The Beginnings of the Church in Australia

Honoured guests,

It is my great privilege to be standing before you today and telling you a little about the beginnings
of the Church in Australia.

Christianity was brought here by the Reverend Richard Johnson. He came to this country with the
First Fleet in 1788, and was chaplain to the first European colony in this land, right here in Sydney.

I have spent several years studying the life of Richard Johnson, and feel like there are no surprises
left for me on this subject. Yet while preparing this talk, I came across something that astonished me
– a very old connection between the Church of Australia, and the Church of your homeland, China. I
will speak more about that in a moment.

Johnson was an evangelical. This was a time, the late eighteenth century, when the influence of
evangelicals was growing in the Church of England. The evangelicals empahsised the gospel, the
message that all should turn to Christ for eternal life. Their preaching was passionate, and wherever
they went, lives were changed. The drunk became sober, the thief took up honest labour, and the
adulterer returned to his wife. Their message often appealed most to the poor, who found a hope
that took them beyond their difficult and dreary lives.

In 1783, a group of evangelical men formed a small group called “The Eclectic Society” in London –
the word “eclectic” means “mixed”, for they came from different backgrounds. What they shared in
common was a great desire to see the gospel message spread across the whole world. One member
of the new group was John Newton, who authored “Amazing Grace”, the most popular hymn in the
English language. I believe it is also known in China.

When they heard that a colony was to be established in Australia, The Eclectic Society was eager to
ensure a chaplain was sent out with the colonists. John Newton had influential contacts in the
Government, and he was able to arrange for his friend, the Reverend Richard Johnson, to be sent
out with the First Fleet.

Who was this man, that he would voluntarily go on such a hazardous journey?

Richard Johnson was born in the village of Welton, Yorkshire in 1755, and grew up on a farm. His
family owned a fair amount of land in Welton, and it was not surprising that he was sent to grammar
school as a boy, in the town of Hull. There he learned his Greek and Latin, but he learned something
more. The headmaster was a man named Joseph Milner, who was regarded as an intellectual. Soon
after taking up his post at the school, he had become an evangelical – much to the disgust of the
town elite!

It seems that it was at Joseph Milner’ grammar school that Johnson became an evangelical. After
finishing school, Johnson returned to farming for a while, but he felt God’s call upon his heart. It was
probably with assistance from Milner that Richard Johnson was able to enter the University of
Cambridge in 1780. Johnson was accepted into Magdalene College, which was then the only college
that would welcome evangelicals.
He was fortunate to study under two brilliant tutors, Samuel Hey and William Farish. His course
consisted of Philosophy, Classics, and Religion. He seems to have been a diligent student, for he was
awarded a scholarship in his second year, and graduated with honours in 1784. His first appointment
was at a small parish, Boldre, in England’s south. He did not stay there long, though he made some
lifelong friends there.

By early 1785, Richard Johnson had moved to London, where he was assistant to Henry Foster, a
famous evangelical preacher. Henry Foster was a founding member of the Eclectic Society, and it
was through him that Johnson met John Newton, who offered him the chaplaincy.

Johnson was frightened of the long voyage to Australia. Here is what he said after Newton
approached him –

For several nights and days both my sleep and appetite were in a great measure taken away. I did
little else but weep and sigh, whilst I trust both by fervent prayer and fasting, I implored divine
direction what to do in an affair of so weighty moment.

He was frightened of the dangers he would face when he got there. He was also upset at the
thought of leaving friends and family. But his deep compassion finally convinced him to go, and he
wrote –

..when I considered the… necessity of some person going out in that capacity, how the offer of the
appointment was made to me, my situation at that time… the hopes and prospects of being rendered
useful… the power and promises of God to protect me in any place or situation… and the prospect of
a glorified reward hereafter… These considerations over balanced and removed all my scruples and
fears and induced me to give my free consent to enter upon this hazardous expedition.

John Newton was thrilled with his decision, and wrote to him –

I consider you in a much higher and more important view than merely a friend of mine, or than any of
my brethren in the ministry at home. If the Lord bestows upon you, and maintains in you, the true
spirit of a missionary, I conceive of you as the greatest and most honoured minister in our Established
Church, as much superior to an archbishop as [a mountain is above a hill] Teneriffe is more elevated
than Highgate Hill. My heart hopes that you will carry with you a spark, from which, in God's due
time, light may proceed to enlighten the whole Southern Hemisphere.

And so Richard Johnson set out with the Fleet to the strange new land of Australia. We will set him
aside for just a few moments. I mentioned before that there was a connection between the
Australian Church and the Chinese Church, and I want to explain that now.

One of the members of the Eclectic Society was the Reverend John Venn, who was a founder of the
Church Missionary Society – known as CMS – in 1799. His son, Henry Venn, became secretary of CMS
in 1841, and is considered one of the greatest mission strategists of the 19 th century. It was under
Henry Venn that the first CMS missionaries entered China in 1844. These men sought to make a
positive contribution to China – as well as preaching the message of Christ, they set up many schools
and hospitals.
Henry Venn himself made one rather interesting contribution to the Chinese church. He strongly
believed that indigenous churches should be independent from the missionary country. Venn stated
that these churches needed to be “self-supporting, self-governing, and self-extending”. As you know,
it is from this phrase that the Chinese church takes its name – The Three-Self Patriotic Movement.

And so it is that the Church of Australia and the Church of China have an ancestor in common. We
can both trace a line back to the Eclectic Society in London’s 18 th century. In a way, we are cousins!
So far as I know, this connection between our churches has never been discovered or published
before. Perhaps this knowledge, and your visit, will herald a new era of good-will, respect and co-
operation between our churches.

But we should return to Richard Johnson, travelling to Australia with the First Fleet.

After a difficult eight month voyage, the colony of Sydney was established on January 26th, 1788. On
February 3rd, Johnson conducted the first ever Christian service in Australia. The Governor had
urged him to preach only on moral subjects, but Johnson instead preached Psalm 116:12 - “What
shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?” This was no mere moralising, but rather
a bold declaration of God’s grace and mercy. Johnson was determined to proclaim the message of
salvation, whatever the difficulties.

And the difficulties were many. Life was hard in this new land, and they lacked most of the comforts
available at home in England. The first governor, Arthur Phillip, largely ignored him. His temporary
successor, Francis Grose, was actively hostile toward him. Despite this, Johnson worked tirelessly.

There is one great example of his hard work. For five years he had been asking the governor for a
church building. He finally decided to build one himself. For over a year he worked on this new
building mostly with his own hands, and he used his own money to pay for materials. When it was at
last finished it seated over 500 people.

Sadly, the church stood for only about two years. In 1795 a more pious governor had been
appointed, John Hunter. He was worried about the immorality running rampant in the colony, and
he issued an order that everyone should go to church each Sunday. Someone was unhappy with this
edict, and set the church alight one night. The walls were made of wattle branches, woven together
over a frame of timber, and the roof was thatch. It burnt beautifully.

Not surprisingly, Johnson realised that he was making little impression on those under his care. This,
and the demanding environment, sent him into a deep depression. By the time he returned to
England in 1800, he felt as if he had accomplished little.

Johnson may have left Sydney disappointed, but history shows that he was an important pioneer –
he might be called Australia’s forgotten pioneer. Perhaps his most significant early contribution was
in agriculture. He had spent his young life on a Yorkshire farm, and was reckoned the best farmer in
the new colony. Early Sydney teetered on the brink of starvation several times, so his farming work
was vital.

Johnson was also a pioneer in education, and the first generation of colonial children owed their
schooling to his efforts. He recruited teachers, raised funds for them, provided reading books, and
taught lessons himself in the tiny private schools that popped up. When the first official Sydney
school opened in 1798, it met in Johnson’s church building, and he served as superintendent. He
also spent countless hours visiting adults, distributing spelling books and Bibles, and teaching them
to read. Johnson made valuable contributions in other areas too, such as the law, charity and
indigenous relations. These efforts grew out of his evangelical convictions.

Yet if we were to ask Richard Johnson was his greatest legacy was, I don’t think he would point to
anything he had done. Rather, he would have us listen to what he said. Johnson wrote a single book
in his lifetime. It was very small, and not especially well written – but it was written from the heart,
and shows us the great passion of his life.

It was addressed to the people of Sydney in his day, yet it is a timeless message for all people and all
ages. I will quote a small part of his book to you now -

“I beg you, brothers - listen to this appeal. Your souls are precious. They are precious in the sight of
God. They are precious to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are precious to me. Oh, I wish you yourselves
were as aware of their value...

I humbly hope that my work has not been wasted. Some of you, I hope, have been convinced of your
foolishness, sin and danger. I hope you have earnestly sought, and happily found, mercy with God
through Christ. You are now reconciled with God, and can approach him as a merciful Father and
Friend..." [Paraphrase]

This is the message Johnson dedicated his life to. This is the reason that he came to Australia - to
preach this message to the colonists. This message has been preached in this church, St Phillips, for
200 years, and it is this message that is still being preached here today.

Thank you very much for your time.