BAPTIST CHURCH.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 125, 30 April 1925, Page 3

BAPTIST CHURCH.

ANNIVERSARY SERVICES.

Anniversary services in connection with the Baptist Church were held on Sunday when Rev. John Inga, of Napier, occupied the pulpit, preaching to large congregations both morning and evening. During the evening service the newly-re-organised choir under the leadership of Mr \Y. B. Lambert rendered die anthem, “The Day is Dying in the West,” very pleasingly. The services were continued last night when a large company was present. Musical items were rendered and there were speeches from Mr C. 11. Bennett (president of the Council of Christian Congregations) and Mr D. T. Allan, while the reports of the treasurer and secretiny respectively wera presented. The Pastor, Rev. C. W. Duncuinh, presided. Mr U. If. Bennett, whom the. chairman welcomed as a splendid type of Christian citizen, as well as president of the Council of the Christian Congregations, in the course of his address staled that he had been 34 years in Palmerston North, and his greatest joy in those years had been his association wi'th the Church of Jesus Christ. lie believed in the Church, and believed that far from being decadent as some declared the Church was very much alive and would remain so since it was the bodv of Christ, The speaker eulogised the Baptist Church for its place in history, sharing the honours with tin; Congregational Church in winning for the present generation the privileges of liberty of conscience and freedom of worship. The speaker affirmed that if the Christian people of Palmerston North would band themselves together they could remove anything inimical to the host interests of the community. lie concluded with offering heartiest congratulations on the splendid reports to which he had listened, they were indicative of a real spiritual life in the Church.

Mr D. T. Allan, the leafier of the young women’s Bible class and a* comparative new coiner to the Church, spoke of the richness of life after troubles had been bravely met and overcome. 110 ventured to suggest that the prosperity and blessings of the Church to-day were very possibly due to the. difficulties it had had to surmount in comparatively recent years. He suggested that the prayer life of the Church was undoubtedly the vital underlying element of the past year’s success. He pleaded for a more definite consecration on the part of the young people of the Church; to put as much into Church work as into every other phase of life. He pleaded too for a more definite association with all the other churches which go to make up the body of Christ. _ , Rev. J. Milburn Stewart offered the congratulation and best wishes of the Congregational Church and himself. . In a happy speech he urged a continuation of the spirit which had as evidenced by the reports actuated the Church during the past year. _ , The following contributed to an evcellent musical programme: —Miss K. Gray, Mrs C. W. Puncumb, Messrs W. B. Lambert and V. Hudson. The proceedings closed with the handing round of supper and the singing of the Doxology.