THE CHURCH AND THE ECONOMIC ASPECT

Southland Times, Issue 24890, 2 November 1942, Page 3

THE CHURCH AND THE ECONOMIC ASPECT

(Contributed)

Often we speak of the church militant and of the church triumphant—the fighting church and the victorious church. But alas, much of the fighting is - between different sections of the Christian church instead of a united front against the world, the flesh and the devil. The clergy must put their own house in order. Ecclesiastical machinery is often devoted to ambulance work—but what is needed is a bureau of social study and contacts to get down to the root causes of the social evils that abound in our land. We are not yet fully awake to the need of keeping Christianity vital, although a church can only be reckoned by its life qualities.

All professing Christians should be profoundly and actively interested in the cause of social justice. During the industrial revolution slums and hideous towns were allowed to grow up without any protest from the church. Many Christian people worked gallantly in these slums, but there should not have been the slums to work in. Any economic system that produces great wealth on the one hand and shoddy slums and unemployment on the other is doomed. The church is in the world to redeem it, and what our sad world needs is more Christian friendship and fellowship. A new economic world is opening before humanity. It is an unknown world, but the trend is in the direction of shorter hours of work and far more abundant leisure. The church must tackle this problem of leisure and must teach the right use of leisure. What we do with our off hours has always been important; it will be far more important in the future. The significance of the life of many a man and woman lies not in their hours of labour, but in their hours of leisure. It is in club work, or in some creative work through art, music or drama, that our own life is developed and our own best given to the world. The economic circumstances of our time await a Christian solution. Difficulties abound, but the bigger the difficulty the greater the need of the Christian faith. All life is sacred and we must recover our sense of a Divine vocation.