A.J. WALDOCK - AN APPRECIATION

There are some people in life, we must honestly confess, whom we wish we had never met. And there are others, whom we wish we could have known. I want to speak about Dr AJ Waldock this morning, the first minister of this church. For me he falls into the latter category. As the Baptist World Congress concludes today in Melbourne, so we honour the life of a man who many would regard as among the most noted Baptist identities in Australia in the 20^th Century. He guided this church from its beginnings in 1929 until his retirement from the ministry in 1948, and is still remembered by those among us whom he led into the Christian faith, baptism, marriage and a host of other experiences within the church. And though he has been gone almost 40 years, his influence still lives on both in the church and beyond in the life of the city. Those who sit in the Choir seats have the benefit of being able to view each week the stained glass windows on my right, placed in memory of both him and Mrs Waldock, who was also a faithful servant of Christ and his church.

Arthur John Waldock was born in Kew, Victoria in 1872. Both his parents were English, his father from the village of Ashwell in Hertfordshire, and his mother from Jersey in the Channel Isles. They were both devout Christians, and members of the Congregational Church in Kew. Both were also schoolteachers, with father John having his own Academy in Kew for some years. When Arthur was 7, his father died, and his mother was left to raise a young family of 2 children, of whom Arthur was the eldest. When he was 12 years old, Victorians would say a second tragedy struck the family when they moved to live in Sydney. Here Mrs Waldock remarried, and the family attended the Congregational Church in the eastern suburb of Woollhara.

It was while in this fellowship that Arthur had his own religious experience, and at the age of 17 his name was placed on the church's membership roll.

Speaking some years later in his presidential address in 1906, he no doubt spoke of his own experience when he declared that "Christ came to reveal the Father to this world's prodigals, and to tell them there is bread enough and to spare in their father's house, and there is no need that they should perish with hunger. He came to die for men, and open up to them the way to God". Speaking again in 1918 when president of the Baptist Union of NSW, he said that "we have been apprehended, every one of us. We have been called and chosen. We have been branded the bond slaves of Jesus Christ. We are no longer our own - we are his, who called us to service".

He was protesting, he said, against Christians who "suppose that service and sacrifice are matters of individual choice and inclination". We may not doubt that his experience of God as a young man included both these elements - a personal response to the call of God - the return of the prodigal, and the sense of commitment to the bonding with the person of Christ, leading to a life of service. In his baptism several years later after his commitment, the sense of bonding with Christ would have been made particularly real.

Whatever was the nature of that experience, it is clear that God had placed his hand upon the young man, and not long after, he began to study for the ministry, in the Congregational Church. It was while he was engaged in personal Bible study to prepare himself for ministry that he was challenged over the question of believer's baptism. As he put it later, "I had begun a course of study for the Christian ministry...[and].by an independent study of the New Testament my views of baptism underwent a change". This change of belief so affected Arthur that he sought out a second cousin named James Worboys in the NSW town of Manildra.

Worboys arranged for him to work in the town and at the same time become familiar with the Baptist fellowship there. At the age of 21 Arthur was baptized in Manildra, and then moved to the Bathurst region where he began working as a pastoral assistant. And it was while there that he applied for acceptance as a student for training for the Baptist ministry, and he was finally ordained in 1897. Times were tough for Baptist ministers in those days. His first church was at Hinton near Maitland in the Hunter Valley of NSW, with a membership of 27, and an empty bank balance. They were not able to provide a stated salary, but would do all in their power to support him as far as was comfortable. He wrote and asked for a stipend of 10 pounds a month (= $240 pw 1999), and they offered him 15 shillings a week (= $78 pw 1999). It was while at Hinton that he married his wife Charlotte, a country girl from the Bathurst region, and their son John was born. He would go on to become Professor of English Literature at Sydney University, and thus follow in the tradition of his grandparents.

Then came the call to Auburn in Sydney in 1899, and his involvement in the affairs of the Baptist Union of NSW. He must have been an impressive man, for after only 2 years, he became the secretary of the Baptist Union for the year 1901-2.

In 1904 he took on the secretaryship of the Home Mission Society, and in 1909 becomes the first full-time officer of the Union when he was appointed Superintendent of the Society. In between, in 1906, he became the President of the Baptist Union of NSW.

After 9 years he resigned from Auburn, but not before 100 members had been added to the fellowship, and churches had been started in two new suburbs of Sydney. In the church not only did he preach, but conducted the choir as well, and started open-air preaching meetings in the main street of Auburn.

AJ Waldock was a man of great energy and enterprise. It were these qualities that had no doubt attracted him to the powers that be in the Union.

In his first year's report as Superintendent he wrote that the "year was largely spent in inspecting the fields, visiting the churches..travelled 14,087 miles in the past 9 months..giving 5 sermons and lectures per week. gone to 31 of the 48 churches in the Society..the only place neglected in the Superintendent's visitations has been his home". Another report told of a journey "to the Ardlethan manse, the lonely abode of Pastor Jones.the manse is not quite finished, and as it seemed to be much the same whether one slept inside or out, we elected to stretch ourselves under the canopy of heaven, until a thunderstorm at 2am drove us into the partial shelter that was to be found under the dining room table."

And for a total of 20 years, he worked in the cause of founding and supporting the Home Mission churches of the Union. For most Baptists of the state, he was the public face of the Union, its only paid officer for most of the time, and the one encourager of struggling causes and fledging home mission workers. It is fitting that the stained glass memorial window should depict him as a St Paul, commissioning Timothy to carry out his tasks as a Christian missionary. For certainly he stood as a great warm hearted man, loyal to those under his care, and careful for their needs both spiritual and temporal. In 1922, he was honoured by the Union with the gift of 6 month's leave of absence on full stipend, and he was able to travel overseas to NZ, Canada, US, Britain and the Continent. He was impressed with the strength of Baptists in the US, and amused by their belief in themselves. "Their streets were wider, their buildings taller, their churches bigger, why even their water was wetter, than anywhere else!" In Britain he became involved in the work of the Baptist World Alliance, and spent some time in Holland on behalf of the BWA. It was this involvement for which he received his honorary Doctorate of Divinity from the Georgetown College in Kentucky.

George town College is the oldest established Baptist College in the US, founded in 1787, and one of the earliest educational in the land. The degree

was conferred in absentia upon him in 1923, and it was a badge of honour he wore with great pride.

I am breaking no confidences when I tell you that church organisations are the same as any other human institution in at least two ways:-

They need money to exist.
They develop their own political systems.

You just become the first full-time officer of the BUNSW unless those in places of influence and authority approve and support you. There were at least 3 prominent business families within the Union.

The Hugh Dixson family. Later to become Sir Hugh in recognition of his philantrophic service in Australia, particularly RPA Hospital, he was a millionaire tobacco manufacturer, and a founding member of the Petersham Baptist Church.

The Buckingham family. William Buckingham owned a large departmental store in Sydney, and was a wealthy and successful businessman. The family worshipped at Stanmore in Sydney.

The White family. William White founded a successful bakery business in Sydney, and the family also attended the Stanmore Baptist church. Some of the White family came to live in Canberra in Dr Waldock's time, and is still represented in the church by Don White.

All 3 families were strong supporters of Waldock and the Home Mission Society. In fact there was quite a large support group which developed over the years and provided money and encouragement to sustain him and the Home Mission. One of the group was a successful builder named James Greening. The Greening room is a memorial to him and his family, and one of his descendents is Norm Harris.

But it was not all plain sailing for the popular superintendent. Besides all the responsibilities of office, he had to contend with those who didn't always agree with things he said and upheld. One matter related to his view of church unity. "This is what I think", he affirmed in one address. "That neither the Baptists nor the Anglicans nor the Presbyterians nor the Methodists or the Congregationalists, nor any other branch of the Christian Church is ever going, either to express the Divine idea of the church, or fully realise the Divine Mission - apart from the other branches of the Christian Church. There may be a truer union and an effective co-ordination among the Churches without the cancellation of distinctions or the forfeiture of things that matter.the Christian faith can never be known in all its fullness till men speak of the Church as a unity. Within that federation there may be a variety of expression and custom, and emphasis in doctrine or in methods of government, but the unity will be manifest and unmistakable."

He was equally outspoken on the need for an educated ministry. "As a church" he declared, "we are determined to raise the status of our ministry - we are determined more and more to have an educated and cultured ministry. Do not be turned aside by any false notion that all God wants is a devoted heart. That is not all God wants - He wants a devoted brain and body as well.. (the ministerial office) is worthy of the richest intellectual gifts, the fullest education and culture you can bring to it".

Now these are matters we take for granted today. But 80 years ago it was a different matter. Some Baptists, in NSW at least, were so insular that they would not even talk to each other, let alone other denominations! And as for higher education and Universities! One of the leading Sydney churches was known to actively discourage its young people from undertaking a University education.

So Waldock was really sticking his neck out in regard to such ideas, and as is inevitable, when you stick your neck out, there is always someone ready to cut it off. And this happened to him. Rumblings began in some churches.

Here was the full-time officer of the Union speaking out in ways with which some did not agree. Criticisms of him began to emerge. Support for Home Missions was withheld. Questions were raised in Committees. Discontent was reported. It was only from a minority, but they were a very vocal minority. He still had the support of the overwhelming majority of the churches, but finally, he had had enough of the criticisms, and in protest he resigned from the Superintendency of the Home Mission Society and accepted the call to the church in Mosman in Sydney. In 1904 there were 20 HM preaching stations; in 1924 there were 120, an average of 5 new preaching stations per year for 20 years.

In taking up the pastorate at Mosman, he looked forward with that congregation to the final stage of his ministry. He was 52 years old. But within 3 years he was commissioned by the Baptist Union of Australia to travel the country to raise funds for the Baptist cause in Canberra, a task he carried out with typical enthusiasm. Over 8000 pounds was raised and his was the task as Secretary of the Federal Home Mission Board to select the site upon which this building stands. When I tell you that 8000 pounds in 1928 is roughly equal to $400,000 now, you will appreciate the size of the task he undertook. But more was to come. The Federal Union fathers felt led to invite him to take on the ministry of the new church as well, a challenge he was not inclined to accept. In fact it took three different approaches before he was convinced of the call of God. In a humorous vein several years later, he would report on the work in Canberra, and how tentative the early work was.

"Canberra", he said, "was a city built up by an artificial process from without, and not from a vigorous and expanding life within. It was dependent for its population upon the deportation of people who did not want to live there and who took up their abode in the spirit of rebellion and martyrdom. It was a population of exiles, who sat down by the river Molongo and wept, when they remembered Melbourne.

It was a people "who said 'They that have carried us away captive require of us song and mirth. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Melbourne, let my right hand forget her cunning.'

It was a task from which the boldest might well shrink. .but it seemed to us that the voice of God spoke.[and].we could do no other than obey..By the grace of God we have gathered around us a solid company of loyal and devoted people. A spiritual fellowship has been created, in which people have found a true home, formed friendships, and discovered opportunities for service." And so, as the Great Depression descended upon the land, AJ Waldock and his wife, both nearing sixty, took up the cause of God in this place and in this city. It was a city they came to love, and one he would stoutly defend. Again in lighter vein, he wrote a few years later an article for a paper entitled "Can any good thing come out of Canberra?".

"There is no city in the Commonwealth so much talked about as Canberra. Some of the talk is not all nice, and a lot of it is not at all true. The prevailing idea is that Canberra is responsible for the present depression in Australia, if not in the whole world. If we had not spent money on the building of Canberra, Australia at this hour would be rolling in prosperity. The present shortage of money is due to Canberra. Canberra is responsible for bad trade, unemployment, the National debt, and the exorbitant taxes under which we groan. I wonder that it has not occurred to someone to blame Canberra for the New Zealand earthquake, the Brisbane floods, and the drought of America!"

I say city, for he did not limit himself to just the church. Tributes would flow over the years to his civic mindedness and the high regard in which he was held - his involvement in the establishing of the ANU and the Canberra University College - his participation in the Canberra Ministers' Fraternal, of which he was president for many years - likewise the Canberra Rotary Club.

There are not many clergymen who rate a newspaper editorial, but this appeared in the Canberra Times in 1950, several years after his retirement. The paper wrote with approval of the erection of the memorial window to Dr Waldock, on behalf of the many who have shared the "wholesome influence" which he has exercised in the public and private life of the community. Jesus said "You are the light of the world, you are the salt of the earth". AJ Waldock was salt and light to this church and city, and we give thanks today for very remembrance of him.

Many words have been used to describe him. The window refers to him as a wise counsellor and true Minister of Jesus Christ. His ministry was vigorous. He was courageous and audacious. He had business acumen and remarkable vision. He was adventurous. He persevered and could not be daunted.

Yet if it be thought that he had an easy ride, reflect on this. In 1946 Mrs Waldock fell on the steps of Central Baptist Church in Sydney while attending the annual Assembly, and died almost instantly. In 1950, their son John, at the height of his distinguished career as Professor of English Literature at Sydney University, died suddenly at the age of 52. Their only other child, Nellie, who was senior nursing sister at Canberra Hospital, predeceased her father with cancer. Bereft of family but not friends, the old man lived out his latter years in a room in Canberra Hospital, welcoming visitors with a smile and a joke, full of the confidence and hope that had characterized his whole life. In the words Paul gave to Timothy, so he could well say;

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that day." 2Tim 4.7-8.

It is an honoured task for me today, to speak about him, and a challenge to us all, to follow in the footsteps of such a visionary - a true man of God.

Preached at Canberra Baptist Church, on Sunday morning 9^th January 2000
By Rev Roy Henson, OAM, Chaplain to Morling Lodge.