Uniting Church minister awarded Churchill Fellowship

A Uniting Church minister is the a new recipient of a Churchill Fellowship.

Rev Dr Stephen Robinson is the National Disaster Recovery Officer with the Assembly and the Disaster Recovery Coordinator of the NSW/ACT Synod in which he oversees the NSW Disaster Recovery Chaplaincy Network (DRCN).

When the COVID-19 pandemic is clear, the fellowship will allow Rev. Dr Robinson to travel to New Zealand, Indonesia, and the United States to spend time with religious communities who have been attacked. 

“I will be seeking to learn from their experience, and learning what happened for them and the surrounding religious communities,” Rev. Dr Robinson said.

The title of the project is To investigate responses from religious leaders to violent attacks on houses of worship – New Zealand, Indonesia, US.

“I want to learn from those who were involved and find out what lessons can be brought back to Australia (and to our Pacific church partners) to equip faith leaders to prepare for, and respond to, such an event should this happen here in the future,” he said.

Rev. Dr Robinson said that receiving the award was not only about his own work, but more about “the value it places on the work and ministry of disaster recovery which the Uniting Church has recognised and supported so well.”

“I feel really privileged and excited to be awarded this fellowship,” he said.

“It will allow me to further my learning in relation to the impacts of acts of violence on worshipping congregations across a range of faiths.”

The Churchill Fellowship is a prestigious award. Each recipient works on their own project, meeting leaders in their field to gain and exchange knowledge and experience that may better themselves, their organisations, and their communities.

Adam Davey is the Churchill Trust CEO.

“With international travel on hold for some time due to COVID-19, we will be supporting our new Churchill Fellowship recipients in making good use of this additional preparation time by connecting them with some of our highly achieved Churchill Fellows who work in similar fields or project areas via virtual networking and collaboration events,” Mr Davey said.

2020 has seen 112 Fellowship recipients across Australia.

Despite international travel being on hold, the Trust saw a ten percent increase in applications this year.

View the full list of Churchill Fellowship recipients here.