RELIGIOUS REVIVAL

Southland Times, Issue 18821, 14 May 1920, Page 7

RELIGIOUS REVIVAL

EVANGELISING THE WORLD. "Pastors and preachers throughout the United State-; to-day drew the attention of their congregations to the great campaign which is aoout to be launched to evangelise the world, and earnest prayers were uiiered for the success of Ibe :.j-/Vement, which, it is promised. will be the oiggest, ue.-t linaneed, best organised, and most aggressive religious revival since the Crusades/’ says the New York correspondent of the Daily Telegraph under recent date. "Under the nmne of the ‘lnter-Church World Movement of America,’ TJ,SOU,O!JU Protest an!.- of hi) denominations have united their energies and mapped out a definite programme extending over a period of jive years, at the end of which period, it is hoped, the religious education of America whi be enti'e.y rcorgam. cd and the world itself well on th.e road to evangelisation. In comparison such militant groups a,; the Auti-Bolcon League, the Society for the Suppression of Vice, and even the Billy Sunday revival machine, must l>e listed ns the smidi fry of uplift, in its businesslike methods, it.- propo.-ed expenditure, its cooperation in ideals and i o-orianution in the details of the inuneiis-e work it has undertaken. the Inter-Church World Movement challenges comparison with the Standard Gil. "There ar: 20,000,000 Protestants in America, according to the organisation’;, own figures, 75 per cent, of whom are behind the Inter-Church World Movement, cud the remaining 25 per cent, will be brought into the fold as quickly as po--.--i.iie. It is. estimated that the revival budget for the live yean- will reach Mie enormous proportions of £26,000,000. The headquarters have already been established in New 5 ork, in a vacant department store, for which a rental o: £700.000 hrs been paid, and which provides 12 acres of door space for executive oilices. "One of the biggest undertakings now occupying trie organisers is a national religious survey of the United Utates, and the compilation of a complete card index of every mun, woman and child in the country. A census of each household is being taken, giving full information regarding tlie religious record of every member. From the colleges in the next five years the InterChurch World Movement expects to recruit 100,0UU young men and women for religious work at home and abroad. ‘"The genera! aims of the movement include evangelising the world, churching unchurched A: uricr. -dvim: religious education to every child, iuccea-lng largely the number of church hospitals, avoiding duplication and competition in liic work of the churches, strengthening weak church centres, bringing religion into the lives of at leas» a large proportion of the 55.0U0,000 Americans who are without any definite church affiliations. “Funds for this tremendous work are being raised by public .subscription, and it is hoped that there will he a sufficient balance at the end of the campaign to pension retired ministers and make provision for all necessitous clergymen. The leaders of the movement declare that the world is facing a. crisis beset with problems which no one can hope to solve until religion has been placed in the hearts of all men. The world to-day, they say, needs a religious revival more than anything else, and the Protestant Churches, like the Allies, believe they can win victory only by working together under a supreme command.”