METHODIST CONFERENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 229, 15 February 1913, Page 8

METHODIST CONFERENCE.

WHERE THE CHURCH FAILS,

(Per Press Association). Wellington, Friday

Modern conditions and religion were reviewed at the Primitive Methodist Conference to-day. The Welfare of the Church Committee presented a report of the membership of the former Methodist Church. There had been an increase of .140 in church membership; and 110 junior members. The number- oE adherents had decreased by 3608, and now stood at 07,(100, the lowest sinco 1001. This the committee stated required attention, if the return was reliable. The membership in various districts was set out as follows: Auckland 4312. Wanganui 2571, Wellington 3103, Nelson 132(1, Canterbury 4034, Otago 23111. Maori members 2052: total 10,753.

The committee is persuaded, states the report, that there are many signs of wisely directed activity in our clmrches, and that we do ourselves injustice when we speak as though no effective workwere being done.

The chief causes operating against religious life and progress were set down as follows: (I) The increase in luxury and self-indulgence consequent upon easier conditions of life had produced an asze largely marked by indifference to the spiritual appeal, and youthful absorption in pleasure and adult pre-occupa-tion in money making; (2) theological unrest, resulting from the fracture of the old modes of'expressing the truth to satisfy the modern mind and the hesitancy of_ the pulpit to adapt itself and to provide a sufficient answer to questions clamouring for settlement had resulted in a wide distrust of church as a candid and competent teacher; (3) the overflow of Christian activity into nonchurch channels had reduced the status of the church in the eyes of many as a necessary institution in the community; (4) the spread of education, the diffusion of literature and the growth of culture have brought in an age which demans a more uniformly high standard oE ministerial equipment than we supply. Without associating itself with all these statements the oomnlittce felt there was matter for anxious thought.