Sydney’s One Special Evangelist — Book launch Wednesday 14 September 2022
The Australian College of Theology invites you to a Book Launch for our newest book in the ACT Monograph Series, Sydney’s One Special Evangelist: John C. Chapman and the Shaping of Anglican Evangelicalism and Australian Religious Life 1968-2001, by the Rev Dr Baden Stace.
When and Where:
Wednesday 14 September 2022. Start: 1:00 for 1:15 pm End: 2:15 pm Read more
In a Pandemic, people need to be ready for Eternity
Today is the 91st anniversary of Arthur Stace hearing the gospel at St. Barnabas’ Broadway, on Wednesday 6th August 1930.
In the midst of a global pandemic, the message of Eternity is as relevant as ever.
(Photo of Arthur Stace by Les Nixon, December 1952.)
“Eternity to be proclaimed above Sydney Harbour” — Friday 5th June
Here’s a media release relating to a planned documentary on Arthur Stace:
“20 years after ETERNITY was shared with the world at the Sydney Millennium Fireworks and in the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, the one-word sermon will appear above the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Friday 5 June at 8.30am. (and again at 3:00pm)
The message lives on
“Mr Eternity could never have imagined he would have crowds of Sydney-siders remembering him 50 years after his death, but that’s what happened at St Andrew’s Cathedral on Sunday.
But then again, he wouldn’t have imagined he would prompt city authorities to emblazon Eternity in fireworks on the Harbour Bridge at the turn of the century, either.
Arthur Stace was an alcoholic converted during the Great Depression, who then went on to devote his life to reminding people of Eternity by writing the word in perfect copperplate on Sydney Streets.…”
– Russell Powell reports on the tribute to Arthur Stace, “Mr. Eternity”, last Sunday at the Cathedral. (Photo of Arthur Stace courtesy HammondCare.)
See also this report from Eternity News, and these related posts.
Nathan Tasker sings Eternity
From Nathan Tasker’s album “Home” (iTunes), the single “Eternity (What we were made for)”.
Related:
Eternity: How Arthur Stace’s handwritten chalk message became a symbol of Sydney – Sun-Herald.
Colin Buchanan sings about Mr Eternity
“Award-winning musician Colin Buchanan will perform a special tribute tomorrow to the man who emblazoned Sydney and Melbourne with ‘Eternity’.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Arthur Stace, Buchanan wrote Eternity (Arthur Stace).
During a 10:30am commemorative service tomorrow for Stace at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, Buchanan will perform the song – which you can listen to below. …”
– Listen at Eternity newspaper.
‘Mr Eternity’ remembered at Hammondville
“This month will mark 50 years since the death of Arthur Stace at Hammondville. Internationally recognised as ‘Mr Eternity’, Stace spent 30 years anonymously writing the word ‘Eternity’ across the streets of Sydney. …
After spending more than three decades writing Eternity on footpaths (500,000 times) – with initial inspiration coming in a sermon by Baptist evangelist John Ridley – Arthur Stace spent his final years as an aged care resident at Hammondville before dying of a stroke on July 30, 1967.”
– Story from HammondCare.
We understand that HammondCare’s David Martin will be on Open House on Hope 103.2FM this Sunday evening.
Related:
Cathedral to remember ‘Mr Eternity’, Arthur Stace, this Sunday.
The Eternity waterfall after 40 years.
(Photo: Arthur as the Emergency depot Manager at the Hammond Hotel Chippendale, 1930s. Courtesy HammondCare, used with permission. © HammondCare.)
The Eternity waterfall after 40 years
Forty years ago, the Eternity plaque at the waterfall in Sydney Square was unveilled.
On Tuesday, 12th July 1977, The Sydney Morning Herald’s Column 8 wrote:
“TRUE to his words of last November, Ridley Smith, the Sydney Square architect, has immortalised the late Arthur Stace, ‘Mr Eternity’. You may recall that Column 8 campaigned unashamedly for a suitable memorial to Mr Stace, Sydney’s footpath evangelist for 20 years until 1967. Ridley Smith promised it without strings.
TODAY, the memorial above will be officially unveilled (a small explanatory plaque is yet to come). Yesterday Column 8 had an informal peek. Mr Stace would be proud. There, set in aggregate near the Sydney Square waterfall, in letters almost 21cm (8 in) high, is the famous copperplate message. ‘Eternity’. The one-word sermon gleams in wrought aluminium. There’s no undue prominence. No garish presentation. Merely the simple ‘Eternity’ on the pebbles, as Arthur Stace would have wanted it.”
In 1994, journalist Alan Gill wrote, “The waterfall adjoins a modest cafeteria. [The Architect of St. Andrew’s House and Sydney Square, Ridley] Smith once told me that he hoped visitors would say ‘Meet you at Eternity’ as well as ‘Meet you in Eternity’.” (1)
Ridley Smith (pictured) was named for evangelist John G. Ridley, who was a friend of his father. In November 1932, Arthur Stace had been in the congregation at the Burton Street Tabernacle in Darlinghurst when John Ridley preached on the need to be ready for eternity. It was this sermon which inspired Stace to begin his 34 year campaign of writing that word on the streets of Sydney.
Arthur Stace died on 30 July 1967, fifty years ago this month.
Did the ‘small explanatory plaque’ mentioned by Column 8 ever appear? In 1994, Alan Gill wrote that some complained “the present inscription is ‘out of the way’ and doesn’t explain who Arthur Stace was. Other admirers of Arthur disagree. They believe the ‘odd’ location of the present tribute and the absence of an explanation are part of that blend of mystery and surprise that ‘Mr Eternity’ himself would appreciate.”
(Top photo showing the waterfall on the day of the unveilling, and the photo of Architect Ridley Smith in 2009, courtesy Ramon Williams, Worldwide Photos. Ramon adds, “Ridley Smith sprinkled water around the ‘Eternity’ replica so as to help photograph it.” While the pavement around the memorial has been replaced, “Eternity” on the pebbles remains, as seen in this 2014 photo.)
(1) Alan Gill, “Sydney’s Phantom Preacher”, The Catholic Weekly, 31 August 1994.
Seventeen years closer to Eternity
Seventeen years ago, Sydney celebrated the beginning of 2000 by displaying on the Harbour Bridge the word Eternity in the iconic copperplate handwriting of Arthur Stace.
A lot of water has passed under the bridge (literally) since then, and in many ways the world has changed. But the basic need of men and women is the same – to hear the gospel and be saved.
In 2017, be encouraged to continue to trust Christ, and to live in the light of eternity. Read the story of Arthur Stace in our Resources section.
(Keep in mind the evangelistic opportunities which could come with the 50th anniversary of the death of Arthur Stace.)
Thanksgiving for Ridley Smith
There will be a Thanksgiving service for Ridley Smith at St. Andrew’s Cathedral at 10:30am on Friday 3rd January 2014.
Ridley, who died just before Christmas, is best known to many as the Architect who designed St. Andrew’s House and Sydney Square.
We also have Ridley Smith to thank for perpetuating the “Eternity” symbol chalked around Sydney by Arthur Stace for so many years.
In 1977, he had Eternity, in cast aluminium letters eight inches high, set in pebbles at the bottom of the Sydney Square waterfall.
(Photo of Ridley Smith with thanks to Ramon Williams, Worldwide Photos – taken at the opening of additions to Gymea Baptist Church, 29th November, 2009.)
Sydney Anglican 2014 united mission campaign
Dominic Steele and Baden Stace share some exciting news –
“At Synod last year, we resolved to pursue a united Mission Campaign across the Diocese in 2014.
The vision for this campaign is that it be a city-wide and uniting-force, providing a platform from which local churches can mission effectively and cooperatively in 2014.”
See jesusbrings.com.au – and watch the video.
If you skip the e-mail signup to watch the video first, be sure to sign up further down the page to get updates. You can also download the video to show in church or in your groups.
Please pray that this might bring great glory to the Lord Jesus – and also bring many people to rejoice in knowing him.
Eternity at the Cathedral
The theme for the Queen’s Birthday Convention III at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney is Eternity.
Monday 14th June 2010, 10:00am – 5:00pm.
Details here.
(Related: The story of Arthur Stace.)
Ten years closer to Eternity
Ten years ago, Sydney celebrated the beginning of 2000 by displaying on the Harbour Bridge the word Eternity in the iconic copperplate handwriting of Arthur Stace.
A lot of water has passed under the bridge (literally) since then, and in many ways the world has changed. But the basic need of men and women is the same – to hear the gospel and be saved.
In 2010, please be encouraged to continue to trust Christ, and to live in the light of eternity. Read the story of Arthur Stace in our Resources section.
Archbishop Peter Jensen’s 2008 Synod Presidential Address
The audio file of Archbishop Peter Jensen’s Presidential Address to the 2008 Synod meeting of Sydney Diocese – given late this afternoon – is now available at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Connect09 and GAFCON were among the key topics covered. Worth hearing – the 28MB file runs for 80 minutes.
The text of Archbishop Jensen’s address is also available. (Photo: Anglican Media Sydney.)
The Archbishop speaks about Canon RBS Hammond, Rector of St. Barnabas’ Broadway in the 1930s. “RBS” is mentioned in this story about Arthur Stace, “Mr. Eternity” – a man who made Sydney his mission field in an innovative way.
Chappo says… Just start talking
In characteristic style, John Chapman says: “This could be just the very thing you’ve been waiting for. It mightn’t be the very thing you’re waiting for – but it’s the very thing you should have been – so if you haven’t been, I’d give it a go anyway.”
John’s commending “Just Start Talking”, a terrific new resource from Sydney’s Evangelism Ministries in time for Connect 09.
Written by Lesley Ramsay and Baden Stace, and presented on DVD by Colin Buchanan and Samantha Boog, “Just Start Talking” is a three week course designed to help ordinary Christians get Jesus into their day-to-day conversations.
Read more about “Just Start Talking” at SydneyAnglicans.net and order copies from Evangelism Ministries (phone 02 9265 1582). To see a video preview, follow this link.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…