MINISTERS’ STIPENDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 May 1941, Page 4

MINISTERS’ STIPENDS

STEPS TO BRING ABOUT lAIPROVEMENT ADDRESS TO PRESBYTERIAN LAYMEN. I NECESSITY FOR MAINTAINING STRONG MINISTRY. (“Times-Age" Special.) The Rev. T. W. Armour, convenor of the Maintenance of the Ministry Committee of the Presbyterian Church addressed a large meeting of laymen at Carterton last night. He said that the report presented to the last General Assembly had constrained the church to take immediate steps to improve the stipends of ministers on the minimum stipend and home missionaries. During the last 30 years the stipend fund had not kept pace with the rise in the cost of living. The minimum of £214 in 1914 would require to be more than £360 today if the servants of the church were to have the same conditions of efficiency. The communicant membership of the church during the.last 20 years had not been keeping pace with the growth of population, though previous to that it had moved ahead of it. Though there had been a 48 per cent increase of communicant members there were only 15 per cent more ministers and home missionaries than 30 years ago so that on the average the servants of the church were carrying a heavier burden of pastoral oversight and of overhead for assembly schemes. The commitments for assembly schemes had increased by 300 per cent during the 30 years.

Their Presbyterian fathers had set high standards for the ministry, said Mr Armour. They wanted for this work the best sons of their homes and if they had a call to the ministry they decided that they should have a more severe training than was required for any other profession. They also decided that where they authorised a ministry the representative of the church would have the conditions of efficiency, for when the economic levels of the ministry were allowed to fall what suffered first was that part which represented the culture and leadership of the ministry. The leaders of revival movements in the church had been men of culture, like St. Paul, John Calvin, John Wesley, and Dr. Thomas Chalmers.

Mr J. B. McKinney said a laymen’s executive had been set up for the whole country to deal with this matter. They were bent on an educational campaign because they felt that when the facts were known the position would be corrected by the people. The names of the executive were Sir Robert Anderson, the Hon. Adam Hamilton, M.P., Messrs J. R. Fairbairn, H. P. Donald. J. L. Hay, Charles Ogilvie, John Mac Gibbon. A. C. Wells. Alex. P. Smith. W. B. Tennent, J. C. Young and W. Goodfellow. They were convinced that if the church did not maintain a strong ministry they would gradually undermine the very foundations of their church and threaten all dependent agencies! The speakers were cordially thanked for their addresses and it was decided to set up a local committee to co-oper-ate with the laymen’s executive with Mr W. Martin as convenor and Mr H. Neete as secretary.

Mr Armour is just concluding a tour of the North Island, during which he addressed meetings of laymen at various centres and will proceed to the South Island to conduct a’ similar campaign.