CHURCH NEWS AND NOTES

Southland Times, Issue 18859, 26 June 1920, Page 2

CHURCH NEWS AND NOTES

FROM PULPIT AND PEW. One of the strongest personalities in the Canton Villages Mission of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand is Dr John Kirk, to .whose vigour and devotion the services of the medical mission work in the villages is mainly due. Dr Kirk is at present on furlough and will carry out a rapid visit of the Presbyterian churches of the dominion. On Sunday, July 4, he will be in Invercargill and will address the four central congregations, thus giving the greatest possible number of people the opportunity oi seeing and bearing him. Other meetings have been arranged and will be announced later. On 'xbureuay evening last the young people of St. Peter’s Methodist congregation met on the invitation of the Rev. P. J. and Mrs Cossum in the Sunday School Hall to discuss the young people’s department of tho church’s work. As a result it was decided to form a senior Christian Endeavour Society and a debating society, and arrangements were made to carry these decisions into immediate effect. It was also decided by the young ladies present to furnish a stall at the proposed bazaar for the building fund. The Ladies’ Guild of St. Andrew’s Church are looking forward to next Wednesday and are hoping that their sale of work will be a great success. All have worked very hard towards that end, and have a very large variety of useful and fancy articles, as well as all kinds of eatables for refreshing tho inner man. The children's stall, bran tub, side shows, and competitions are to he special features. At North Invercargill Presbyterian Church on Thursday evening Miss J. Mackintosh, who is leaving on Monday morning to begin her course as a prooatioiicr in the Greytown Hospital, was the recipient of a roll of notes from her many mends in the congregation. It is Miss Mackintosh's intention, on the completion of her course, to enter on the Maori mission work of the church. Since coming to Invercargill she lias been a valued worker in North Invercargill Church, especially in the Sunday School and Bible Class, and warmly appreciative reference to her connection with these institutions was made by Mr W. A. Sprout (Sunday Schooi Superintendent). Mr A. P. Calder felicitously thanked the congregation on Miss Mackintosh’s behalf for their gift and good wishes. To-morrow morning a children’s service will be held in Knox Church, when, the prizes won at the last General Assembly’s examinations will he given out. At the conclusion of the evening service a congregational meeting will be held with reference to the call.to the Rev. H. Maclean to St. Andrew’s, Dunedin, and to appoint representatives to attend the special meeting of the Presbytery on Tuesday next. The anniversary services of the two Sunday Schools connected with the Central Methodist Circuit will be held on Sunday next, June 27. the morning and afternnon services being in the Don street church, and the evening service in the Leet street church. The Sunday School work has been carried on as it was before the union, but the two schools will combine on Sunday when the scholars will sing special anniversary hymns under the baton of Mr J. Field. ’the morning service will he conducted by the Rev, E. Gardner, and the Rev. Harold Sharp will conduct the afternoon and evening services. The annual cvoncert will take place on Wednesday night, June 30. Dr John Kirk, tho Presbyterian missionary from China, will arrive in Invercargill next week. Dr Kirk is a grandson of tho late Dr Kirk whose "trev.tment” was much sought after during the 1018 epidemic. Although Pastor Horace Smith and his wife were once missionaries in (be tropics, they seem to thrive in the cooler climate of Southland; so much so that Mr Smith is coming out into the open air to preach on Sunday night. The Rotunda by tiie post office is the chosen rostrum. Here, first by a solo, then by an address entitled "A great modern miracle,” Mr Smith guarantees to keep his hearers only a reasonable time. Queen Marie of Rumania is interesting bar. elf in a very practical way in the work of the Young Women's Christian Association which ha:: recently started in Bucharest. Meetings were arranged at her palace, where the programme of the Association was submitted to the people, and young women of all classes urged to join. At the opening ceremony she presented a picture of herself and the King, promised to let tho workers have the use of an automobile, and gave instructions for the installation of a telephone, which latter convenience it is impossible to secure without Government aid. The Y.W. C.A. has opened this branch of it;* work in Rumania under difficult conditions, and in very difficult times, but in the few months it has existed there it has developed with remarkable rapidity, and is already working amongst students, business and professional women, and is organising recreation centres for industrial girls. The monthly service for young people was held tit St. Peter’s Methodist Church on Sunday evening last, the church being crowded. The Rev. P. J. Cossum was the preacher, and took for his subject ‘‘True Manliness” and was listened to with rapt attention. The choir rendered special evangelistic cluding solos by Miss Anderson and Miss Hull, and a chorus by the male members of the choir. The opening meeting of the 11)20 session of the First Church branch of the Presbyterian Men’s League hold on Monday last took the form of a dinner. A gathering representative of the men of the congregation filled the central meeting room on the occasion. A number of toasts wore honoured, including ‘‘The Presbyterian Church,” “The Men's League,” “The Session and Deacons’ Court,” and “Other Branches,” the. last named being responded to by Mr J. L. Gilkison, of the St. Paul’s branch. Mr S. M. McDonald was re-elected president, convenors were chosen for the five commit tecs, and other preparatory business was disposed of. The syllabus for the coming session eaters especially for the younger men of the congregation, and indications point to a very successful session. Invercargill Methodism has suffered a loss in the recent decease of Messrs G. Statham and G. Johnson. Mr Slat ham, who was ninety years of age was one of the oldest members of the Files Road Church, and was much respected by the members and officials of that congregation. Mr Johnson had been associated with Methodism for very many years,” and had rendered splendid service to the church both in Australia and in New Zealand. He was a prominent member and worker in the Teviot street church, and was well known throughout Southland Methodism . "If the Church would woo and win souls it must he by offering them attractions and satisfactions which the world docs not give. All the resources of nature and culture, architecture and art, mechanical elaboration and poetic imagination, have been taxed to the utmost to make the ordinances of religion attractive. Yet in every quarter we hear the same complaint, that the common people are deserting the churches. In no city of our land could the church buildings hold the people, were they all church-goers, and yet these buildings are not half full. The sinless One drew near to Him the publicans and sinners for to hear him. In order for evangelisation of the musses there must hs identification with them. The culture that seems cold and critical, the refinement that repels by its fastidiousness, the intellectuality that is exclusive, and the selfishness thwt is unsympathetic, turn even ministers of Christ into rigid, frigid statues, and our cathedral churches into marble mausoleums for the burial of a gospel that is practically dead, powerless to save.” —Arthur T. Pierson, D.D.