I can understand your frustration. I look at those statistics and ask, Why can't that happen in Australia??!!!. Is it the church's fault? Is it our fault?

The only answer I can come up with is that there's something very strange about our Aussie culture. Its unlike any other country. We have a criminal history and unfortunately Christianity was tied to the penal system and has shaped a lot of negativity towards religion in our culture. There's multicultural influences. There's our 'laid back' attitude. There's our anti-authority attitude and unfortunately the church has been seen as an unhelpful authority. There's our "tall poppy syndrome" that kicks in whenever we hear of hillsong mega churches. There's our down to earth skepicism of 'wierdo religious freaks'.

There's almost this sense out there that we need to 'earn our credibility back' before we have the right to speak the gospel to people. As if we're always on the back foot. I'd even be as bold to say that Christianity has probably got the worst reputation in Australia then anywhere else in the western world. I'm sure postmodernism is slowly changing this.