Sight Magazine – April 16, 2025
“At its heart, the ecumenical community is a community of prayer – for one another, for all who seek to follow Christ, for people everywhere of all faiths or none, and for our world. As theologian Karl Barth said, ‘Prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world’. And so, I want Christians and churches everywhere to pray together.”
So said Rev Dr Rod Benson, who recently took up the role of general secretary at the NSW Ecumenical Council in the most populous Australian state.
Benson, who has worked across three Australian denominations – with ministries in the Baptist, Uniting, and Anglican denominations, is well-suited to the Sydney-based role at the council which, with 21 member churches, works to foster mutual understanding between denominations, and to advocate for important issues.
“My role based in Sydney is to help our 21 member churches to embody this vision of the whole church, healthy, and effective and united in Christ,” Benson explained.
“I also want to reach out to those Christian churches that are not yet members of the Ecumenical Council and see what can be done to do more together.”
Alongside that, Benson said there’s also conversation starting “with church agencies and other Christian communities that are not denominations but see the beauty in working together rather than alone”.
Some of the council’s advocacy work includes public issues such as family violence, gambling reform, affordable housing, and climate justice. They are one of the groups represented at the annual Palm Sunday Peace March.
“We are also blessed to have several active commissions that have the capacity to co-opt experts to work on peace and justice issues, theological reflection, and issues relating to the Church in the Middle East,” Benson said. “We work to promote peace and goodwill toward people of other faiths and the faith communities they represent, especially where there has been a history of distrust or prejudice.”
Benson said the ecumenical movement exists to “make the spiritual unity of the church more visible and more effective, through our common witness to the life and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and through our shared participation in the inbreaking kingdom of God in the world.”
“I love how the Australian Christian statesman Gideon Goosen put it in his book, Bringing Churches Together:‘Ecumenism is all about healing wounds’ – self-inflicted wounds, wounds caused by lack of understanding and centuries of separate development, wounds deepened by contemporary problems that need to be resolved and broken relationships that cry out for reconciliation.”
While still new in the role, Benson said highlights so far include the chance to meet people from other church traditions.
“I’ve really appreciated opportunities to visit and engage with Christian faith traditions significantly different from my own conservative Protestant non-Conformist roots, yet people just like myself called to follow the same Lord Jesus and seeking to live lives of virtue and justice shaped by the same Scriptures that I read,” he said.
“I’m beginning to think that God has something special in store for ecumenical unity and cooperation in NSW and the ACT.”
Benson has had what he called, “a rich and varied personal formation”. His family roots, he explained, are with the Plymouth Brethren. Later while at university in Brisbane he was part of an ecumenical student group.
After theological studies, he spent 30 years serving as a Baptist Minister, as well as at Morling College where he served as an ethicist, public theologian, and media officer.
His PhD studies in systematic theology were through Whitley College and the University of Divinity in Melbourne.
“I’ve also had valuable experience working on committees and commissions of the Baptist World Alliance, the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel, and as a Baptist Observer to the National Council of Churches in Australia.”
“I’ve worked with a wide range of national church leaders on gambling reform, advocacy for refugees and asylum seekers, and freedom of religion.”
Benson transitioned from Baptist to Uniting Church ministry in early 2025. In addition to his work with the Ecumenical Council, he pastors a congregation at North Rocks Community Church in Sydney.
“I find that I move easily among diverse groups and institutions in pursuit of a common mission. I have an ability to appreciate difference, and honour traditions, and see the good in people and the possibilities for working together in the name of Christ.”
Benson succeeds David Rose who served as general secretary from November, 2023, to December, 2024.
Jonathan Foye interviewed Rod Benson for Sight Magazine, 16 April 2025. View the article here. Image: supplied.
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