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An Introduction to CHRISTIANITY in Australia

Christianity takes its name from Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth was born some 2000 years ago to a woman named Mary in a town called Bethlehem, a short distance from Jerusalem. At around the age of thirty he was baptised in the River Jordan by John the Baptist and began his mission as a preacher and miracle-worker. He announced that "the Reign of God was dawning", and called for people to welcome it. His miracles particularly helped the poor and the sick. In healing them and forgiving their sins he showed that they already enjoyed fellowship with God. Much of his preaching challenged the religious leaders of the day, especially when he told them that many outcasts and sinners would be welcomed at the banquet in God's reign before they were. His bold proclamation provoked the ire of the religious and civil authorities, and his ministry came to an abrupt end when he was crucified by the Roman authorities on a hill outside Jerusalem.

During his ministry Jesus gathered around him many disciples who believed his message and wanted to spread it. These disciples testified that three days after his death he was raised by God. He appeared to many of them and strengthened them in their faith. Their proclamation on that day (the first Easter Day) was that "The Lord has truly risen". Before he left the disciples Jesus promised that he would send the Holy Spirit who would abide with them so that they would remember all that he had taught them and lead them into all truth. Following his command, and under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the disciples continued to proclaim the gospel he preached and confessed their faith in the Lord, the Christ, the Son of God.

The Bible is the record of God's works and Jesus' mission. It is a collection of books written over more than one thousand years. The general name given to the group of books that comes from the time before Jesus is the Old Testament, or Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus often referred to these scriptures in his preaching, and they were also used after his death and resurrection by his disciples. The other group of books in the Bible is the New Testament, or Christian Scriptures. They tell of Jesus' life, teaching and works, contained in four Gospels. The history of the earliest communities of his followers is contained in the Acts of the Apostles (disciples) and in numerous letters - many by the disciple Paul - written to those communities as they spread across the world. Paul addressed these communities as "the Church of God". The message he preached was that through faith in Jesus the Christ Christians are saved.

Christians believe that there is only one God. This God is known and experienced through the works that God has done throughout history. Christians also believe that Jesus Christ is the definitive revelation of God. In saying that Jesus is the Son of God they say that he is God. The Creed they profess, the Nicene Creed, speaks of the one God as three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Creed uses the image of light to communicate the meaning of this belief when it speaks of the Son as being "God from God and light from light". A formula expressing the belief that Jesus is the Son of God - that he is God - was worked out in the fifth century: Jesus is one person with two natures, a human and a divine nature.

Christians worship God and seek to live according to his commands. Sunday is the traditional day of worship; Christmas, celebrating Jesus' birth, and Easter are major festivals. Christians believe that God is everywhere and worship, prayers and study may be held anywhere. Christian buildings of worship are usually called churches or cathedrals and are the centres of parish or community life. They often have adjacent halls which are used for community activities including youth groups, playgroups, pre-schools, before and after school care, mothers' unions and prayer or Bible classes. Churches are usually identified by a large cross placed above the entrance or on a tower or steeple. The two most common symbols used for Christianity are a cross and a fish. Jesus died on a cross. The letters of the Greek words for fish spell the initial letters of the Greek words for 'Jesus Christ, God's son, Saviour'.

Christian worship involves many elements: listening to the Word of God and considering its application to daily life; remembering the works of God, particularly the death and resurrection of Jesus and the Last Supper he celebrated with his disciples; petitioning God for the current needs of the community and the world. There are other important rituals in the Christian community: Baptism initiates a person into Christianity and the community; marriage vows are exchanged before God and the community; the dead are brought to the church for a funeral at which the deceased is commended to God and the community says their last farewell.

Christian action springs from the Word of God, the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the hope of "a new heaven and a new earth". Christians strive to live a moral life following the teaching of Jesus, especially his word that the two great commandments are to love God and love our neighbour. Their conviction about "the dawning of the reign of God" leads to an involvement in many activities such as caring for the poor and the sick, offering education to the needy, and speaking up on behalf of the marginalised.

After the death and resurrection of Jesus, Christianity spread from Jerusalem across the world. Each local church developed its own characteristics while remaining united in the faith with all the other local churches. Broadly speaking there were two large families of churches, one in the eastern Roman Empire (centred on Constantinople, now Istanbul) and the other in the western empire (centred on Rome). Over the centuries Christians have become divided. The eastern churches experienced a major rift in the fifth century, separating what are now referred to as the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. Early in the eleventh century there was a major rift between the east and the west, and the Churches of Constantinople and Rome separated. In the sixteenth century the churches in the west experienced division at the time of the Protestant Reformation and the Counter-Reformation in the Roman Catholic Church. The separate identity of the Protestant and Anglican Communion of churches dates from this time. Since the beginning of the twentieth century there have been many efforts on the part of the churches to re-establish unity.

There are about 2 billion Christians in the world today which is about 33% of the population. Christianity is the major religion in Europe, North and South America and Australasia. In the 2006 Australian Census about 64% or 13.5 million people stated an affiliation with Christianity.

Formal Christianity came to Australia in 1788 with the Reverend Richard Johnson, a Church of England (Anglican) minister, who sailed with the First Fleet. He was licensed as chaplain to the Fleet and the settlement. On 3 February 1788 he conducted the first Christian service in Australia under a gum tree, taking as his text Psalm 116:12: 'How can I repay the Lord for all His goodness to me?" With his wife, Mary he administered to 1,100 convicts, soldiers and settlers of several religions and many denominations of Christianity, financed the first church building completed in 1793 and established the colony's first school near Circular Quay.

Although the first public Roman Catholic Mass was celebrated in 1803, regular services did not begin until the arrival of the first two official Catholic Chaplains to the colony in 1820. In 1821 Governor Lachlan Macquarie laid the foundation stone of St Mary's Chapel in Sydney but the first Catholic church was not completed until 1833 in Parramatta. Presbyterian settlers came from Scotland and Ulster and built a church on the Hawkesbury River near Windsor in 1809. Methodist classes began in Windsor in 1812 and the first church was built in Castlereagh in 1817. The first Orthodox Church service in Australia was celebrated on board a Russian ship moored in Sydney Cove during Easter 1820. Regular Orthodox parish life began in Sydney and Melbourne in 1895. The first Congregationalist church was established in Tasmania in 1822. The first Baptist services were held in Sydney in 1831. In 1838 Lutherans suffering religious persecution in Germany arrived in South Australia. Salvation Army meetings began in Adelaide in the late 1870s and the first ministers arrived in 1881. In 1977 the Uniting Church was formed by people from the Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational Churches.

Today, many denominations of Christianity are represented in Australia. The three largest groups are the Roman Catholic, the Anglican and the Uniting Churches. Christianity has had a significant influence on the development of Australia, on its political and legal systems and institutions, and on the principles that underpin our democracy.

Reference:
Penney, Sue. 2000, World Beliefs and Cultures: Christianity, Heinemann Library
Religious Tolerance.org
Encarta Encyclopaedia Search Christianity
National Council of Churches in Australia
NSW Ecumenical Council