Evening star., 1953-06-04
|presbyterians Praise
Religious Leadership
5hoWnby Eisenhower
By Cospor Nonnes
Stor SfoH CORRESPONDENT

Dy OoSpoT NonneS
Stor Staff Correspondent
MINNEAPOLIS. Mimi, June
4.-President Eisenhower'S in
augural prayer was praised yes
terday by commissioners at the
final session Of the 165th Cen
eral Assembly of the ,Presbyte-
rian Church in the U. S. A.
A resolution introduced from
the assembly floor by the Rev.
w. Clarence Wright of Los An
geles lauded Gen. Eisenhower's
Christian leadership and sin
cere endeavor to promote the
spiritual welfare Of the American
people by renewal of public
prayer for personal divine guild
ance and by determined effort,
to exalt national Righteousness
and integrity"
Support of the National Coun-
Gil of Churches and Of the World
Council of Churches was voted
today by the assembly. The
members noted that the former
has made gratifying progress"
since the constituting assembly
in 1850, and asserted that the
body enters upon its third year
better prepared Ito concentrate
more upon its mission and less
upon its organization"
Plans for Convention.
Plans for the denomination
to take part in the second as
Sembly of the World Council of
Churches, August 1881 next
year at Evanston, H., received
an initial impetus today with
the selection Of several members
as voting representatives there.
DR.. John A. Mackay, moderator
of the Presbyterian Church,
u. S. A; DIR. Eugene C. Blake,
stated clerk. and DR.. Robert w.
Frank, president of Mccormick
Theological Seminary, were
among those named. The de-
nomination will have IA voting
representatives and IA ac-
credited visitors to the meeting.
The assembly turned down an
overture to ordain women as
ministers. though the commits
sionerS made it clear they ap-
proved the principle. The mo-
tion was tabled because the
gathering decided nothing
should be done to change the
present constitution while ne
gotiations on union with the
Presbyterian Church in the U. S.
and the United Presbyterian
Church are under way.
Union Pushed.
This move received its second
step when DR.. Blake was ap-
pointed as a fraternal delegate to
the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church in the
United States, opening tomorrow
at Montreal, N. c. DR.. Harrison
Ray Anderson of Chicago, for
mer moderator, was appointed
fraternal delegate to the General
Assembly of the United Presby-
terian Church, which opens next
Wednesday at Carlisle, Pa.
The first step. to send the plan
OF union to the presbyteries for
study and discussion, was ap-
proved by the assembly last
week. A vote on the issue will
be held by the General Assembly
next year.
DR.. Alexander E. Sharp, ad-
ministrative secretary of the
Board Of National Missions, told
the commissioners there is
great opportunity for the church
to reach people through radio
and television programs.
Some of us believe that the
Presbyterian Church has been
talking to itself long enough, and
that there is big audience out
side which must be reached over
the air." DR.. Sharp asserted.
I'm the entire field of religious
broadcasting, but especially in
television, the church is dealing
with a young industry wherein
experimentation still is taking
place with respect to types of
program and relationships" he
said, adding that only money is
keeping the denomination from
developing these fields fully.
Membership Drive.
Local churches will have to
speed up their drives for mem
bers if the denominations goal
Of 3 million by 1858 is to be
realized, the committee on evan
gelism reported.
Pointing out that the church
has more than 2.5 million men,
bers for the first time in its
history. the report noted that a
determined effort must be made
to reach the goal.
More than 430 new church
buildings, in addition to the 355
now being constructed, will be
needed to take care of the in
creaSing church membership, it
was reported. This means that
another SIS million must be
raised in addition to the $12
million building fund campaign