-^58 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



mind and resist the natural temptation 

 of starting a new executive to carry on 

 work upon the lines the members of this 

 deputation from the New York Con- 

 gress laid down. To create a new body 

 would be obviously to go counter to the 

 principal advice these experts came to 

 give. We must find, if possible, 

 amongst those already working some 

 body which has a sufficiently large and 

 comprehensive constitution to take over 

 the executive work of the Forward 

 Movement, leaving other organisations 

 to carry out, each in its own way, the 

 individual work for which it is most 

 fitted. 



In searching for such an executive 

 body we naturally turn to the United 

 States, from whence the Men and Reli- 

 gion delegates came to us, to see what 

 has been done there. \\'e find that 

 the movement which swept in organ- 

 ised, business-like manner throughout 

 America was controlled by a committee 

 in New York, but that this executive, 

 once the Forward Movement had been 

 launched, went out of existence, leaving 

 other organisations to carry on and per- 

 fect the work they had been doing 

 before, aided by the advice the experts 

 of the Forward Movement had given 

 them. The movement was not an evan- 

 gelising effort, it was an attempt to 

 reveal the best known methods of per- 

 manent work b)' the local forces alread)' 

 in being. It is clear that in the United 

 States the work of carrying out the 

 executive side of the plan of campaign 

 indicated by the leaders of the Forward 

 Movement has been taken up by the 

 great Y.M.C.A. organisations through- 

 out the land. In America not onl)' is 

 the Y.M.C.A. undenominational — many 

 bodies are that — it is the Church at work 

 in the broadest sense. It supplies the 

 organising experts who direct the efforts 

 of hundreds of other agencies closely 

 connected with individual Churches. 

 The Y.M.C.A. does not concern itself so 

 much with the evangelical teaching so 

 imperative if religious work is to be 

 successfully carried on. It is, so to 

 speak, the business man of the concern. 



A daily paper would have but a brief 

 existence, no matter how brilliant its 

 editorials, or how splendid its news ser- 

 vice, if there were no organiser to see 

 that it reached its readers. So the 

 Y.M.C.A. in America supplies the execu- 

 tive direction which sees that the efforts 

 of the different Churches are turned to 

 the best advantage. Cannot the 

 Y.^^I.C.A. in Australia so develop that it 

 becomes the same power here as it is 

 across the Pacific ? There is no doubt 

 it could, and perhaps the visit of 

 Messrs. Smith and Robins may supply 

 just what is needed to lift it out of the 

 rut it has been following and make it a 

 virile force throughout the Common- 

 wealth. All the machinerN' for carrving 

 out the ideas expressed by the Men and 

 Religion Forward Movement is there, 

 the men are there; all that is needed 

 is to apply the advice of Messrs. Smith 

 and Robins and use the Y.M.C.A. as an 

 executive to see that there is a more com- 

 plete and perfect organisation of the 

 forces within the Church to meet the 

 opportunities of the hour. This is the 

 line to go on rather than to attempt to 

 create a new agency with a new execu- 

 tive to take up this work. Here is a 

 great opportunity for the evangelists to 

 take hold of the Y.M.C.A. throughout 

 Australia and make it what it is else- 

 where. Will they grasp it? 



Had Messrs. Smith and Robins vis- 

 ited New Zealand there is no question 

 that the Y.M.C.A. there would have 

 automatically carried on the Men and 

 Religion movement, there would have 

 been no need to think of creating a new 

 body. That is because the Y.M.C.A. in 

 the Dominion is now one powerful fede- 

 ration instead of a number of hardly 

 related, isolated agencies. What the 

 Y.M.C.A. has become in New Zealand 

 It can become in Australia, and it ought 

 at once, without waiting for further con- 

 solidation, to take the reins of the For- 

 ward Movement when these are laid 

 down by the powerful temporary com- 

 mittee which undertook the arrange- 

 ments for the visit of the deputation 

 from the States. 



