Archbishop Peter Jensen will consecrate the Rev Alan (Al) Stewart as Bishop of Wollongong at a ceremony in St Andrew’s Anglican Cathedral tonight.
The Rev Matthew Pickering, chaplain at Shore School, will preach at the service and Dr Phillip Aspinall, Archbishop of Brisbane and Primate will attend, along with bishops from the Sydney Diocese and from other parts of Australia.
A regional welcome service will then be held in Wollongong tomorrow morning in the auditorium at The Illawarra Grammar School.
We spoke to Al, who moves to his Wollongong post from his position as CEO of Anglican Youthworks, about his new role.
"I wasn't expecting to be asked for this job, nor was I looking for it," he says. "When the Archbishop asked me… it seemed to me that there were good gospel reasons to do this."
The Wollongong region covers parishes from the Sutherland Shire, the Illawarra and South Coast to Ulladulla, and Southern Highlands and Camden areas.
In his role as bishop, Al wants to encourage congregations to do the hard yards for the sake of growth and strength. "In church life, death is always slow and comfortable. Growth is messy and painful and risky and difficult."
He is convicted of the need for older, more experienced leaders to foster younger ones. "Those in senior positions have to put an umbrella over and care for people in pastoral leadership… so they can get on with caring for and loving their people."
Lessons from the front line
Al's three years at Tregear Anglican Church as assistant minister, from 1989 to 1992, opened his eyes further to the meaning of Christian love and community. "A lot of people who had difficulties and struggles with life… accepted me and loved me and cared for me," he says. "I came away seeing how the gospel can transform people and convinced about the need to have an edge, to say something when you preach and not just go through the motions."
During his time at St Matthias’, Centennial Park from 1992 to 2002, Al sharpened his focus on preaching tough truths. "I saw the need to challenge middle-class assumptions about lifestyle… and particularly challenging young people about their goals," he says.
Al was part of a team involved in church planting there. Over 10 years, around 10 churches were created. A number of these didn't work in the long term, which Al says was a good learning experience. "They closed down and people went and did other things and it wasn't the end of the world," he says. "And the lesson from that is, "Don't die wondering " have a go!'"
Al's passions are preaching, discipling younger men, and pulling together resources and people to make ministry happen. Preaching, he says, is more about the message than the man. "I don't think I'm worth listening to for five minutes. But when I open the Bible, I actually have something to say that has the power of God to change people's lives."
His favourite Bible books are Luke, Ecclesiastes and Genesis. "In Luke's gospel… the big man has time for little people, and that's what I love about Jesus, and also that he doesn't compromise the message when he calls people to put him first."
Al’s journey to faith and family
Al made a commitment to Christ in his university years. He says it was the witness of fellow New College student Bryson Smith (now a Presbyterian minister in Dubbo) that sparked his interest in God. "It was the quality of Bryson's Christian life that made me listen to him," he says.
Bryson invited Al to Campus Bible Study, in Phillip Jensen's early ministry days. "(It was) the first time I'd ever heard anyone explain the Bible and Mark chapter 11 made sense. I still remember thinking "Whoa, maybe the Bible does have something to say'."
"At the beginning of third year, I walked into the chaplaincy, found Phillip and said, "I want to become a Christian'.” In fact, he now counts Phillip Jensen and Neil Prott (formerly the rector of Kurrajong) as two of the most influential people in his Christian life.
Al recalls that coming to faith wasn't the only blessing of his university years. "I was still very much a baby Christian by the time I finished uni, but in the kindness of God in the last couple of months of university, I met Kathy."
The "cute' Chinese girl who caught his eye had become a Christian a year earlier - through two students doing "cold turkey' evangelism outside a lecture block. He still remembers the first time he saw her. "I'd known she was a Christian because she'd stood up in a lecture and tried to do some survey, which really was just a thin excuse to evangelise the class," he smiles.
They have now been married for 26 years and have four children: Amy, Beth and Gareth, who have finished school and are studying, and Jo, who is in high school. Al is full of praise for Kathy. "We've had tribes of people at our place and she's just a marvel at feeding people and making them feel welcome," he says.
A man of action
Al loves spending time in the bush and running half-marathons, and thinks Bruce Springsteen is "the greatest rock'n'roll musician in the history of the planet".
Over the years, Al has spent his spare time watching his kids play sport " and running early in the morning. "It's a time when I'm most alert," he says. He loves the Australian bush, especially hunting feral pigs!
Al follows the Wallabies and Waratahs, and enjoys watching cricket over the summer. "I hope I can make the crossover again to take an interest in the St George-Illawarra Rugby League team " I'll try," he grins.
As Al moves into this new role, his daughters will help him to look the part. "(They) are the dag police and they check whether I'm allowed out of the house with what I'm wearing and sometimes I'm sent back to my room to change," he laughs. "I'm just your average middle-aged, cardigan-wearing, baldy-headed clergyman."
