On the 20th December 2005 St George church located in Hurstville hosted a carol services featuring music and a message both in English and Mandarin which had attracted ‘over 200 church members and guests’ consisting of people mainly from the large Chinese community living nearby.
The Sydneyanglicans.net reported the Reverend Allan Beaven believes the bilingual carol services sung with a ‘traditional Christmas carol tune’ must be adopted or else ‘no one would understand’. He said: “There is a vast Chinese populace around our church and it’s a growing community. It attracts people when they hear the songs in their own language.”
Reverend Beaven insists it isn’t confusing saying: “When people are singing together, the melody is the dominant thing. We start the song together and we finish together.”
Reverend Albert Leung St George Assistant Minister and the Chinese congregation pastor say the main message preached last Sunday was: “God’s mercy and grace which He has shown through Jesus Christ because we have all sinned.”
Reverend Leung believes the multi lingual service has been a wonderful tool in attracting Chinese people saying: “When you share the gospel with people you must use their heart language so you can fully communicate with them and so they can fully understand.”
Reverend Beaven considers the most important thing is all churches regardless of their language difference should be working together to share the Gospel with all people. Reverend Leung concur saying: “When we combine together we show people in Australia how we can be one no matter what our nationality. In Christ we are one body and one family.”