Rowland Croucher
Rowland Croucher (born 1937) is an Australian pastor, counsellor and author.
Brought up in the Open Brethren in Sydney,[1] following a five-year career as a high-school teacher, Croucher began training in 1964 for the Baptist ministry in New South Wales. He worked for the InterVarsity Fellowship (1968-1970), now the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES); then pastored churches in Australia: Narwee and Central Baptist Church - both in Sydney - and Blackburn Baptist Church in Melbourne, which became a "megachurch" in the late 1970s, with seven pastors, a salaried staff of 25 and 1,000 attending; plus several interim ministries. He was then, briefly, pastor at First Baptist Church, Vancouver, Canada. From 1983 to 1991 he worked for World Vision Australia.[2]
Since 1991, Croucher has been founding director of John Mark Ministries, serving pastors, ex-pastors, church leaders and their spouses throughout Australia and elsewhere. The John Mark Ministries website, with 20,000 articles, claims to be the most accessed non-denominational religious website in Australia.[3]
Croucher has authored 12 books, including Still Waters Deep Waters (with 35,000 copies in print) and has been a regular participant on Australian radio and TV programs. During the past fifteen years he has been the convenor of supporters of Dawn Rowan in her legal battle with the Government of Australia.
In 2011, Croucher added his voice to those of other Christian leaders calling for the introduction of same-sex marriage in Australia.[4][5]
Books
- Recent Trends Among Evangelicals, (Sydney: Albatross Books and Kent: MARC Europe, 1986; ISBNs 0 86760 025 X and 0 947697 45 4)
- Still Waters Deep Waters: Meditations and Prayers for Busy People (Sydney: Albatross Books and Herts: Lion Publishing, 1987; ISBNs 0 86760 031 4 and 0 7459 1187 0)
- High Mountains Deep Valleys: Meditations and Prayers for the Down Times (Sydney: Albatross Books and Herts: Lion Publishing, 1991; ISBNs 0 86760 090 X and 0 7459 1299 0)
- Rivers in the Desert: Meditations and Prayers for Refreshment (Sydney: Albatross Books and Herts: Lion Publishing, 1991; ISBNs 0 86760 137 X and 0 7459 1709 7)
- Gentle Darkness: Meditations and Prayers for Illumination (Sydney: Albatross Books and Herts: Lion Publishing, 1994; ISBNs 0 7324 1007 X and 0 7459 2431 X)
- A Garden of Solitude: Meditations and Prayers for Encouragement (Sydney: Albatross Books and Herts: Lion Publishing, 1998; with bibliography and index to all five volumes in this series: ISBN 0-7324-1074-6)
- Grow! Meditations and Prayers for New Christians (Melbourne: JBCE, 1992; ISBN 0-85819-822-3)
- Live! More Meditations and Prayers for New Christians (Melbourne: JBCE, 1993; ISBN 0-85819-881-9)
- The Best of GRID (with Grace Thomlinson): Leadership, Ministry and Mission in a Changing World (Melbourne: World Vicion of Australia, 1993; ISBN 1-875140-11-5)
- Your Church Can Come Alive (Melbourne: JBCE, 1991; ISBN 0-85819-809-6)
- Sunrise Sunset: Prayers and Meditations for Every Day of the Year (HarperCollins, 1995; ISBN 1-86371-402-2)
- The Family: At Home in a Heartless World (HarperCollins 1995; ISBN 1-86371-389-1)
References
- ↑ Some childhood memories] - Rowland Croucher's blog
- ↑ Autobiography
- ↑ JMM Press Release, 1 December 2004
- ↑ Clayton Hinds (18 August 2011), Same-sex marriage movement targeting Christians with new website, Christian Today Australia
- ↑ Clergy back marriage equality, Star Observer, 15 August 2011
External links
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