MISSIONS

Hokitika Guardian, 22 July 1933, Page 3

MISSIONS

For three or four successive evenings All Saints’ Church lias he'd a larger congregation than on an ordary Sunday evening, as a result of the Church At,my Mission. Tliere : is the trim little figure of the Sister, and the CM.pt in, gifted with a really tremendous voice, when required. There is no choir; but the Captain stands forth and reads the words of a chorus to be 1 sung, the people in the first instance reading the words with him. The air is played, and the 'Captain sings, alone if it is a new tune to let the peop’e get the sound of it, and then calls upon them to join in, interrupting the singing from time to time, to . comment upon the .'words or to set one part of the congregation singing against the other. After jfour or five choruses, the Sister reads a lesson, prayers follow, a hymn, more choruses, and the address, bused upon the Scripture reading—but not' tied down to it. There is nothing form 1 ,aout the service, nor about the address. The message give n is, i,n the familiar phrase, the message of the Gospel, the same old message that is ■heard in .every pulpit again and ag-in, and yet here it seems to arrive 'with unusual force. Again follow hymns and choruses, selected partly with reference to the message for the evening and partly in repetition of choruses previously le'.rned. Then a prayer and a blessing close the servico, and the Missioners proceed to the door of the Church to greet the members of the congregation. What is the secret of the appeal of such services ? To beg ; n with, it is a layman (or a .laywoman) speaking, at an unusual' time, in an unosu l way. to an unusual congregation (some are there who aro unknown to the usual services; porno Sunday regulars ai’o missing). There is ' loss sitting;- and listening: there is a greater demand for personal co-operation in the actual service by the congregation. Plenty of singing, and easy singing; attractive tunes, even if they a-r.e not “good music,” and most of it entirely new to the cougregabon. It seems that novelty in me-'hod, in material, in ministration, js the attraction .of the mission. We are all .-ythenians at heart and love to hear some new thing, or the old things told in a new way. But not only novelty, although that attracts in the beginning ; .there is felling of reality, of sincerity and of Christian joy, which makes the faith as presented at a Mission something which is worth while, something which .counts, something without which our lives are but a, meaningless interval in an eternity of the unknowable.

Taking his subject “A World on Wheels” Pastor Sibley gave a .very interesting lecture the other evening at the Soldiers’ Hall. From Bible yroplmcy the speaker showed that the •remarkable inventions that have wrought such revolutionary changes in our world are all a very definite matter of prophecy. When Jules Verne wrote his “Round the World in 80 Days” bin story was regarded as highly fantastic and he would have been laughed to scorn if he had tried to persuade men to believe that within half a century such a thing would be possible, said Mr Sibley. However to-day we know that such a thing is more than possible, for Wiley Post and Harold Gatty recently circumnavigated the globe in just 8 days and Jules Verne’s wild dream has been bettered. Turning to a number of interesting prophecies the lecturer mentioned how for thousands of years the .world moved .along in the some old rut, means of transport and icommunicati-on being 'the sarnie in grandfather’s day as they were in the days of ancient Egypt. 'When the prophetic hour struck and the “Time of His Preparation” came, the world was awakened from its slumbers to travel at a dizzy pace. Pastor Sibley further declared that it was in the providence of god that oceans should become lakes, nations neighbours, and the whole world but a unit. The phophecies emphatically stated that the whole world should hear the gospel. prior to the return of the Christ and because of modern facilities the message had spread to 7.0G0 languages and dialects in our generation. Pastor 'Sibley will continue his addrosscs •this Sunday evening.