A bit of an update…

Many of the people who read this blog do so because our paths have crossed – and this is a good way to keep in touch. So let me update you on some of the things that have been happening in my life. If it is old news for you, sorry, but others are reading it for the first time.

At the end of 2020 Vose Seminary merged with Morling College to form one of the largest theological colleges in the Southern Hemisphere. This was a very sensible move, as both Vose and Morling are Baptist Theological Colleges and the merger has enabled the two colleges to offer a united online program, share staff, have students access a much larger electronic library collection and in dozens of other ways become a fit for purpose 21^st century theological college. Remarkably the governing bodies of both institutions were able to go back to the drawing board and ask: “If we were starting a theological college today, how would we design it?”  and to follow through on the answers. I am extremely positive about the contribution the newly merged college will make towards shaping the Christian leaders we need. As the smaller of the two entities, Vose Seminary is now classified as the Vose or Perth campus of Morling College. The first semester of the new arrangement is almost over, and the significant majority of students and staff are genuinely pleased with how the transition has gone. God is good!

The change did however have implications for me, and after 17 years as principal of Vose Seminary I thought it best that I step aside to allow the new entity the best possible chance of success. I really didn’t want people to feel that they were somehow beholden to the way things were done in the past, and in any event, I had been feeling for some time that God was opening another season for me. While I continue to do some lecturing at the new College, it is very much on a part time basis – an arrangement that works well both for me and the College. I continue to be engaged in the broader work of theological education as a Director of the Australian College of Theology (Australia’s oldest and largest theological consortium), where I also chair the Academic Board.

So what am I doing with the bulk of my time?

Since 2009 I have been very involved with the Carey Group, and from 2009 – mid 2013 served as senior pastor of the Carey Church (part time, while also principal of Vose Seminary) and when the church had grown too large for that to remain practical, I stepped down as senior pastor but became the Pastor at Large and Chair of the Board for the Carey Group. It has been an exhilarating time as Carey has started a second school, a second church, a community center, the Right Track Foundation, Carey Hope and several other initiatives. It now employs over 375 staff and has an annual budget of many millions. For some time it has identified the need to train and shape leaders for the Carey Group – while also committing itself to be a net exporter of leaders, to bless the wider community with well trained, ethical and insightful leaders.

In what we see as the provision of God, towards the end of 2020 a few clues on how to achieve this emerged. My time as principal at Vose was ending, while Jen Argue, the Executive Principal of the two Carey Colleges was feeling that she should step out of the Executive Principal role and work more intentionally in the area of leadership development and leadership coaching. In addition, we were aware that the multi-talented Jon Bergmann was looking for a new challenge. This seemed like something of a dream team to start the leadership institute Carey had been thinking of, and so, in a short space of time the AVENIR Leadership Institute was born as an initiative of the Carey Group.

Naturally I stepped down as Chair of the Carey group when I commenced as AVENIR’s director and am delighted that Jen Argue serves as our executive consultant and Jon Bergmann as our project manager. Our tag line is “The world we see – the leaders we need”. If leaders shape the world, what world would we like to see, and what kinds of leaders do we need to make this world possible?

What does AVENIR do?

We work in five main areas:

1. Providing leadership coaching and mentoring,
2. Delivering keynotes and running workshops at conferences and professional development days,
3. Designing online courses,
4. Creating bespoke leadership products for clients,
5. Hosting thoughtful conversations on things that matter.

In addition, we are increasingly engaged for consultancy work and to run leadership retreats. In doing this, we are endeavoring to cultivate environments of deep listening, and to shape reflective and transformative leaders. To date most of our work has been with Christian leaders and leaders of not-for-profit organizations, though more recently we have also been engaged by organizations who have no specific faith commitment.

How has it been going?

Better than we ever imagined. Actually, a lot better. Heaps of work has come our way, including some significant projects which have the potential to do a great deal of good. We hope to appoint some people with specialized expertise as AVENIR associates, which will enable us to expand the range of what we are doing. Work has been from all over Australia, as well as further abroad, and we have already completed a project for New Zealand and are about to embark on another for the UK.

How does this fit in with my long-term call as a pastor and a theologian?

I am loving it. In many ways it is an exercise in public theology – thinking about how core Christian principles work their way out in practice and on a wide canvas. Most of our clients are practicing Christians, but some are not and the response from them has been deeply encouraging. There is a genuine hunger for ethical leadership and many people want to be more than good leaders – they want to be leaders who do good. In a day when so much news is discouraging, I am deeply encouraged by the caliber of people I am meeting and getting the privilege of working with. Oh, and I am still the pastor at large for the Carey group and most Sundays I am preaching somewhere.

Well, if you have read this far, you clearly are a friend, so let me fill you in on a little home news. My third grandchild and first grandson, Ashton Kim Chidgzey, was born a little over a week ago. After a 32 hour labor it was decided that a Caesar was necessary, so that was a tough start for Amy, but all is well, and we are delighted.

After going into semi-retirement (just working a few hours a week as a practice nurse) Rosemary was persuaded to return as a clinical nurse at one of the local hospitals on a 3 month .7fte contract which she has just agreed to extend for another 3 months. She is not sure how much longer she will do this for (three grandchildren are calling), but at the moment, it is going well.

I think that gets you up to date with my life. Oh, incidentally, many people have said that they think my latest book Why Christianity is Probably True is my best and have backed that by buying multiple copies to give away to their friends. Just saying…

As always, nice chatting…