David B Pettett

I did my basic theological training at certificate level in the mid 1970s. I passed, just, and was ordained in the Anglican Church in Sydney, Australia. I continued to study and completed a degree in theology, just, in the early 1990s. In between these two academic pursuits I worked as an assistant minister in three parishes in Sydney, went with Overseas Missionary Fellowship, church planting in Japan, and became the senior minister of a parish back in Sydney. I joined the Royal Australian Naval Reserve as a chaplain because there was a naval establishment in my parish and I wanted to have some ministry there. I continued this part-time naval chaplaincy for the nest 26 years. In the meantime, I became a hospital chaplain and then a prison chaplain. Chaplaincy seemed to be in my blood. To equip myself for this ministry I undertook studies in Clinical Pastoral Education but I was not satisfied with what I was taught. I therefore enrolled in a Masters of Pastoral Care and Counselling at the Catholic Institute of Sydney. This was life changing. It helped me think through the real issues of pastoral care. Its Catholic focus challenged me to deepen my Anglican Evangelical approach to ministry. When I was given the opportunity to manage prison and hospital chaplains in the Anglican Church in Sydney, I developed our own pastoral training based on the insights I had gained through my M.A. studies. This, and the challenging interaction with two particular colleagues with whom I can develop my thinking, has given me a lasting love of pastoral ministry and the desire to see it better integrated in parish, or local congregation ministry. This has given rise to my 2023 book Pastoral Care: The Core of Christian Ministry. While I was developing pastoral care training, I was also fascinated with one of our colonial chaplains, the Rev. Samuel Marsden, second chaplain to the colony of New South Wales. Marsden was a controversial figure about whom much had been written. Moore Theological College in Sydney holds a collection of Marsden’s sermons. No one had ever done any significant work on the sermons so I decided it was about time some one did some research on them and see what else we might learn abut Marsden. And so, I enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Macquarie University in Sydney. It took me 10 years of part-time research to complete this Ph.D., but I loved every minute of it. Marsden is a fascinating subject, and I enjoyed the stimulus of the academic environment. I have a number of chapters on Marsden in various publications, but you will find a very much edited version of my Ph.D. work in the book, Samuel Marsden: Preacher, Pastor, Magistrate and Missionary. I was also privileged to co-edit a small volume with Peter Bolt entitled, Launching Marsden's Mission: The Beginnings of the Church Missionary Society in New Zealand, Viewed from New South Wales.