My book Why Religions Work explores religious tolerance issues. It could not be more relevant at the moment with the world in its present state.
This blog has concentrated recently on the wonderful pilgrimages I have been on - to the Holy Land and to Turkey and more recently to Holy Georgia , Greece "In the Steps of St Paul" , Ethiopia and most recently my experiences in Iran.

"If I was allowed another life I would go to all the places of God's Earth. What better way to worship God than to look on all his works?" from The Chains of Heaven: an Ethiopian Romance Philip Marsden

Monday 8 December 2014

Adelaide city of churches - Market Place Church

I was standing at the junction of William Street with North Terrace, heading back towards the railway station, and I was getting very wet. When I went into the South Australia Museum in Adelaide, (definitely worth a few hours visiting), the weather had been dry and warm. Now it was pouring with rain.

Suddenly I was aware of someone close at my side, and I turned to look. She was a petite lady, pretty, with a wonderful smile, and she was sharing her umbrella with me! Now that sums up the friendliness of Adelaide which I felt throughout my visit there. "I could see you were getting wet", she said simply. And with that she accompanied me right the way into the station itself, until we were under cover, before saying goodbye and slipping away into the crowd; but not before we had managed quite a conversation about our respective families, our work, our lives.


During my few weeks in Adelaide, City of Churches, I set myself the mission of visiting every single one of those Churches within the central and North Adelaide areas - 24 of them according to the leaflet I picked up at one of them on my journeying. Today I had taken time out to visit some of Adelaide's other attractions, to give my church pilgrimage a break.
But it seems God had other plans - he wasn't going to let me off even for one day - because as I walked along that North Terrace from the museum I looked up and there on the side of a passing bus was an advertisement for  

Market Place Church
"Changing the World One Step at a Time" it proudly proclaimed," and making itself Church number 25 on my list. Now I didn't get a chance to pitch up to their Sunday worship, held at 9.55 am at Flinders Park Primary School with its offices, it says, within the inner metropolitan areas. So I'm not sure if it strictly comes within the geographical scope of my pilgrimage anyway. But if you are looking for an alternative to "conventional church", whatever that is, and you are in Adelaide, why not check them out. I quote from their website:

"We don’t claim to be people who have life figured out or have it all together, instead we are just a bunch of people who have a desire to journey together and discover the wonder and greatness of who God is.
We aren’t overly that precious about being traditional when it comes to Church meetings. We just love the idea of community, hanging out and allowing Jesus to set the scene." 
And their activities for kids and youth look pretty interesting as well. And if you're not in Adelaide maybe start something similar in your own town?

3 comments:

  1. Cool idea. I'm a Unitarian, so that sounds quite compatible!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Joanne for your latest comments here. I have let this series lapse for various reasons similar to your own so must resurrect and continue with the other churches I visited in Adelaide. It was a most enjoyable project.

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