Tide of Irreligion

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 42, 19 February 1937, Page 7

Tide of Irreligion

Main Stream of life Bowing Part Church

NEED FOR SURVEY OF** RESOURCES. Per Pre»e Association. AUCKLAND, Last Night. The annual Dominion Methodist conference in which 250 elergy and laity are participating, opened to-night whoa the induction took plaee of the new president, Rev. F. Copeland, New Plymouth, who oeiivered his presideutioJ address. Mr. H. R. French (Hasting*) was appointed vice-p resident, while the presideht-B!ecFtor'lo , Sß Is Rev. P. R. Paris, of Wellington, forum editor of the Methodist Times. The conference will extend over tin days. After paying tribute to the work of ih© pioneers of New Zealand Methodism who brought the gospel both to the Maoris and the early European settlers, the president made reference to current religions conditions and trends. “World Slump" in Religion They were at present confronted, he said, with what might be called a world slump in organised religion—a secularisation of life which post-wai years had accentuated, but which really began long before 3914. No matter how unpalatable it might be, they were faced with the fact—and he hoped they found it a profoundly disturbing one—that the main stream of life was flowing right past the Church. Many, though owing so much to it, appeared to regard the church as something which didn't really count —a useful kind of adjunct to the conventional observance of weddings and funerals, but having no place in the pulsing reiblooded, factual life of every day. No facile explanation could disguise the stark reality that, for all practical purposes, the ehurch had seemed powerless of late to stem the tide of irreligion, and to turn men and women from their semi-pagan state to the Christian war of life. Churches 4 ‘Living by Their Wits" t Many of their churches seemed to l>t living by their wits, rather than by their worth, their only articulate message to a famishing world seeming to be, in Dr. Russell Maltby's words, "You’re hungry, and we’re hungry; come inside and let us be hungry together I ” With few exceptions this generation of Methodism had been marked by an absence of adventure, a succumbing to the present day love of ease, wearineHs of purpose, and an aversion from anything heroic save talk about heroism, and admiration of it in others. Bo it had been a case of “reduce sail," no ocean voyage, no venture, no hazard —- and a resultant mediocrity of achievement. And yet, these facte notwithstanding, let them not fear that the purpose of God, expressed in the Church of Jesus Christ, would be ultimately thwarted; for the astonishing vitality of the Christian faith had been , abundantly demonstrated in history, in periodical glorious resurrections and self-renewals of the Church, so often by critics and croakers deemed to be on its death-bed. Future of Methodism. Turning to the future of New Zealand Methodism, Mr Copeland asked whether this was to be worthy of the i Church '* earlier and not negligible contribution to life and religion in this new land, or whether they had as a Church exhausted their mandate. Quoting the Prime Minister’s New Year message, as in part applicable to the work that he believed the Methodist Ohurch was still called to do in New Zealand, the speaker said faith, efficiency, and some form or other of selfimposed discipline were not less necessary to the Church's continued existence and effective functioning than Mr Savage considered them to be tb th# realisation of democratic ideals. Faith, Efficiency, Sacrifice. They could not with any heart face the future as a church without confidence—faith in God, in their own call aud commission, and in the ultimate outcome of the task to which they had put their hands. But spiritual equipment, he emphasised, required supplementing with efficiency. Oqg fe!t that church people were not serving God with their brains to the extent that Ris work demanded. There was urgent need, in the Interests of efficiency, for a do tailed survey of the church’s rs sources, for the overhaul of con nexicmal machinery, for_an adapts, tion of methods, as In buines? circles, to changed conditions of the times. These conditions called not only tot greater pluck and daring on tlfe part of ministers, but eqyaily for at least as much hard and constructive think* Jng by the laity as these latter gave to secular interests. Declaring that the principal business of conference was religion, the pres* dent closed his address with an appeal to Methodist people to seek (a) A revived personal experience of religion; (b) a renewed, adventurous evangelism; and (c) a re-captured moral enthusiasm. He quoted the Oxford group movement as indicating a deepening sens© of spiritual ueed in the community, and said the passion to communicate spiritual experience personally enjoyed was characteristic of the very genius of Methodism.