The Churches and Common Life The proposal promulgated this week
by a group of Ministers and laymen of different Christian Churches in Great Britain, presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury, for the establishment of what may (at the risk of some misunder- standing) be termed a General Staff for the Churches, is of such far-reaching importance that it can hardly be referred to at all in the space of a single paragraph without doing it some injustice. Very briefly the proposal is for the creation of a Council of some 24 members, served by a small permanent staff of able men and women with a true " concern " for the work, to think out afresh the problems that continuously confront Churches whose role it is to be in the world but not of the world. The chief function of the projected body is thus defined :
To help in rebuilding the bridges between the Christian under- standing of life and the ordinary activities of men ; and; to this end. to stimulate thinking and investigation on the relation of the Christian faith to the common life, to enlist the ablest minds in the fulfilment of this task and to make the results available for the Churches.
We shall return at greater length to this notable proposal, which raises in the widest form the whole question of the relation between the Churches, individual Christians and the State. We hope to publish an article on the subject by Canon Barry next week.
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