As a child Marty Williamson was obliged to go to Sunday School. His wife Katherine’s experience of church was ‘the odd wedding’. Now their friends are puzzled; even concerned; why would the newly married couple, who lived in a de facto relationship for seven years, suddenly bother to give up their Sunday mornings to go to church?

Marty says ‘idle talk’ about going to church one day became reality when they decided on Holy Trinity, Millers Point as a venue for their July wedding. They soon started attending regularly.
Rector the Rev Howard Barnett has recently set up a program that targets the many couples wanting to get married at the historic church in The Rocks. All couples do relationship training, attend five weeks of a new evening service set up for them, and complete a Simply Christianity course.

Marty and Katherine are one of three couples who have made the decision to stay after their wedding. They attend the morning service and enjoy the company of the mostly older parishioners. They are keen to get more involved and are open to the idea of attending a Bible study.

“You tend to do other things in your life [and] turn away,” Katherine admits, saying they went to the church with no real expectations. “It was something we enjoyed and we just kept going.”

The church is defying recent statistics that show a decline in 30-somethings attending church regularly or not at all. Forty people attend the evening service regularly, and 15 couples are currently working through Simply Christianity, many of whom have had no church background.

“My conscience wouldn’t allow me not to present the gospel with all these weddings,” Howard says. “We’re in a win-win situation. People have a great desire to get married here. Our great desire is to present the gospel to them and teach them the Christian faith. The next stage is to disciple those couples.”

Despite baffled reactions by friends (“I think they think we’re hypocrites”, Marty says), the couple believe the program and regular church attendance has made a difference in their lives as they get to understand the word of God.

“It was good in the way it introduced us back to the church in a non confrontational way; it was a really open experience,” Marty said. “We both feel out of sorts if we can’t make it. We’re getting more and more involved.”