MISSIONARY TRAINING

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 49, 22 November 1926, Page 10

MISSIONARY TRAINING

FURTHER FACILITIES PROVIDED NEW BUILDING FOR AUCKLAND Dominion Special. Auckland, November SO. ■ Founded five years ago to prepare voung men and women for the Home and Foreign Mission fields, the New Zealand Bible Training Institute has grown so rapidly that a large building is being erected at a cost of nearly £13,000 to provide it with a proper home. The foundation stone was laid this afternoon upon property overlooking Myers Park and adjoining the Baptist Tabernacle. The ceremony was performed bv Mr. R- L. Stewart, president of the institute, and was attended by a large gathering of people. Mr. J. O. Sanders, treasurer of the institute, gave some facts in its history. It had opened five vears ago with nine students, and altogether 78 persons had enrolled Thirtv-three were still in training. Of 45 who had passed through 21 were engaged in whole-time evangelistic work, four in China, three in Bolivia, two each in India and London, and one each in Brazil, Canada, Paraguay, and among the Maovs, six were engaged in Home Mission work in New "Zealand, and the others were awaiting opportunities to take up work at home or abroad. The new building had been contemplated three years ago and so far £9220 had been received 'in cash and £4275 in promises. About £3OOO more was needed for the building alone without furnishings. , Already over 40 applications had been ' received from persons wishing to enter as students next year.Rev. J. W. Kemp, honorary principal and originator of the proposal I that the institute be founded, said its ' growth had much exceeded all their hopes. Although much had been done to educate the public, some strange misconceptions existed about it . It was not an isolated venture. Similar institutions existed all over the Englishspeaking world. It was not in rivalry with anv denominational training institution whatever. It was interdenominational, and in particular it was not connected in any sense with the Baptist Church. It was open to young men and women of any of .the * evangelical denominations, to a variety of which the members of the board of directors belonged. The institute did not pretend to turn out persons with the academic training and intellectual equipment required in ministers of religion. It did not aim so high as some people imagined. However, it gave voung people an equipment of Bible knowledge that made them much better fitted than they would otherwise be for the Christian work to which they felt themselves called. Its students ' had been much sought for by missionary societies in all parts of the world, and their work abroad had- earned warm praise. Mr. C. L Rolls, superintendent, said the institute aimed at giving a brief I and intensive and comprehensive trainl ing for a kind of Christian work that | was not otherwise provided for. The ' forces of Christianity could not do I without a rank and file. People of special gifts and attainments had their place as leaders, but there must also be humbler folk to serve under them. Some of the students who had been deemed the- least promising were now found to be among the most successful in the Foreign Mission field. Mr. R. L. Stewart, before laying the stone, mentioned that the present institute in Hopetoun Street and the Women Students’ Hostel near by had ) both proved inadequate, and larger quarters were urgently needed. At Mr. Stewart’s request Mr. Kemp placed in a cavitv beside the stone a copper case containing the well-worn Bible which he had used for many of his earlier years.

Prayer was offered by the Rev. F. E. Harry.

The building will accommodate 60 male and female students, and will contain ample lecture rooms. It' is expected to be finished in May .or June next. The building is to be in brick and reinforced concrete.