CHURCH SERVICES AN HOUR LATER

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 173, 12 October 1927, Page 17

CHURCH SERVICES AN HOUR LATER

EFFECT OF SUMMER TIME (Special to THE SXJN.) CHRISTCHURCH, Tuesda} r . THAT with the introduction of the • ■_ Summer Act, churches might have to face smaller attendances and depleted finances, was the general opinion of the Christchurch Presbytery which met this morning. The Rev. W. Bower-Black pointed out the probable effects the working of the Act would have. He said that 6.30 p.m., the present hour for evening services, would, under the summertime be equivalent to middle-afternoon. The Rev. N. L. D. "Webster said that at a friendly meeting of ministers it had been unanimously decided that 7 p.m. would be a suitable hour for holding the evening services in summer time. He had had personal experience of daylight saving in Australia and found that congregations at his church during summer dropped to one third the former size. As his was a seaside charge he thought that possibly the effect might not he general, but an examination of the annual reports of 50 churches of different denominations, had shown that all congregations had grown smaller and finances depleted. He thought that ministers should make a plea to congregations to sacrifice an hour of daylight on Sunday, since they had the extra hour for sport and gardening during the week. Dr. R. Erwin thought that a distinction should be made between city and country churches, since the times of services varied in the country. The Rev. Bower-Black’s motion, that churches in the city, during the operation of the Act should hold evening services at 7 p.m., was carried.