It's taken me a long time to get around to reading this book. Pity, because it's just a little dated now, having been written in the mid 1980's. Basically, "Under a Southern Cross" is about introducing ordinary Aussies to a new mate called Jesus. I'm not sure that the sterotypical Aussie male, as pictured here, still exists in large numbers, but it's still true that the churches in Australia are not making a huge impact on the secular millions. Hannaford takes a fairly cynical view of the "church subculture", insisting that Aussies are much more likely to feel at home in a pub than in a church building.

In some ways, "Under a Southern Cross" might be seen as an opposite view to the view of a Christian subculture that I have espoused on this web-site. He is saying that we need to get out of our buildings and our ecclesiastical program mentality and spend more time making friends with our non-churched neighbours. In other words, we need to get back in touch with "our" Aussie culture. (I put "our" in quotation marks, because I make no claims to ownership of this thing called Aussie culture. Do I have to love the culture before I can love the people?)

Anyway, my answer to all this is twofold. Firstly, the problem is that our "church subculture" has not truly been "Christian subculture". In fact, what Hannaford is advocating is more in line with my ideas about what a Christian subculture should be. Interacting with our neighbours in creative friendliness is simply a part of the Christian subculture concept. This is what Jesus did (dinner parties with tax-collectors, prostitutes, etc) so it's what we should do as His followers.

Secondly, in recognising that Australia is in need of mission rather than mere church growth, there is an implication that we still have something that they don't have. Sure, Jesus likes us Aussie blokes, and I'm sure He would be turning up at a few back yard barbecues if He had arrived here rather than 1st century Israel. But friendship is only a doorway for the Gospel, and not the Gospel itself. We cannot afford to lose our orientation here. It's about doing mission, but doing it effectively, recognising local culture.

The book is very challenging. Non-Australian readers, I suspect, would get a fascinating look at us Australians from this book. It's something I very much have to grapple with.