Abbots Langley Methodist Church
Magazine
August 2007

Fresh Expressions of Church

from Alan Bannister

-If you recall, in May we included an item about the upcoming Vision Day on 26 th January 2008 – an invitation to church members and clergy of various denominations to encourage a new “mission” movement locally. “Cast your net on the other side”, “ do things differently”, and so on. Well, Alan and Margaret Bannister have kindly shared with us some different church services and ways of doing things which they have experienced on their travels abroad. Here’s the first of three articles. (Editor)

St. Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore

We didn't really need an excuse to set out once more on the geriatric 'gap year' circuit, but excuses don't come much better than meeting your Australian grandchild for the first time.

We always try to attend a Sunday church service when on our travels, so here is a summary of the experience.

Our first day in Singapore , and unfortunately we arrived at St. Andrew's Cathedral just as the congregation were leaving. However, we were warmly greeted by an elderly Chinese couple who took us under their wing and told us about the classic Victorian building. If it was not for the whitewash finish, it could have been a large suburban parish church anywhere in England . They told us about the importance and scope of the work of the church in the community, and recalled the Cathedral being used as a hospital at the time of the Japanese invasion.

Chinese Methodist Church, Singapore

Later in the day we found two Methodist churches – both originally set up as seaman's missions, but we were too late to join in their worship.

From Singapore we flew to northern Queensland in Australia . Hot and sunny during the day, but around five each evening the rain came down like a warm waterfall drenching anyone it caught. We were staying in Port Douglas and on Sunday morning we went for a stroll on the edge of the shore around the open-air craft market which had been set up next to the little wooden church of St. Mary 's by the Sea. Now run as a non-denominational evangelical church we were introduced to locals and visitors from around the world. Visitors were invited to say a few words about where we came from and so we sent greetings from Abbots Langley as well as telling them about the Watford Chaplaincy scheme.

Probably the most memorable features of the little wooden church were the large picture window set behind the alter, hymn text on a digital projector and the guitar and drums. Not what we are used to, but the view out over the sea was magnificent, even if it was a bit of a distraction.