Douglas Stevens

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This article is about the Bishop of the Diocese of Riverina, Douglas Stevens, for Douglas Romayne Stevens the composer, see here.

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.

[edit] References

• Ninth Bishop of Riverina. Anglican Diocese of Riverina. Retrieved on March 9, 2007.
• It’s now Doctor Doug Stevens!. The North Coast Anglican. The Anglican Diocese of Grafton. Retrieved on March 9, 2007.