SUSPENDED FROM BAPTIST UNION

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 192, 12 May 1944, Page 4

SUSPENDED FROM BAPTIST UNION

Minister Of Auckland Tabernacle STATEMENT BY DR. HODGE (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) AIUOKILAND, May 11. A statement that his suspension, from the Baptist Union of (New Zealand had no necessary bearing on his ministry at Auckland Tabernacle and that the Tabernacle in no way ceased to be Baptist by its withdrawal from the union was made by the -Rev. Dr. Alexander Hodge. Dr. Hodge was suspended by the president and executive of the Baptist Union, and the executive of the Tabernacle decided to sever the Church's connexion with the union at a meeting on Wednesday night. “The situation in the Tabernacle can be understood only if the congregational system of church government is borne in mind,” Dr. Hodge said. “Baptist Churches are independent. While it is correct to speak of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand or the Methodist Church, it is never right to speak of the Baptist Church of New Zealand. It should be Baptist Churches. Each regards its individuality and independence as inviolable. “The Baptist Union is simply a voluntary combination of individuals and churches for common action. Baptist Churches acknowledge no central government. For this reason the officers and the bulk of the Tabernacle membership have vigorously opposed the denominational intrusion involved in recent activities of the Baptist Union executive. This executive has a right under its constitution to suspend a minister or a church from membership in the union for conduct considered contrary to union in-: terests. It is a power which should only be exercised in extreme cases and under the strongest provocation. My own suspension is the culmination of a long struggle against Baptist Union leaders who have been prominent in the Tabernacle disturbance. “The executive’s action has no necessary bearing on my ministry in the Tabernacle, and the Tabernacle in no way ceases to be Baptist by its withdrawal from the union. The secession of the Tabernacle from the union is a spirited and obvious protest against the suspension of its minister. It has struck the Church at a time -when the increase in membership and financial returns are the best on record for many years.”

Dr, Hodge also said that the action of the Baptist Union executive in summoning a meeting of church members in the Town Hall Concert Chamber was improper and out of order. The meeting in th“ Tabernacle on Wednesday night had carried a resolution which followed the lines of one passed, at the monthly meeting of members on May 3. The earlier resolution read: “That this meeting of church members solemnly resolves that the executive of the Baptist Union be censured by the Tabernacle Church for its procedure in connexion with the recent commission of inquiries and subsequent action against the minister, and duly records its emphatic disapproval of the executive’s unjust and discourteous procedure.” . Confidence in the executive of the Baptist Union was reaffirmed in a resolution passed at a special meeting of the Auckland (Baptist Ministers’ Fraternal. .It stated that the fraternal “joins with the members of the executive in their prayers that an over-ruling of God may be experienced in all matters concerning future developments in regard to the Tabernacle Church.”