. full communion with tho church. Tho clas3 had many activities, and rendered n.ot a little service to various organisations, among them tho orphanage'and the Ohiro Home. The income of tho class had been .£SB, of which .£G had been spent in tho work of the class and <£56 donated to missions, etc. Finance contributions to missions and special funds were: Missions to tho heathen, ,£321 j Maori missions, .£76; home missions, ,£B3l, making a total conl tribution, to missions, home and foreign, of ,81228. Other contributions wero: For the orphanage, .£152; Red Cross Society, X2O; Christmas git'ts for poidiers, French' Red Cross Day, Scots and Queen M.argaret Oolicgo schohuships, JMO: Furnishing Fund Queen Margaret's, i 630; Theological Hall, -,£l7; Youth of the Church Fund, ,£3O; tho poor, J?81; Sunday conbributions,, JS2O. Total, ,£ll2B. Tho grand total of contributions for other than purely congregational purposes amounted thus to JE23SG, a very great advauco on any previous contribution.

Congregational. Finance.—'lncluding tho special; thank offering collection, the total collections for the year for ordinary purposes amounted to ,£2'103. Deducting the thank offering (;C1007), tho collections amounted to =61212. Special collections brought tho Sunday reventte up to .£2403. Tho total revenue,' including seat rents, etc., for ordinary purposes, was .£2501. There was a crodit balance of but it waa more than mortgaged to the repainting of the church, which must lie undertaken shortly. The total of the congregation's giving for all purposes during the year was cliose upon .£SOOO. . A.t the congregational meeting, over which Dir. Gibb presided, toll adoption of the roport, with an expression of tliaiikfulnft's to God, and of appreciation of the services of the minister and workel's, was moved by Mr. 11, W. Kersley, seconded by Mr. S. Olarko Johnson, and unanimously agreed to. Mr. J, Louchars moved, and Mr. A. Martin seconded, that tilio meeting approve of the action of the office-bearers m purchasing a house and land recently owned by Mrs. Morrali, in Upper Willis Street, for the purposes of a l'oung Men's Hostel. Mr. R. Thompson expressed the opinion that congregational undertakings of this kind wero not desirable. Mr. E. Pearson strongly contended that thp.y were most essential. Tho motion was oarried with acclamation.

lHv. W. \V. Gibson moved., and it was agrc-ed to, that "While thankful for the large amount of money raised for missions ami other altruistic objects, this meeting of the congregation realises the need of keeping up tlio revenue for ordinary purposes, and expresses the liopo that the system of contribution 'by envelopes will bo adopted by a much 'larger number of our members than is at present tho case." The motion was supported by the Hon. J. G. \V. Aitlceu and Air. W. Allan. Mr. AV. Hopkirk moved that "This meeting expresses its appreciation of tho work done during the past year through the instrumentality of the various organisations, unci its hearty thanks to tho mombera of tiic same." Uc pointed out how numerous these organisations were, and how large the quantity of work they hn<l turned out. The pity was that there was still so largo a percentage of their people who wero not enrolled in any of l.h'9 organisations. Tho motion was carried with great heartiness. Mr. F. Pope protested against tho small support and encouragement received by the choir. They had a large congregation and a small choir. Whose fauft was that? Tho choir did its best, and Mr. Kerry was an excellent musician and choirmaster. There must bo an improvemont, and it lay with tho congregation to effoet it. Mr. South moved the following resolution with respect to the sokliere connected with tho congregation—"This meeting

very heartily welcomes tho soldiers connected with the congregation who have now returned from Europe; expresses its sincere sympathy with those who arc still suffering lroin their wounds; commends tho relatives of the men who 'nobly fighting nobly fell' to the comfort of the .Almighty; ami expresses its warm appreciation of the services rendered to the $'?«!» °f human freedom both by tho laving and the. dead. They did their duty." Tho motion was carried by atli present rising to their feet. Gibb, in tho course of tho meeting, expressed his thankfulness to God ana to them for the year's work. It was his sixteenth year in St. John's, and as it ran on he had many times wondered what the year's output would 'be; for unquestionably in several respects .tho difficulties had been greater than any in their past experience. But when the year's work came to be summed up, his miiul wns filled with a thankful wonder at the record. Assuredly the hand of God had been upon them for {rood. The morning congregation, given fair weather, was tfarge and though the evening congregation hud fluctuated it was swinging backagain to tho full evening clmrcli they had known for 15 of these 1G years. The organisations had done very fine work and the contributions of the congregation', especiiu'.ly to outside causes, wero really wonderful. That they had this difficult year raised between ,£2OOO and .£3OOO for such purposes, thus breaking by a very largo figure the honourable record of the past, was a thing for which to ho devoutly thankful. In connection with the ordinary revenue he would like to say this; He would feel easier in his mind if they had not to depend so much on tho weather, and the way to meet this difficulty was by means of substituting tho onvelope for the collection plate. Ho hoped that ninny more of them tfould take this thing up. A weak spot in the work was the unsatisfactory attendauco of tho choir, especially at the morning service. Last Sunday fronting him was a uargo congregation filling tho church, but behind liiin were rows of empty seats in the choir gallery. 110 sug,grated various means by which tliis state of affaire might be remedied. After all it was the congregation that was chiefly to 'blame. It miffhl well he that a good many of the choir members could not possibly attend tho morning service, and tho d&feet thus occasioned wuld only be overcome by having a much larger choir. But though there were features hero and there in the work that might easily be improved, tho report on the wholo was exceedingly encouraging, and one of the best over presented to the congregation.