Bishop Malcolm Richards
Bishop Malcolm Richards is the Director of the Centre for Global Mission. He started the role in September 2019.
Malcolm is a graduate of Moore College. He and his wife Elizabeth have spent two periods as missionaries with the Church Missionary Society – Australia (CMS) in DR Congo (former Zaïre). Initially he trained church leaders in evangelism and ran an evangelistic youth camp ministry. Later he returned to lead the Department of Theological Education and to set up a grassroots Bible College for the Anglican Church in the remote Diocese of Kindu. In a 10 year period in Australia he was ordained in the Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn and planted and grew a church in the northern suburbs of Canberra. For the eight years prior to his appointment at Moore College Malcolm was the General Secretary of CMS NSW & ACT and had the great privilege of selecting and sending many gospel workers around the world. Together with his role at Moore College, Malcolm is an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Sydney with the title of ‘Bishop for International Relations’.
What excites you the most about leading the Centre for Global Mission (CGM)?
The Centre for Global Mission is committed to providing good quality Bible Training to help equip people involved in Gospel Ministry around the world. My work in Central Africa and Australia has shown me the pressing need for people to access Bible centred resources and it’s exciting to be involved in making these resources available.
What sorts of resources are you focusing on?
Moore College has a well-developed and well known distance course, PTC, which is used to equip many in Australia and around the world. The Centre for Global Mission wants to see churches and ministries in different cultural and language contexts able to access and effectively use PTC. So we have developed and are making available complete IT solutions for our gospel partners so that they can enrol students and use the courses. This includes online exams with automated marking and feedback to students. PTC is already in numerous languages and we are currently overseeing a number of extensive translation projects that will see more course notes translated and will also see exams and marking taking place in these various languages.
Although our main focus at present is the development of PTC, the Centre for Global Mission is keen to extend the resources we have on offer. We will shortly begin the work of identifying other resources that need to be developed to help our partners with their training needs.
“Although our main focus at present is the development of PTC, the Centre for Global Mission is keen to extend the resources we have on offer.”
You were a missionary with CMS in DR Congo and also worked on the home staff of CMS. How has your involvement in cross-cultural mission helped to equip you for this role?
In much of my time working for the Anglican Church in DR Congo I was involved in training both lay people and full-time gospel workers for ministry. Also in my role on the staff of CMS I was responsible for assessing candidates for ministry and deciding if they had adequate training to carry out their intended ministries. All these experiences mean that I am very committed to training people and to making sure people have the right training for effective gospel ministry in whatever context they will be working.
“I am very committed to training people and to making sure people have the right training for effective gospel ministry in whatever context they will be working.”
You’ve been in full-time ministry for many years in Australia and in DR Congo. Why ministry and how have you kept going?
When I became a Christian I consciously put myself at the disposal of Jesus. He is Lord. I remember applying to be a missionary as a young Optometrist and saying I was willing to go anywhere and do anything. I have found that ministry anywhere is tough but good training (through Moore College and CMS) plus good disciplines (spiritual, marriage, fitness, healthy eating!) have kept me going.
How do your two roles in the Diocese of Sydney as the International Bishop and at Moore College as the Director of CGM work together?
In both my roles I am working to create networks and partnerships of like-minded people who want to promote Jesus-centred and Bible-centred ministry. So much of the time I am wearing both hats at once since both Moore College and Sydney Diocese are committed to sharing their resources and creating partnerships for the sake of God’s Kingdom.
