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The next chapter

August 12, 2007

On Sunday we welcome Ian, Narelle and Beth into our fellowship. What for? To work with us to keep the story going. Ours is a long and old story.

In Jakarta it began around 1819 when some missionaries bought some land in order to start a school for local people. They also built a bamboo chapel which was replaced with the core of the present church in 1831. The beginnings of the story are about missionary work to Chinese people as well as to what was then called Malays. Walter Medhurst and others had pioneered not only Chinese schools but the printing of both Javanese and Chinese texts (possibly using the present Menteng vicarage as the printers shop). The chapel also served as a place for the English community to worship. The story is fascinating and has many episodes (you can read it in Andrew Lake’s book Changes and Chances).

Since those days All Saints gained its present name (in the 1950s) and established itself as the pioneer ministry fellowship for the English speaking community.  The original parish covered all of Java and the nearby islands (the chaplains often making long journeys to various plantations and later mines). More recently we have developed strong links with a variety of local Christian organisations so that we can contribute to the ministries they are doing.

It is possible to think of All Saints as a kind of chaplaincy church which looks after expatriates while they are away from home. But this alone would not do justice to its beginnings. Mutual support and fellowship I think has always been a core of this church. But the purpose of this support has varied. Each generation makes choices both about the fellowship and what it is supposed to be supporting. In this next chapter of the story both these choices will be very clear.

The choice for mutual Christian (ie focused on Jesus through his Word by his Spirit)  fellowship will be made with difficulty because of the many alternatives and demands on us. But I urge you to make the choice in favour of it because without Christian fellowship there is no church -  just ceremonies and events. The purpose could be a self-defeating one which aimed to meet our own needs. But it could be like the founders. To seek mutual support for the various callings the Lord has called us to. For in fact our real history did not begin in 1819. It began with the promise of God to Abraham and the commissioning of the disciples of Jesus. Our next chapter is part of that story – the Great Story.

Dale

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