INTRODUCTION

In 1977, most Congregational churches in Australia entered the newly-formed Uniting Church. Nationally, Congregationalists made up 5% of the new church, Methodists 59% and Presbyterians 36%. A small number of Congregational churches opted not to join the Uniting Church; these now form part of the Fellowship of Congregational Churches.

But most people knew that, while they took their Congregational values into the Uniting Church, they were the last people in this country who would call themselves Congregationalists.

Here they tell some of their stories. By doing this I hope that they will prompt former Congregationalists to revisit their memories, and give others just a taste of what life as a Congregationalist in Australia was like.

This is not a history of Australian Congregationalism, and I am not a historian. My interest is in the area of memoir, of story.

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I had intended that this project would be confined to Victorian Congregationalists. But interstate people sent me such lovely material that I couldn’t bear to leave them out. Most of these stories, however, apply to Victorian Congregationalism.

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I stated when I began this project that I was seeking former Congregationalists who continued to hold spiritual beliefs. Several of the people who contacted me seemed to fall outside this category. They are listed among the contributors, and only the colour-coding of their folders suggests that they may not be full project participants.

I did not automatically include in this programme those who house asylum seekers or run human development programmes. Neither did I immediately exclude people whose primarily connection with Congregationalism seemed nostalgic, who follow a cult leader, or who have left the ministry, although perhaps I approached their contributions with some caution.

I felt a tolerance towards those who demonstrated a gloating pleasure in what they saw as their Congregational heresy; I once stood in their position, and it was only after theological training that I came to understand that all heresies are inadequate because they belittle God and diminish our humanness, and so they should not be a source of pride.

I excluded one contributor who clearly stated that he was uninterested in worshipping God, while I sympathised with those who found liturgical speech out of touch with contemporary secular language.

I respected the participant who arrived at the conclusion that Christian worship takes place where God’s story and humankind’s story interact, though I felt that his refusal to use the words “the will of God,” when coupled with his determination to find a form of worship which would bring sufficient people into the pews to cover church expenses, suggested that he might be building a secular organization.

I believed in the possibility of reconciling most aspects of post-modernism with faith, but retained my conviction that some such attempts are atheistic, in spite of justifications.

I found exceptional depth of spiritual understanding in three participants, two men and one woman. To my disappointment, I noted that two of these were ordained and that one was a full-time church worker. I maintained my firm Congregational belief in the Priesthood of all Believers but perhaps my unspoken bias towards the laity was somewhat undermined.

Overall, I loved the former Congregationalists who phoned, e-mailed or sent reflections by mail. I found them thoughtful, astute, concerned, and as I remember them from my childhood, people of the greatest integrity. They were creative in the form of their contributions and their kindness and generosity towards me were overwhelming.

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I was touched that many people seemed so pleased to be asked about our shared Congregational heritage.

I am so glad that I have been able to make a contribution, said one participant. My taking part . . . has given me a chance to unload some of my long-cherished attachment to a church which has been a central part of my life both for spiritual and personal support. This has stood me in great stead throughout the years because in my academic environment I have had to contend with very powerful contrary forces.

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In its fragmentation, this work reflects my passionate interest in the theological possibilities of post-modernism.

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I have tried to keep in mind Greg Dening’s advice to writers in ‘Challenges to Perform: History, Passion and the Imagination.’ Unlike me, Dening was a historian, and a very fine one. “Be mysterious,” he said. “The highest ambition of a writer should be to liberate a creative reader. Be experiential, compassionate, entertaining and reforming.”

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Thankyou to everybody who took part in this project.




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