The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-03-04
DISTRESSED WORLD
NEEDS CHURCH, SAYS
BODY ON FINDINGS

Levi T. Pennington, Of Richmond,
general director of the Forward Move
ment of Friends. delegate to the
Pastors conference which closed in
indianapolis, Wednesday, read the re-
port of the committee on findings.
The final session was in charge Of
DR.. w. E. Doughty, of New York and
DIR. l.. D. Young, of Lincoln, Neb.. and
included representatives of each de-
nomination. AS chairman of the COM
mittee on finding, the Rev. Penning-
ton read the following declaration of
principle:
ITO the followers of Jesus Christ:
I'VE, the pastors of the churches of
the evangelical denominations of In
diana, assembled, in the pastors con-
ference of the interchurch world
movement express our convictions
growing out of this conference as
follows:
1--WE have earnestly sought to obey
the command Of our Lord Jesus
Christ to look on the field We have
seen our own favored lands with
thousands of communities unoccupied
by the Christian church. We have
seen the world distressed, confused,
powerless to find it's way out of the
maze Of the world disaster. We have
seen more than half the world, after
all the centuries that have passed
since Jesus's day. still without the
gospel of Christ, still in the bonds of
ignorance, superstition, poverty, dis
ease, suffering and sin. We see in the
present world situation a new chal-
lenge to the church of Jesus Christ
and in the worlds great need task
too vast for any earthly wisdom or
power.
"In view of these things, we declare
anew our dependence on God. He
i must work or the task can not be ac-
complished. But we believe i'll His
willingness to work nightly for the
help of humanity. 1t is for us to re-
lease His power and to be channels
to convey it to the needy world.
"Realizing this, in some measure at
least, we feel the call to the prayer
of faith. We urge upon all Christians
the necessity Of calling upon God for
His blessings upon us that we may be
channels for His grace and power.
Human Redemption.
Convinced that Gods plan for hui
man redemption involves us, and that
He works through human agencies, we
call upon the members of his church
to join us in meeting the requirements
that are upon us as co-wOrkers with
God. We earnestly encourage open
eyed honesty and fearlessness in
facing our task, and our whole task;
in providing the men and the money
for the great Christian enterprise, to
which we dedicate ourselves. We
urge all heralds of the kingdom to pro-
claim the truths of Christian steward
ship, both of life and of property. We
urge all who have been blessed with a
Tart Of Gods wealth to devote it to
the spread of the Kingdom of God and
we urge all Christians and especially
the young. to seek the largest possible
service of God by bringing the power
Of the gospel Of Christ to bear upon
human lives and human relations.
Desire to Help.
at is our earnest desire to help in
the betterment of the human race by
teaching. healing. advancing social
and industrial Justice, etc. Yet we de-
clare anew our conviction that the
fundamental task of Christianity is
the PRONUNCIATION of the gospel of
salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. We
y believe that only by Him can the in
dividual soul be saved: and that only
by the application of His principles
can society be truly regenerated.
I'm view Of the magnitude of our