People

Role at SMBC:

As principal, Derek has oversight over the College - its staff and students, its vision and external relationships. Alongside the College Board and staff, he seeks to grow SMBC as a Bible-centred, holistic learning community with a focus on God’s mission. Derek also lectures in missions and preaching.

Prior to SMBC:

Derek studied Arts/Law at the Australian National University and worked as a lawyer for the Australian Government Solicitor in Canberra for a number of years.  He and his wife, Anna, then moved to Sydney to study at SMBC.  After that, they moved to Southeast Asia with OMF, where they served in a variety of settings, including a Bible college, a missionary training school and a women’s refuge.

Academic interests:

• Contextualisation, and syncretism
• Hermeneutics and application
• The application of biblical theology to missiological issues

Publications:

• 'Muslim Idiom Translations and a Theology of Borrowing Elements from Other Religions' in Islam and the Bible: Questioning Muslim Idiom Translations, Ibrahim, Ayman S. and Ant B. Greenham (eds), Nashville: B & H Academic, 2023. 
• Contextualization or Syncretism? The Use of Other-Faith Worship Forms in the Bible and in Insider Movements (Eugene: Pickwick, 2021) (Available for purchase from the SMBC online store)
• ‘Terang untuk Bangsa-Bangsa: Pelajaran dari Perjanjian Lama untuk Misi Holistik’, Te Deum 2.1 (2012): 215-234

Speaking ministry:

• CMS Canberra Mission Focus 2024
• CMS Qld/Northern NSW Summer School 2023
• CMS Victoria's Summer under the Sun 2022
• OMF SE Asian Leaders Conference 2021
• Next Steps Conference (University of Sydney's Evangelical Union) 2021
• OMF national conference 2020
• OMF mission consultation 2019
• OMF 150th anniversary celebrations
• Various churches, conferences, mission seminars and trainings across SE Asia, 2011-2019

Personal:

Derek is married to Anna and they have three children.  They attend City Light Church, Balmain. As a family they love bushwalks, camping, meeting people from different cultural backgrounds, and eating meals with friends. Derek also enjoys playing the cello.

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