The Free Church Council, which has been sitting in Sheffield
this week, has always for some reason been less impressive than the strength of its various constituent bodies would suggest that it should be. In a loose association of this kind each denomination is naturally concerned first with its own affairs and only secondly with the activities of the joint body. That is particularly true of the most important—the Methodists—in spite of the fact that the President of the Free Church Council this year happens to be a Methodist and that no one has given longer or more devoted service to the Council than the present Methodist President, Dr: Scott Lidgett. If the latent movement for unity between Congregationalists and Baptists develops, the Free Church Council will become virtually an alliance of three denominations, the Methodists, Presbyterians and the Congregational- Baptists. Whether a few larger units would coalesce more effectively than several smaller ones is a little doubtful. It would be altogether wrong to suggest that the Free Church Council is a superfluity, or is in any way failing in its mission. That is far from being the case. But it would be a gain on many grounds if the various Free Churches, when they do unite, could exert as effective a joint influence as the combined influence of the various bodies taken singly.
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