Australian and New Zealand Association
for Theological Field Education
ANZATFE Committee
President: Revd Canon Dr Richard Trist
Vice-President: (position vacant)
Secretary: (position vacant)
Treasurer: Revd Sean Gilbert
Committee Member Profiles
Rev Sean Gilbert DipPastCare, BTheol, MA(Hons), PhD
Before joining the faculty at Uniting College, Sean spent over twenty years as a Minister of the Word in congregational ministry within the Uniting Church. He enjoys bringing the richness of that experience to leadership formation through Supervised Field Education and teaching in areas related to ministry practice. He believes that the love of God and imaginative application is core to all fruitful expressions of ministry and mission. His recently awarded PhD thesis is entitled, Spiritual Affections and the Pastoral Disposition.
Sean is somewhat eclectic. He is a reader of culture, a player of acoustic music, a writer of liturgy and an occasional writer of poetry and song. He is also a keen political observer, a life-long supporter of Essendon Football Club, and in 2019 coached an U/16 district-cricket club to a Premiership.
Sean is married to Christine and has a blended family of five, ranging in age from 17 to 34. He has one grandson aged 5 and a baby granddaughter.
Rev Dr Ian Hussey PhD (Australian Catholic University) MTh, MMgt, GradTheol, BTh(Hons), DipEd, BSc
After working as a high school teacher for three years, Ian moved into pastoral ministry. From 1993 to 2010 he was the Senior Pastor of Nundah/North-East Baptist Church, during which time the church grew from 35 to 500 people. Ian is at Maylon College in Brisbane where he teaches in the areas of field education, preaching and research methods. He also oversees the development of postgraduate research at Malyon.
Rev. Associate Professor Michael A. Kelly CSsR, BTheol, STM, MEd, PhD
Yarra Theological Union, Victoria
Michael teaches at Yarra Theological Union which is located in Box Hill (Melbourne), and is a College of the University of Divinity. He is the Research and Education Coordinator at YTU. His area of specialisation is pastoral theology and he teaches a variety of units in leadership, religious education, practical theology and homiletics. At present, like almost everyone else, he is on a rapid learning course for online teaching with early efforts being rewarding.
He is a Catholic priest and a member of the Redemptorist Congregation an international Catholic religious order present in almost eighty countries.
Rev Dr Geoff New B Min (BCNZ), D Min (ACT)
Geoff is the Dean of Studies of the Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership (Dunedin, NZ).
Geoff was the minister of Papakura East and Hunua Presbyterian Church 1997-2015.
During his time at Papakura East, Geoff was also a Police Chaplain for five years for the Counties-Manukau Police District, lectured in preaching for five years at Laidlaw College, lectured on occasions at Carey Baptist College and since 2011 has been a trainer for Langham Preaching (nz.langham.org) with responsibility in South Asia. Since 2012 he has been the director for Kiwimade Preaching (kiwimadepreaching.com) which is the NZ expression of Langham Preaching.
Geoff was awarded a Doctor of Ministry degree in 2011 through the Australian College of Theology. His thesis was entitled: “Back to the Future: The impact of the ancient disciplines of Lectio Divina and Ignatian Gospel Contemplation on contemporary preaching.”
Geoff is the author of three books, Imaginative Preaching: praying the Scriptures so God can speak through you (2015); Live, Listen Tell: the art of preaching (2017); Echoes: the Lord’s Prayer in the preacher’s life (to be published 2020).
Geoff is married to Ruth. They have three adult children: Rebekah, Josiah and Luke; and one grandchild, Nathaniel.
Monica O’Neil
Vose Seminary, Western Australia
Monica has been involved in pastoral ministry since 1985, including rural and city churches, church planting and being on team in a mega church. Her supervisory experience began as a combination of a counselling practice and an emerging role as a pastoral supervisor in the megachurch environment.
In 2007 she joined Vose Seminary to launch Vose Leadership, a professional development centre focussed on resourcing Christian leaders for a lifetime of healthy service. This has had a natural synergy with the Field Education program at Vose, which she has coordinated since 2009. Monica also oversees the development of the Seminary’s RTO and the offering of Vocational Training to augment the training needs of churches and not for profit agencies. She has recently completed her Master of Arts (Ministry) through ACT.
Rev Richard Trist, BSc(Ed), BTh, Grad Cert Prof. Supervision, DMin
Dean of the Anglican Institute, Ridley College, Melbourne
Richard teaches Field Education, Preaching, Pastoral Care, and Anglican History and Identity as well as having oversight of those training for Anglican ordination at Ridley College.
He was previously a school teacher, and after ordination was involved in congregational ministry in Melbourne and the UK.
Richard’s wider commitments include being a Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, and part of the coaching program of the Diocese of Melbourne.
His research interests are in the areas of church health, clergy coaching and professional supervision.
He is married to Glenda who works in Pastoral Care at St Vincent’s Hospital.