The Ugly Duckling Company

       Our team split this morning to spread UDC across as much of Adelaide as we could. Sharon shared a sermon on dwelling at St. Oswald’s Anglican Church while Paul spoke on evangelism at St. John’s in Salisbury, a nearby community. Sarah and Paul were treated to the company (and later the coffee!) of assistant minister Ben, and the UDC three regrouped for a lunch and afternoon with Stephen Bloor, which featured a stormy seafront view, a lively discussion on the future of UDC Australia and, among other things, an educational introduction to the inner workings of the Australian parliamentary system. Bloor will be leading the Big Conversation in Salisbury. Ben (right) interviews Sharon before her talk at the All Nations service Sunday evening        In the evening, our party of four returned to St. John’s for Sharon’s second talk of the day. The evening service, titled All Nations, featured an intimate and relaxed service with a focus on mu...

       Today, Paul and Sharon returned to the Churches of Christ conference. The theme for the Churches of Christ conference was Living Hopefully. Paul was interviewed about the various resources we have created and then asked to take a session outlining how we see the world.

       For our first official day in Adelaide, we spent the day outside of Adelaide. Australia was kind enough to give Sharon permission to drive during our time here, and we had to take advantage of the chance to meet even more people!  Meeting members in Gladstone We drove through what a local described as South Australia’s serious farmland to a town called Gladstone. There, we met John Stead, bishop of the huge geographical district of Willochra (it’s approximately 90 percent of South Australia, to be exact). This diocese serves several rural communities in South Australia and heads up the coast from Gladstone in the general direction of the mammoth state that is Western Australia.  We returned to Adelaide in time for the opening of Churches of Christ annual conference. Paul and Sharon were interviewed as part of the general program of the evening, and all three spent the remainder of the evening making connections with local church leaders a...

       We were on the road again today, this time by bus. After a conversation with the Horsham Church of Christ leadership team, Simon saw us off at the bus station for our five hour trip through the golden countryside. Sharon and Sarah were also pleased to see their first wild kangaroo through the bus window as we crossed the border between the states of Victoria and South Australia. Tomorrow starts our first official day in Adelaide, and we’ll be busier still this week!  Sharon and Paul walk through the Glenelg neighbourhood.

       Today we said goodbye to Melbourne and officially drew a close to our first week in Australia. It's hard to believe how much such a relatively short period of time can hold; we talked, laughed and prayed with so many wonderful people in that week!  This koala is 14 meters tall! From left: Paul, Sarah, Sharon, Simon However, we're looking ahead toward even more of the same. For today, that meant a train trip to Horsham. Our new friend Simon is a Churches of Christ pastor there, and he ensured that it was a day of incredible hospitality.  Sharon and Sarah with their lovely host, Joan (right) The three of us were hosted overnight by different church members. Joan, who hosted Sharon and Sarah, had all three of us over for a delicious dinner and joined over 50 others at a local church for Paul's evening seminar.  Horsham community churchgoers gather to play and critique the Table Talk games. This time, the attendees had a chan...

Creative Ministries Pastor Abrahm Gunn hops in front of the camera in the spirit of Christmas.       Monday was the first of two days set aside for our Table Talk for Christmas filming project. We had a few brave takers, and we can't wait to see who else will be willing as the trip continues! Sarah loves these filming sessions because they provide a chance for us to get to know a little bit about the individuals that frequent Cross Culture, the congregation we've reached out to film. We can say with certainty that she knows more about snowboarding, dogs and Japanese food than she did when the day began! Bert, a theology student and gem aficionado, helps us out with our Table Talk video project.        In true UDC style, Monday was fast-paced and conversation-heavy. In addition to the Table Talk interviews, our team spoke with various clergy to better understand where the Ugly Duckling Company fits in Australian culture and to collaborate on ...

       As part of yesterday's seminar (which you can read about in yesterday's blog ), we split into small groups to explore different questions we were asked by our non-Christian friends. It's an extensive list, with topics moving from technicalities of the religion to our personal stories as Christians to how religion interacts with science to how religion interacts with other beliefs to conviction and truth to suffering and back again. We don't have all the answers.   Questions about suffering and evil: Why did God let this happen? Why is there so much suffering? Why doesn't God get rid of evil? Why does God not help us in the situations we are in? If God is love, why is there suffering? Doesn't that prove that God is selfish? If Christianity is true, how do you explain the terrible behaviour of people who claim to be Christian? Is God responsible for bad things that happen in our world? Questions about life as Christians: When did you...

After yesterday's slight lull, we went full tilt today. The morning began with a trip to Kew for a celebration of Kew Baptist Church's 160th anniversary celebration. Paul shared the message, and by the end of his talk about the power of prayer he had a quarter of the church down front, pretending to be their favourite Biblical characters in a demonstration of the "crowd of witnesses." Paul illustrates the crowd of witnesses with a crowd of witnesses at Kew Baptist Church Festivities continued with a BBQ in the church hall. Because of the special occasion, church members from all three services (the youth service, the traditional service and the Vietnamese service) and members from years past all gathered together. We got caught up in conversation with people from all of these groups, and Paul was so pleased to stumble into the pastor of the Vietnamese-speaking services. We're looking forward to working together to translate the Table Talk apps into Vietn...

In order to really take advantage of our physical presence in Australia, we have filled our schedule to the brim with meetings, seminars, services and time to work on the Resolve course. Our first Christmas tree of the season! This was also an opportunity for us to embrace the spirit of Christmas that's been following us around as we prepare for the Table Talk for Christmas season. Have you seen your first tree of the season? We sure have, just in time for the Australian summer. Steaphan Paton's 2013 piece, entitled "Cloaked combat" on display at the NGV A large part of Melbourne's culture is an emphasis on the visually stunning, which includes both an incredibly prolific street art culture but also more traditional art. The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) lives downtown and, although redesigned and built in 2002, is the oldest and biggest art museum in Australia, tracing its history back to 1861. It's stuffed with Australian art, from th...

Flinders Street Station, lit by the setting sun   Today was our chance to experience the Australian train system in its glory. Melbourne is a beautiful mix of modern aesthetics and traditional architecture. The Flinders Street Station stands out as one of the later, a beautiful rust yellow stone giant with green accents towering over streets of businesspeople weaving back and forth among the crowd.  From left: Paul, Bill, Sharon and Sarah enjoy their meeting at Syndal Baptist Church Our first trip was to the Syndal suburb, where three of the largest Baptist churches in Melbourne exist within 15 minutes of each other. We spent the morning in conversation with Bill Brown, the pastor of Syndal Baptist Church. After another changeover at Flinders Street, we headed toward Thomastown for a chance to speak with one of the Salvation Army's Divisional Leaders, Major Michael Wright. Michael's interest in the Table Talk apps is a very real reminder of their a...

        Two planes later, Paul, Sharon and Sarah have made it safe and sound to Australia and have successfully made it through days one and two in Melbourne. Because of our location for the month of November, prepare for us to refer to ourselves as the UDCDU contingent (the Ugly Duckling Company Down Under).   Cross Culture We are so fortunate to be set up with an office right along Swanston Street, which features a downtown hub for dining, the stunning architecture of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and access to the river that flows right through the city. Nestled into the midst of this, right across from the Queen Victoria Library, is Cross Culture, and therefore us! Cross Culture is a congregation of roughly 600 with services that cater to Australia's English and Mandarin-speaking populations, and they are serving as our office hosts and for the week. Resolve We've been sure to make the most of it today. Together with our ...