Task of the Church

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 72, 16 June 1927, Page 8

Task of the Church

“A Time of Great Change” Concessions to New Ideas Counsel of Governor-General "| SUPPOSE Ulere was seldom in the world’s history a time 1 which gave rise to more anxious thought than the present. We are living in times of great change, trying to adapt ourselves to new ideas, new schools of thought, a new psychology. In this rush of new ideas, and it is of the future and all this college will mean to it that we are thinking, the churches have a difficult task, and infinite tact and wisdom are essential in dealing with the problems existing.’’

A THOUGHTFUL address delivered yesterday at the laying of the foundation stone of the Methodist Trinity Theological College dealt with the problems that now confront the Church.

“Churches are faced with new problems in a generation which is no longer content to accept unreservedly what in the past was taken for granted, which claims new liberty, which has ideas of its own, and is infinitely more critical and headstrong than its forefathers. SYMPATHY AND VISION “People nowadays can be led, but they cannot be driven. Leadership requires men, not only with knowledge, wisdom and education, but possessing personal qualities of sympathy, understanding and vision. It is useless for a church to-day to say, ‘You must not do this,’ or ‘You must do that,’ unless it has established such confidence as to retain public opinion on its side and gained such influence as will draw men to it, and not repel them.”

The atmosphere of this college must be such as to turn out men, not only of the highest ideals, but also ~of infinite sympathy and knowledge of the world and mankind; men of broad views who could distinguish between what were fundamental principles and what were non-essential, however desirable from their own point of view.

PROBLEM OF THE NEW IDEA “All in the college must constantly bear in mind that we must face facts as they are and human nature as it it, and that the task of the Churjh is one thing, and one thing only—to brir g people to Christ,” his Excellency continued.

“It may not be possible to do this by the methods of the past—new ones must be thought out. Some concessions to modern ideas and thought may be made which, at first sight, appear to be the opening of the door to some-

thing unheard of in the past. Manifestly, in this there is danger, but if the door has already been forced open by the people, and cannot be closed, the Church must reconcile itself to a new order of things and recognise that it has to deal with a new problem. In certain fundamental principles there can, of course, be no wavering. Truth, however garbed, will always remain truth.

“The question has often been asked in late years, ‘Why has the Church failed? What is wrong with the Church?’ But it is at least as reasonable to ask. ‘What is wrong with the people? Why have they failed?’ In any case, such questions ignore the fact that the people themselves constitute the Church, and imply that there is some distinction between the two. So long as such a distinction is made, progress is impossible. MORALITY IS NOT J-lOLINESS

“Morality, which often means little more than conventionality, must not be confounded with holiness. The one is negative—not doing wrong. The other is positive—trying to be good. I think it is possible that sometimes, in setting too much store by the former we are apt to forget the essential nature of the latter.”

It was impossible on such an occasion to do more than generalise, but he would remind future students within the walls of the college that the early Nonconformists did not leave the Church on account of disputes about tithes. They had gone out, as they believed, for their souls’ health and to quicken the spiritual life of their countrymen. An early scholar and preacher hud said, “Methodism in itself is nothing to me save as a means of growing into the likeness of my Master.” There was no better prayer to offer for all who would in future labour in the institution than, “Let that mind be in you which was also in Jesus Christ.”