Sale (& then Bairnsdale)

August 2, 2009 (click on pics for larger images)

Sale and Bairnsdale are not technically linked to each other, I don't think, except that Gary Stephens, minister of Bairnsdale, is the Interim Moderator of Sale. Gary therefore arranged for us to "kill two birds with one stone" and visit both parishes on the same day. The only downside of this was that we didn't see the Bairnsdale congregation at its "main" worship service in the morning, joing them only for their evening service. The upside was that it saved me a Sunday, which turned out to be pretty vital to squeezing in all my designated parish visits before the end of my Moderatorial year... so thank you Gary!

SALE is where the Princes Highway and the South Gippsland Highway come back together, having seperated some 200 or 250 kms earlier in Dandenong and tracing a massive teardrop through south west Gippsland.

Sale is one of those places where the congregation to some extent still lives in the shadow of the dark days of church union in the late 70s. The congregation lost its building and many of its people to the Uniting Church and took years to regroup and rebuild; a struggle that in some ways is ongoing, the congregation never yet having been able to reclaim the numerical strength and vibrancy of pre-union days.

That's not to take anything away from the people who are there. Their perseverance in difficult circumstances is itself a testimony to the Spirit of God who sustains and strengthens his people and they exhibited that heart-felt desire to reach out to their community for Christ that I have become familiar with even in the smaller congregations of our state. One young family with two little children provide hope for the future - especially when the mother comes from Glasgow!

The Baptist Church in Sale seems to be thriving, with their old traditional building near the centre of town on the market to be leased, no doubt to bring in some commercial income, while the congregation has moved to the warehouse-type facility on the edge of town which tends to be favoured by youthful contemporary worshippers.

 The Uniting Church, on the other hand, still occupies the magnificent St Columba's (former Presbyterian) Church in the heart of the town but from what I hear it is struggling for numbers and has suffered some division recently.

I often wonder what the scope for ecumenical co-operation might be in country parishes like Sale?

In an interesting addendum, some weeks later (Sept 8, to be precise) we were cooling off in a rock pool in Litchfield Park NT, having visited the Darwin church for the weekend, when we got into conversation with an older couple who were also enjoying the clear, fresh, spring water.

They were on holiday from Sale and are members of the Baptist Church. I tried to get some insight into what the "key" was that enabled it to thrive while all the other denominations in town are struggling. As far as they were aware it was schools ministry. They hadn't been personally involved, so they couldn't give me much detail, but they spoke about their ministers, with other young people, "getting into the schools".

It's not much to go on, but it is certainly something to think about......