A Link in Prayer Between Two Races

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 253, 16 January 1928, Page 14

A Link in Prayer Between Two Races

JAPANESE BISHOPS HOPE ADDRESS AT MT. EDEN “We shall yet have, we hope, a fiose link with you in prayer,” was :he final expression of Bishop Juji tfakada, of the Oriental Mission Society, Japan, speaking at the United Evangelical Church, Mount Eden, yes:erday. The bishop spoke at two churches, ind provided ground for earnest :hought, in that a member of a race jeparated widely from our own on •eligious views for many centuries should in our* own churches take an jpportunity of urging greater faith ind zeal. • He took as his text, the parable of he vine and its branches, and said here were three kinds of Christians, he nominal, the regenerated and the lanctified, the first of which bore no :ruit, the second little, and the third >nly sufficient to pluck and send to the four corners of the earth. He then proceeded to enlighten his congregation on the progress of Christianity in Japan, mentioning that his mother had been one of the earliest converts to Methodism and that his five children were all in the ministry* He and an American missionary formed the Oriental Society in 1901 as an independent organisation. Its object was to preach simply the gospel of redemption. The society now had 100 students training as missionaries, including Japanese, Chinese, Koreans and Russians. The success of the movement lay in its secret of holiness, using the word in its meaning of spiritual healthiness. Their work was not confined to Japan, and he mentioned that the society was providing £l3 monthly to support an English Jew working to spread Christianity among members of his race in London. Ten young Japanese in California, six years ago, set aside half their earnings to secure a pastor who might evangelise their fellow countrymen, and their church was now one of five, all selfsupporting.