METHODIST CHURCH

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 43, 19 January 1938, Page 11

METHODIST CHURCH

ANNUAL CONFERENCE. WESLEY BICENTENARY., WELLINGTON, Jan. 19. Falling in the bicentenary year ot Methodism, the annual conference ot the Methodist Church in New Zealand, which will be held in Wellington next month, will ho one of the. most notable events for this generation of tho Church’s adherents. The two hundredth anniversary of John Wesleys conversion falls on May 24, but while the occasion will be celebrated in Methodist churches about that time, tho conference of the year will be coloured by its proximity and almost a whole day during the assembly will be devoted to the bicentenary. Approximately 250 representatives from all over New Zealand, about halt of whom will be clerical and half lay members, will attend the conference. The official opening will he held at Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, at 7 p.m. on February 17. Rev. F. Copeland, who now holds the offieo ol President of the Church, will preside at the opening, and will induct as the new president Rev. Percy Paris, who will preside at subsequent meetings of the conference. The day on which tho conference will open is a Thursday. Business sessions will begin next day, and continue most of the following week with intennisisons for special events. A garden party will be held on Saturday afternoon, and at night there will be the conference musical festival, which will consist of the singing of “Elijah” bv a choir of over 200 voices.

* Special services will he held on the Sunday in most Methodist churches of the Wellington district and even as far afield ns Palmerston North, to which the ministers attending tho conference will go to preach. At Wesley Church, Wellington, Mr Paris will occupy his own pulpit in the morning, and Rev. Clarence Eaton, a former minister of the church, will preach in the evening. In tho afternoon tho ordination service which usually accompanies the conference will be held in Wesley Church. There are five candidates for ordination.

Special events on the Monday will he an address to the conference by Professor J. Shelley,. Director of I Broadcasting, on “Religious Broad- 1 casts” at midday, and the youth do-1 monstration at night. The latter event j will take tho form of a presentation , under the auspices of the youth or- j gnnisation of the Church of “Corpus | Christi,” a play written by Rev. O. E. Burton, Webb Street Methodist j Church. Some hundreds of voting peo- j pie will take part in this pla.v, which j traces the development of Christianity through the ages. I The Tuesday will he devoted almost j entirely to the celebration of tho hi- | centenary, commencing at 10 a.m. with I the conference Communion. At 10.30 i there will be a “conversation on the j work of God,” a series of brief ad- j dresses. The chief speaker will be i Rev. C. Irving Benson, 8.A., Wes- j ley Church, Melbourne, who is to j cross tho Tasman to assist in the celebrations in New Zealand and who, after the conference in Wellington, will travel through New Zealand. At midday there will he a luncheon at the National Art Gallery and in the evening a great gathering at the Town Hall, which j to. the public, will .he tlic principal bicentenary celebration. Many distinguished public men.are to speak and the honour of delivering the principal address has been given to Mr Benson. A choir consisting of the united Methodist choirs of Wellington will contribute to the programme. The ' following Thursday night has been set aside for a misison tea and demonstra-, tion.

Returning home last week after a fortnight’s holiday at the beach, a resident of Frankton found that thieves had been busy in his absence. His entire crop of potatoes, three rows each of 40ft. had been dug and removed. Indications were that tho thieves had operated on the Sunday evening, as Saturday’s evening paper had been dug into the ground with the removal of the potatoes. The fowlliouse had been broken into and two fowls taken.