ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1707, 3 May 1917, Page 3

ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH.

ANNUAL PA HISIIIONER S’ MEETING. The annual meeting of parishioners of All Saints’ Church was held in the Sunday school on Monday evening. There was a good attendance. The balance-sheet disclosed a credit balance of £25 odd. The following is the vicar's report: — “I have pleasure in presenting my third annual report. Hut, before reive wing (he past year, may I thank you for my Easter oil'ering, and the kind thought that lay behind it. Hot me begin our annual report by asking the question, “Wind is our conception of the Christian church, and our individual responsibility there to.’" We mean by the Church the body of baptised people of which Jesus Christ is the head. We are members id' the Church of Baptism. The Church, then, is a body of people, living, worshipping, working, under the guidance and leadership of Jesus Christ, and the object of (lie Church is to maintain the work begun by our laird: to leach tin; truth concerning Him, and to he His instrument for conveying gram* to men by the power of the Holy Ghost. We ail have a responsibility, which is to endeavour by Cod's help, to I'uilil our baptismal vows; to make full Use of the means of grace, and In forward the work ol the Church aiming ourselves and the heathen. Eel u> look more eio-ely at mir duties, in every club there are not only henelils lo he secured, lad duties In he done and obligations to lie discharged. (I is -o with the great benefit society which Chris! has bequeathed lo us. There a re public eluhrooms lo he maintained which we call churches, and days of obliga 1 ion on which all the members should feel hound lo attend the public meetings, and an obligation lo contribute according to their moans on (he pari of the members to all schemes which are for the welfare of (he whole body. Added to lids, for every benefit received each member has to do his part in working together with Cud for the. full development of His gifts of grace, it is well for us lo recognise wind a great blessing is vouchsafed to us in our churches, .lust as a traveller to our (own would bein' the noise of the mills and see the smoke ascending to the sky which tells him of our main industry, so I he Church hears visible witness to all of the great life of Heaven around us, here proclaiming itself in our midst. It is u great privilege Hint we should have these visible memorials of heaven daily bidding u- lift up our hearts when there is so much to-depress us and make us forget Cod —cent re.- of unity for corporate life, common houses where all may meet together, where I he sense of the nearness of Cod inspires devotion. There are few things which Ave could less afford to pari with limn our houses of Cod. These are the privileges, hut what of the responsibilities'.’ Surely there are days Avium we must appeal' before the Lord, We have unfortunately greatly lost the idea of going lo church to worship Cod as a duty. In former years people went lo church as a matter of course; now, men ami women come only if they feel so disposed —if they like the preacher or the music, or the service generally; if, a- they say, they can get good. Hut we do not go to church primarily lo get. hut lo give. We come to pay our homage lo Cod. The wise men tracked the desert, not lo ask anything from (he infant Saviour, hut to present I heir gifts and homage • lo the King. Neither is it the same thing lo say we have our good thoughts al home with our Bible. The King is holding IBs court, and He expects the homage of our presehee there, not that we should think about Him merely in the privacy of our homes. These days of obligation, days when we are hound to he in church, are many. In every week there is the Lord’s Day, also called Sunday, when we are bound to attend divine sendee. Then (here are such days of solemn memorial as Christmas and Ascension Day, ami others (Good Friday). These are not things which we can lake up or let alone al our pleasure. These days of eonimemoralion were no doubt set apart, first of all, to honour Cod for all His kindness ami goodness towards us, hut also they Avere ordained that we should keep continually in devout remembrance the great things Cod him done in the lime of old. I am concerned tonight only with Hie observance of Sunday. No good churchman can afford lo forgot Sunday. We are going very far away from Cod now in carelessness as to the observance of that sacred day, and it is already beginning to tell, not only on the moral am! spiritual life of churchmen, but also of the nation and the Avorld. Let us apply the foregoing to ourselves and see where avc stand, In the balance-shed to be submitted to you soon, you will notice that there is a decrease in the offertories of £ll, compared with last year; £i!) compared Avith the previous year, and £l9 compared .with the year before that. This .shows conclusively a decreasing attendance at Church. For this we must find a reason. For the last

eighteen months Ave hove lost from different onuses many faithful olniroh at tenders; this, of manse, contributes to the loss, hut to my mind this does not allogelhrr account for the position, for we have enough church members in our town lo fill our church every Sunday. What, then is the reason'.’ In a wol’d, it is ‘apathy’ —indifference. And apathy will kill any movement sooner and more effectively than opposition. Apathy with regard to church worship and work is so hard to understand. It is a failure to recognise the existence of Cod; a failure to recognise our dependence upon Him and that we owe Him service; failure to recognise nil brethren —under one Father —whom we worship as a body. All visible societies have a corporate meeting. Consequently.

so far as we are concerned, unless we face and tackle the position our church work will inevitably suffer and the church become tin 1 hobby of the few. And what a failure that would he. when we know tlm great work - accomplished by the Church: when we know that all the greatest blessings of civilisation have come from Cod through the inlluenee of I lie Church. Bill how can we combat tin'.-.’ We imisl recognise mir individual responsibility. Faeh one has n work - to do, a share in maintaining the Church. The work i.f the church I- not the work of the vicar only, or of the vestry, but of all. And the failure of the church is mu the failure id' the vicar only, or of the vestry, hut of ail. We have forgotten that Cod ha> commitled to our care a talent or talents, or ear future condition depends on the faithful use, or otherwise, that we make of them. So I appeal that we all should make a resolution that once every Sunday —as a minimum —we should lie present in church, and that we shall use mir iidlueiiee to bring 1 others. Cod it the hope of I lie world; ami we must bring the world to Cod. May f ask you to look ahead and see what (he condition of the world will he a generation ahead if fhis present indifference continues. For your own sakes, (hen, for the sake of your children, for the sake of ‘ the'district. let us build up our church life and win the district for Cod,"