Faculty

Vale Richard Hibbert, 1963-2020

“Gripped by God in his youth, Richard gave himself wholeheartedly to the task of reaching out to those without an opportunity to hear of Jesus. Full of encouragement, ever positive, loving action and adventure, yet an outstanding scholar, Richard modelled how to live life abundantly.
His race is well run, he has passed the baton on. He has gone to collect his crown and to join the crowd of witnesses cheering you on.” – Evelyn Hibbert

Prior to SMBC:

Richard studied medicine at the University of Sydney (1982-1986) before working as a doctor in the Wollongong Hospital system. He was a missionary and church planter in the Middle East and Bulgaria (1989-2001) and then took up the role as International Director for Equipping and Advance with WEC International (2002-2009), which involved providing missionary teams with on-the-job training. Richard was a visiting lecturer at Worldview College of Intercultural Studies (2005-2008) and at SMBC (2007-2008) before taking up the role of Director of the SMBC Centre for Cross-Cultural Mission in 2009.

Publications and Research:

• Hibbert, Richard, and Evelyn Hibbert. 2019. 'Defining Culturally Appropriate Leadership.' Missiology: An International Review 47(3): 240-251.
• Hibbert, Richard, and Evelyn Hibbert. 2019. 'Helping New Believers Deal with Unseen Powers.' Evangelical Missions Quarterly 55(4): 22-24.
• Hibbert, Richard, and Evelyn Hibbert. 2019. 'Nurturing Vitality through Appropriate Structure: A Challenge for Ecclesial Movements.' International Journal for Frontier Missions 36(3): 119-127.
• Hibbert, Evelyn, and Richard Hibbert. 2018. Walking Together on the Jesus Road: Discipling in Intercultural Contexts. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library. (Available for purchase from the SMBC online store)
• ​Hibbert, Richard, Evelyn Hibbert, and Geoff Harper. 2017.'The Role of Divine Healing in Cross-Cultural Ministry.' Evangelical Review of Theology 41 (2017): 339–54.
• Hibbert, Richard, and Evelyn Hibbert. 2017. 'Managing Conflict in a Multicultural Team.' Evangelical Missions Quarterly 53(3):18-23.
• Hibbert, Evelyn, and Richard Hibbert. 2016. Training Missionaries: Principles and Possibilities. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library. (Available for purchase from the SMBC online store)
• Hibbert, Richard, and Evelyn Hibbert. 2016. 'Diagnosing church health across cultures: A case study of Turkish Roma (Millet) churches." Missiology: An International Review 44(3): 243-256.
• ​Hibbert, Richard, Evelyn Hibbert, and Tim Silberman. 2015. 'The journey towards long-term missionary service: How Australian missionaries are being called and choose mission agencies.' Missiology: An International Review
• Hibbert, Richard Y. 2015. 'Negotiating identity: Extending and applying Alan Tippett’s model of conversion.' Missiology: An International Review 43(1): 59-72.
• Hibbert, Richard, and Evelyn Hibbert. 2014. 'Assessing the need for better integration in theological education: proposals, progress, and possibilities from the medical education model.' In Learning and Teaching Theology: Some Ways Ahead, ed. James Harrison and Les Ball, 107-117. Northcote, Vic: Morning Star Publishing.
• Hibbert, Richard, and Evelyn Hibbert. 2014. 'Nurturing missionary learning communities.' In Transforming Teaching for Mission: Educational Theory and Practice: The 2014 Proceedings of the Association of Professors of Missions, ed. Robert Danielson and William Hartley, 268-287. Wilmore, KY: First Fruits Press.
• Hibbert, Evelyn, and Richard Hibbert. 2014. Leading Multicultural Teams. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library. (Available for purchase from the SMBC online store)
• Hibbert, Richard Y. 2014. 'Contextualising sin for cross-cultural evangelism.' Missiology: An International Review 42(3):309-321
• Hibbert, Richard Y. 2013. 'Why do they leave? An ethnographic investigation of defection from Turkish-speaking Roma churches in Bulgaria.' Missiology: An International Review 41(3): 315-328
• Hibbert, Evelyn and Richard Hibbert. 2013. 'It is time? How to know when to leave the field.' Evangelical Missions Quarterly 49(3): 264-271
• Hibbert, Richard Y. 2012. 'Missionary facilitation of new movements to Christ: A study of 19th century and early 20th century China'. International Journal of Frontier Mission 29(4): 189-195
• Hibbert, Richard. 2010 'Why do people leave churches?' Landscape (October)
• Hibbert, Richard Y. 2010 'Conversion and defection among Roma (Gypsies) in Bulgaria' (part 1) East-West Church and Ministry Report 18(3): 8-11
• Hibbert, Richard Y. 2010 'Conversion and defection among Roma (Gypsies) in Bulgaria' (part 2) East-West Church and Ministry Report 18(4): 9-12
• Hibbert, Richard Y.  2010 'Toward an understanding of Turkish worldview.' Missiology: An International Review 38(3): 309-320
• Hibbert, Richard Y. 2009 'The place of church planting in mission: Towards a theological framework.' Evangelical Review of Theology 33(4): 316-331
• Hibbert, Richard Y. 2008 'Defilement and cleansing: A possible approach to Christian encounter with Muslims.' Missiology: An International Review 36(3): 344-55

Speaking Ministry:

• Leading cross-cultural church planting training workshops for church planting teams
• Speaking at missions conferences

Academic Interests:

Cross-cultural church planting, the contextualisation of the gospel and church planting, teaching, learning, and the development of leaders across cultures.

Personal:

Richard is married to Evelyn and they have two grown-up children and one grandchild. They are members of Links House Church, Auburn. Richard enjoys walking in mountains and spending time with friends from many cultural backgrounds.

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