Thing- O

Tuesday June 30, 2009

As I woke up this morning, I had to take a second look at the clock because it was pitch black outside.

My morning went well. I worked on lots of things on the computer. I had morning tea for about an hour and a half with Jeff and David. I learned a lot about Southern and the culture of Australia – in particular Victoria.

In all the Sunday’s that I have been here, there has not been an alter call. I wondered how people became members or gave their lives to Christ or whatever. I was thinking about people in our church who had recently become members. Some were unchurched, and some had gone to church off and on their whole lives.

So we got into this long conversation, which was very informative and interesting, about the churches in Australia. The culture of Australia says that church is not a cool thing to attend. Some people actually feel embarrassed to say that they go to church. So that means that evangelism in Australia is probably rare and not as heard of. Usually in the States athletes will frequently, after winning, pray to God or thank God or point to heaven, or make some reference to God. I was told that that would be extremely rare to see or hear of in Australia.

Southern, like most Australian Church of Christ’s do not have an alter call. Traditionally there was an alter call, but it would only be for the evening service. The way Southern gets its members is through a more nurturing aspect. They have conversations with the visitors and get them connected into the church. Usually the visitors will meet with the pastor to let them know of their intentions about either giving their life to Christ or becoming a member of the church. I think this aspect of membership Southern does a really good job with, that I think churches in the States could learn from. Its more important to grow a Christian instead of just get a membership count. The only down side to this way of ministering is that the church hasn’t really grown. Now this could also be because of the culture too. Its interesting how much of an impact culture has on religion.

It was a good talk and discussion, one that I learned a lot from. I called Jake and talked to him for a while. I miss him. I then had lunch and then called my mom. It was good to hear her voice. I missed talking to Nathan and my dad (as brief as it was).

The rest of the afternoon was spent getting a Children’s sermon together and working on written work for the time capsule. At 3:45 David, Jeff, and Suzanne left for some coffee. As they were about to leave, Jeff forgot what my name was when he was referring to me, so he called me Thing-O instead. It wasn’t derogatory, but playful! So that’s my new nickname around the office. Thing-O. Instead of going to have coffee, I stayed behind to work, since I have limited days in the office this week. There was a great wind storm this afternoon and evening and it was rattling the whole church. It made me nervous, but finally at 4:40 everybody came back.

For dinner we had these chicken patty things and some fried rice. Chocolate cake was made for dessert. We watched the news, Deal or No Deal, and Scrap Heap Challenge. I then went on to read my book. I actually finished my book tonight. As I was reading I thought a lot about Jake and my love for him. It made me miss him too.

I then did some writing which is what I am doing right now. I’m sorry you won’t get this for a bunch of days. That will give you more things to do next Tuesday (well, your Monday evening). I’ll only have internet next week on Tuesday and Thursday. Tomorrow is my balloon day. Its been a big frustration with the balloons themselves, so I will be glad to have them over and done with!