Fifty years ago, in a suburban church in Sydney, a group of Methodist parishioners and two theological college lecturers gave birth to a unique resource. With Love to the World, a daily Bible reading resource, was the brainchild of Bob Maddox and Gordon Dicker, teachers at United Theological College in Sydney. Willing volunteers from the Strathfield—Homebush Methodist Circuit joined in the adventure.
Now, almost 8,000 people subscribe to this unique Australian resource. It is written largely by Australians (mostly Uniting Church), but also by a smattering of New Zealanders, addressing the context of church and society downunder. It is read across the continent, by people in Uniting Churches in each Synod, but also in New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Singapore, Scotland, and the United States.
It’s been a wonderful fifty years of providing a means for people to come to worship each week “with hearts and minds already prepared to hear God’s word to them”. As the late Revd Drs Gordon Dicker and Robert Maddox suggested in the first issue, one of the aims of With Love to the World is that “we will not come to Sunday morning spiritually and mentally ‘cold’, but with some anticipation and, we hope, a deeper feeling of purpose.”
With Love to the World has always been based on the ecumenical Revised Common Lectionary, which provides readings to be used for proclamation during the church’s Sunday worship. It offers a short commentary on each of these passages, as well as a succinct prayer, a hymn to sing, and a question for discussion for each passage. Many church groups use With Love to the World as the basis for their weekly Bible Study.
A psalm for each day is also identified. For the last few years, it also contains a weekly commentary on the Narrative Lectionary passage for the coming Sunday. Subscribers receive a quarterly hardcopy booklet, easily set out for daily use; or they open the WLW App on their device and read the same content in a readily-accessible form. Feedback from subscribers is consistently positive about the insights they read, the sensitivity of contributions, the applicability to daily life.
With Love to the World is celebrating 50 years of fruitful ministry with a service of celebration in the Carrington Avenue Uniting Church in Strathfield. (This is where things began in 1976; it is where WLW still has its office today!) The Rev. Professor Vicky Balabanski from Adelaide is preaching; the service is conducted by the Rev. Fololeni Tafokitau, minister of the Strathfield—Homebush UCA. There will be joyful music from the Tongan Choir in worship, with a morning tea to follow.
After morning tea, Doug Hewitt will reflect on “the early days”, while three living Editors of WLW will each speak about their years in the role: Shirley Maddox (from the 1980s and 1990s), Peter Butler (early 2000s to 2021), and John Squires (since 2021).
The service and morning tea are open to anyone who would like to attend and join in the celebrations: 9:30am on Sunday 8 March at the Carrington Ave UCA in Strathfield, Sydney. Contact Trevor at the WLW Office for directions to the church, at (02) 9747 1369, or email wlwuca@bigpond.com.
Rev. Dr John Squires, Editor, With Love to the World
