For Jeanne @ A Peaceful Day...

Smith Wigglesworth, whose faith was so great he raised 23 people from the dead during his ministry said of Australia:
The last & greatest revival will come out of Australia...

Last night I read Col Stringer's Discovering Australia's Christian Heritage ~ which at least tells you it's not a hard read even given that as a Lit Major I can speed read to some purpose.

Now as these things go this is not either a very insightful book nor one that uncovers a hidden heritage ~ not so far as I was concerned.  None of the Australian material was new to me ~ & probably not to anyone with even a smattering of Australia's Christian heritage.  However there are positives.

This would be an excellent adjunct to other Australian material or as an introductory study.  It opens with a general study on how God views heritage & the importance He places on it then moves onto the fact none of the voyagers of other faiths ever considered settling here & that the first name for Australia was Great South Land of the Holy Spirit. It then moves onto the  founding fathers.  There is at least one quote from each person discussed displaying the strength of their faith. So far so good but major players like Elizabeth Fry, who sent bibles with every woman who was transported & organised for there to be bible studies on the long trip out, are overlooked.

Things like the godly foundations of our flag, constitution, schools, legal system etc are discussed as is our relationship & godly blessing as regards Israel.  The really jarring thing for me is the Americanised discussion of our Education system.  Surely there is enough Australian material available for quoting without resorting to the problems in America's educational system!  Ditto the long detour into Hawaii's rewriting of Captain Cook's history.  Interesting as these things may be they are not really pertinent to the central theme ~ Australia's Christian Heritage.

There is a chapter of exhortation, encouraging people to safeguard their heritage & the last thing is a sample of prayers & prophecies as regards Australia, including a prayer from our first PM.

Jeanne, you would probably appreciate this more than I did.  It didn't seem to really say anything much, was quite repetitive in places, & not particularly well or interestingly written ~ but then I have read some of the best there is when it comes to history & this is just not up there.  However I think it could work quite well for upper primary/lower HS students, giving a general overview of our heritage.