The Army’S Choice
Just after Victoria had celebrated her semi-jubilee as queen, the Methodist William Booth stood in a slum area of London and resolved to bring the Gospel to the irreligious multitudes of Darkest England. Last month, ninety-eight years later, leaders of the world’s five million Salvationists converged on Britain to elect their eighth general. In a Sunbury mansion, twenty miles up the Thames from London, they chose Frederick L. Coutts, 64, a Scot who for the past six years has served in Eastern Australia. Officer of the Royal Flying Corps in World War I, Coutts later became principal of the Salvation Army Training College in London, and is one of the movement’s intellectuals. Though the Army’s insurance society alone has funds totaling some $65 million, the new general’s annual salary is a mere $2,800. While his election was under discussion, a lorry knocked flat on its back a statue erected to William Booth in London’s East End.
Protestant Panorama
Evangelist Billy Graham and former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker of Canada will be among principal speakers at the 150th anniversary celebration of North American Baptists in Atlantic City next May. The three-day event will follow simultaneous sessions of the American Baptist and Southern Baptist Conventions.
A joint agency to coordinate higher education overseas was established at the first combined conference held by the Evangelical Foreign Missions Association and the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association. The two groups, which together represent a task force of some 14,000 missionaries, also agreed at their meeting in Winona Lake, Indiana, to publish a quarterly world missions journal.
The Baptist World Alliance says it has acquired, in cooperation with the District of Columbia Baptist Convention, more than $1,000,000 worth of real estate along Sixteenth Street in Washington. The property may be used to erect a BWA headquarters building or sold so that another site can be purchased for office space.
A $3,000,000 fund drive is under way in behalf of the proposed Friends World College following successful completion of an experimental program last summer at Brookville, New York. Establishment of the undergraduate college is being sponsored by a group of New York Quakers organized as the Friends World College Committee.
Miscellany
Five Roman Catholic prelates, including Archbishop Josef Beran of Prague, were freed by the Czechoslovak government this month after twelve years of detention.
Church World Service was reported negotiating for the dispatch of relief supplies to hurricane-torn Haiti and Cuba. Government restrictions in the two countries impeded direct aid shipments.
Ten ultra-Orthodox Jewish youths charged with rioting at Christian schools in Jaffa received six-month suspended sentences and fines of $33 to $66 in an Israeli court.
The Board of Education of Hawthorne, New Jersey, is appealing a Superior Court ruling against Bible reading and prayer in the jurisdiction’s six schools.
Personalia
Dr. Ralph C. John named president of Methodist-related Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa.
The Rev. Leonard G. Clough appointed general secretary of the National Student Christian Federation.
Deaths
DR. ARTHUR B. WHITING, 58, dean of the faculty and professor of English Bible at Western Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary; in Tigard, Oregon.
DR. JOSHUA O. WILLIAMS, 53, minister of the 4,500-member Salem Methodist Church in Manhattan; in New York City.
DR. ALBERT C. DIEFFENBACH, 87, retired editor of Unitarian publications; in Mystic, Connecticut.
MRS. RYLLIS GOSLIN LYNIP, 62, author of religious books; in Philadelphia.
Dr. Ralph Stoody, dean of religious publicists, will retire next spring as general secretary of the Methodist Commission on Public Relations and Methodist Information. His successor is Dr. Arthur West.
The Rev. Norman Lewis named president of the King’s Garden, multi-faceted evangelical enterprise in Seattle.
The noted English Christian scholar C. S. Lewis is recuperating from a heart attack at his Oxford, England, home.
The Rev. John DeBrine, 34, noted Baptist youth leader, named director of Youtharama, the Philadelphia evangelistic ministry begun under the late Percy Crawford.
Dr. Joost de Blank, Anglican archbishop of Capetown, South Africa, noted for his opposition to apartheid, is resigning for reasons of health and will return to Britain later this year to become a canon of Westminster.
Bishop Stephen F. Bayne, Jr., first executive officer of the worldwide Anglican communion, is resigning from the post to become director of the Protestant Episcopal Church’s Overseas Department.
Harold A. Smith elected president of Lutheran Brotherhood, fraternal life insurance society.
Dr. John W. Bachman elected chairman of the National Council of Churches’ Broadcasting and Film Commission.
The Rev. J. Kenneth Nielsen resigned as general secretary of Rural Bible Crusade National. He is succeeded by the Rev. Gordon B. Kemble.
Worth Quoting
“A large segment of our society would like to sit around until there are some specific conclusions. But we can’t wait.”—The Rev. W. Carter Merbreier, pastor of the Messiah Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, where educators and clergymen joined city officials in burning salacious magazines seized by police.
“We think that by calling it a ‘Festival of Faith,’ it will be more meaningful to members of all denominations. We want to witness to Christian unity. The Reformation of Luther dealt with only a particular part.”—The Rev. Harold F. Koch, in announcing the re-designation of the Detroit Council of Churches’ annual Reformation Day rally.
