'Douglas Stevens' is the Bishop of the
Anglican Diocese of Riverina, one of the 23 Dioceses that make up the
Anglican Church of Australia. He was
consecrated on
29th November,
2005. Bishop Stevens is married to Denise (Hull) and they have two daughters Aisling and Erin.
Born in
Wollongong in about
1952, and raised in Gateshead,
Newcastle, Stevens as a youth was part of the
St Paul’s, Gateshead congregation, where the
liturgy, scripture readings and being part of the Church affected him greatly. He worked as a
seaman on
BHP bulk carriers during school holidays, but refused an apprenticeship as a deck officer with BHP shipping following high school and instead entered a firm of
chartered accountants for two years.
It was during this time that he felt called to
Christian discipleship and
ministry, which led to a change of study from part-time
economics and
commerce to full-time arts -
education,
classics and
philosophy. After university, Stevens moved to
St. John’s Morpeth to study
theology, where he met his wife Denise and was ordained.
He was confirmed at
St Alban’s, Charlestown (Newcastle) in
1963. Rev Michael Clark, a founding member of
the Brotherhood of St Laurence, prepared Stevens and gave him a little book called “In His Presence” in which Clark wrote ‘be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee the crown of life’ (Revelations 2). Stevens felt this to be a personal challenge.
Since ordination and marriage Stevens has lived and ministered in Newcastle,
Merriwa,
Wingham,
Nambucca Heads and
Tweed Heads. He travelled to Ireland in
1984/
85 where he completed a
masters degree in
ecumenical theology. In the years immediately before his election as
Bishop of Riverina he took a
Doctor of Ministry Studies program at the
Melbourne College of Divinity. He was awarded a Doctor of Ministry Studies by the Melbourne College of Divinity in May 2006.
References
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Ninth Bishop of Riverina
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It’s now Doctor Doug Stevens!