Friday October 4 2013

Looking Back: 'Some Questions of Vital Importance'

A letter from October 1933

SOME QUESTIONS OF VITAL IMPORTANCE

By A MINISTER

MAY I raise some questions of vital importance which concern the Church as a whole? I recognise that such communications as this are not usually published in Life and Work, but as the Church provides no other medium for discussion of current topics, I trust, in view of the matters raised, that you will stretch a point in my favour.

Everyone recognises that the Church has a unique opportunity to-day in view of the world's distress. We believe that in Christ and in His way of life lies the world's only real hope. But are we as a Church to be content to assert this in general and vague terms? There are certain Christian principles, are there not, that are always relevant to the life of men. What are they? Can a plain man walk into one of our Bookrooms and obtain a convenient summary of them stated in up-to-date phrases and with some indication of the spheres where these principles specially need to be applied to-day? If not, can the Church be said to be doing its utmost to set forth the Christian way of life? Would not such a summary of principles be more valuable at the moment than a restatement of Christian doctrine?

Again, is it not the business of the Church to lead the world? Am I wrong in thinking that the declarations of the Assembly inspired by the Committees are too often denunciations of evils and abuses after they have appeared? Do the Committees in drafting deliverances ever give the Assembly opportunity to declare in favour of practical goals for the future, up to which the members of the Church are to be educated by a systematic teaching campaign? Must the Church not think a decade or a generation in advance and forestall abuses by directing men to right channels of thought and action?

To illustrate concretely,

Has any Committee thought ahead about television, which will be with us soon?¹

Has the Education Committee made up its mind in advance what it is going to press for in the next Education Bill? Or is it content to wait till the bill is introduced and then lodge complaints - too late? Are we to understand that it is quite satisfied with the place and methods of religious instruction in schools - an excellent but partly unworkable syllabus taught by a mixture of teachers, some sincere believers, some half-believers, some non-believers? Has it considered whether a new order of ordained teachers must be created by the Church to undertake religious instruction in day schools? Does it believe that Christianity must be applied to every aspect of life, and has it formulated any ideas as to how children in school should be taught to view the subjects they learn (e.g. science and history) in the light of the Gospel? If so, what are those ideas? Are they being pressed at every opportunity upon Church members and members of the government? If not, would the Committee consider such ideas if put before them?

Has the Church and Nation Committee and convictions about nationalism? Are nationalism and imperialism in their present forms in accordance with the mind of Christ? Allowing for the fact that the Kingdom of God is primarily the rule of God in the hearts of men, has it in the mind of this Committee a social and world-wide reference in view of the social nature of man? As the rule of God spreads throughout the world, does the logic of things demand that it shall express itself in a form (a world state?) which would be hindered by nationalism in its present form? Is the Committee trying in every possible way to educate us all up to its conclusions on these and similar questions?

Has any Committee of our Church done anything big and practical to influence the cinema industry? Has any appeal ever been made for the necessary funds to start making films for evangelical and educational purposes within the Church? All honour to the Foreign Mission Committee for its pioneer work in this connection, but is no other Committee going to follow it? And do these few simple films represent the best the Church can do along this line?

When is the Publications Committee going to give us a medium in which religious issues, theoretical and practical, can be discussed, as they cannot be discussed in Life and Work? It is a shame if the subjects of this letter cannot be publicly debated by Church members, except before the eyes of the infidel in newspapers.

In short, is the Church looking ahead, planning ahead, preparing in advance, teaching for the future? Let it be granted that it is doing something, but how much more remains not only undone but not even visualised! The Church is more than a number of congregations each dominated by the limited knowledge, outlook and vision of one man. Let the Church realise its unity, and through its supreme court send out to Scotland statements of Christian principles as they apply to education, social justice, the treatment of subject peoples, nationalism and international affairs, etc., for which kings and cobblers alike may work in the power of the Holy Spirit.

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¹We understand that there are about 15,000 television instruments already installed.-EDITOR

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