Church in the Fast Lane

Aussie drive-thru offers a great combo—sermons and a Coke—for free!

If it works for McDonald's, why shouldn't it work for the church? A Sydney, Australia, church has turned its driveway into a drive-thru, dispensing the gospel on tape.

Saint David's Anglican in suburban Forestville sits beside a six-lane highway, but Pastor Richard James admits it hardly got noticed. "I didn't know this church was here, behind some beautiful gum trees, until I became the rector." That's one reason James started the drive-thru.

Several times each year, volunteers from the church of 150 line a two kilo-meter stretch of road during morning rush hour, beckoning commuters to pull in for a moment. James welcomes those who stop and gives each a tape of several sermons.

At Christmas greeters also shared canned Cokes and birthday cupcakes. "We wanted them to know whose birthday this is," James said.

The tapes he produces have become more overtly evangelistic since the first outreach ...