The old saying declares that those who do not study the past are destined to repeat it. But sometimes we might legitimately wish for a repeat of the past. In this new occasional series we’ll try to draw some lessons for our encouragement (and also, sometimes, warning) from our evangelical heritage. First-off, historian and CMS Victoria State Director, Wei Han Kuan draws on his doctoral research on the history of Melbourne evangelicalism to introduce us to the city’s first bishop.
For better or worse the early history of Christianity in Australia is linked with the history of its first Anglican bishops. These ecclesiastical leaders of the established English church exercised a great influence over the forming communities in the Antipodes. Like builders and bricklayers, they laid foundations that affected the future shape and stability of the church.
Take for example the influence of the evangelical Charles Perry, the first bishop of Melbourne. I remember being completely astounded when I was told that, in the Perry period (1847-74) Melbourne employed more Moore College graduates than any other Australian diocese (including Sydney).
Ministry Strategy
From the moment of his appointment Perry was absolutely clear on the place of preaching the Scriptures and the necessity of conversion. He made the point in his first sermon upon landing in Melbourne: “The Office and Duty of a Minister of the Gospel,” preached on 28 January 1848 at St James’.
The text selected was 2 Corinthians 5:20: “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” Perry’s sermon displays a lively scriptural awareness and an evangelical fervour. He requests that his congregation: “Pray for us, and pray for yourselves and fellow-countrymen in this colony, that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified.”
“…pray for the success of our labours, that… we may so prepare and make ready the way of the Lord Jesus, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; that, at his second coming to judge the world, we may be found an acceptable people in his sight.”
For Perry the office of a minister of the Gospel is to be an “ambassador for Christ” – the duty of whom is to “deliver to the people … the message which he is entrusted.” The message is the Gospel: given by the Lord for the gracious reconciliation of sinful men and women; the message of joy, promise, pardon and salvation.
Perry emphasised two chief means of discharging this duty: public preaching and private instruction of the Scriptures. The content of these ministries of the Word is Christ: “if we preach not Christ, and him crucified, it will avail nothing to the salvation of our hearers.” He adds that the two sacraments are “a most important and pleasing part of a minister’s duty,” but nevertheless subordinate to preaching and teaching the Scriptures. Perry was determined that his clergy were to proclaim the Word, in season and out.
Human Resources
This ministry strategy required the right clergymen and Perry imposed stringent controls to identify them. Prospective clergy had to supply their letters of ordination and letters testimonial from three beneficed clergymen, countersigned by their bishops – a requirement that still stands in the Diocese of Melbourne to this day.
Because of the distance from England, Perry appointed three commissaries to examine the “character and fitness of all candidates for employment in this Diocese” – including any candidates from the (non-evangelical) Society for the Promotion of the Gospel and Colonial Church Society.
Perry’s commissaries were tasked with assessing, not just character and fitness, but also theology. All three were staunch evangelicals and long term friends of Perry’s: John Scholefield, Henry Venn and John Cooper. Scholefield was in a key teaching position at Cambridge, Venn at the Church Missionary Society, and Cooper was a vicar and Perry’s brother in law. Noting his own exacting requirements, Perry wrote:
“I am placed in a very difficult position from the want of additional clergymen to occupy various stations in the country… Pray then that the Great Head of the Church would supply us with a body of faithful and zealous labourers in this portion of His vineyard.”
His prayers were answered. Acceptable men were found, and in increasing numbers. From just three clergy in 1847, by December 1850 there were nineteen clergy and five lay readers licensed. By 1861 there were seventy-five clergy, rising to 117 in 1869 and more than 120 by the time of Perry’s departure in 1874. Perry was a church planter extraordinaire with a strong and definite human resource policy!
Saying ‘No’
Every leader has to have the strength to say ‘no’ in order to focus on the priorities at hand. Perry is remembered for two ‘No’s. First, he steadfastly refused to commence a cathedral building programme. Remember that gold was discovered in Victoria in 1851 – three years after Perry’s arrival. It made many rich and powerful, and many of the colonial heritage buildings of Melbourne were built on this prosperity. There was money and an appetite for a grand cathedral in Melbourne, but Perry could not be convinced – even by his closest lay allies – to commence such a project when there were parishes to plant. Local evangelism was the priority.
Not wanting to be outdone by Moore College and Sydney, many of the same powerful laity advocated for their own theological college in Melbourne. Again, Perry steadfastly refused; although he did agree to found Trinity as a university college. It was highly probable that Perry was unwilling to start a theology school in Melbourne until he found a way to assure its evangelical character in perpetuity – a project he put his energy to in retirement in England where he played a key role in founding Ridley and Wycliffe Halls. Perry understood the critical importance of the theological college, and the difference between mere academic theology and the effective formation of evangelists and church planters who would ably handle the Word of truth.
As a result of Perry’s founding work a firm, wide and deep evangelical culture was laid down throughout his Anglican Diocese of Melbourne – coterminous with today’s State of Victoria. Consider this: each of the first bishops of the dioceses of Victoria were considered evangelicals at the time. We still have much to learn from his leadership and vision, but here are three basics: A ministry strategy centred on proclaiming the Word, a strong human resource policy, and a willingness to say “No”!
