The Reverend David Jeans has been chosen to be the new Dean of the College of the Southern Cross, in St John’s College, Meadowbank, Auckland.
He has been given the task of equipping priests of the next generation for the Pakeha wing of the Anglican Church in New Zealand.Jeans is a man who has a passion for mission and evangelism and sees them as having a central role in training for ministry.
Jeans has a M.Phil in Theology and Religious Studies from Manchester University, and a Master’s degree from Oxford. For the last nine years he has been the leader of the Wilson Carlile College of Evangelism in Sheffield.
The Wilson Carlile College of Evangelism website describes itself "as a national centre of excellence in the training of evangelists."
Coming from the Evangelical wing of the Church of England, Jeans is committed to working with believers from other traditions in order to advance God’s mission through the church.
It is also the national training college for the Church Army, a society of evangelists linked to the Anglican Church. They also work outside of church buildings "to enable people to come to a living faith in Jesus Christ."
"The college delivers mission-shaped training with an emphasis on the vocational and practical. It works with men and women from all church traditions to help equip them to think about the message and context of evangelism for a contemporary world."
The Wilson Carlile College trains all 350 of the UK Church Army ministers of different traditions. The theology of the Church Army is drawn from the whole breadth of the Anglican Communion in the British Isles.The college provides in-service as well as formal training for church workers. Lay training is also taught. Jeans is a member of the Senior Management Team of the Church Army and is the leader of a staff of 14 at the college.
The Chair of St John's College Board of Oversight, Mr Bruce Davidson expressed his delight at being able to announce the appointment of David Jeans to the post, and is looking forward to his contribution to the future life and direction of the College of the Southern Cross, according to the Anglican Communion.
Davidson speaking of Jeans said: "David's particular interests are in training to reflect the mission and ministry aspirations of the wider church, the centrality of mission in theological and ministerial education - and the development of reflective practitioners able to think theologically about their mission and ministry contexts," acccording to the Anglican Communion
David Jeans is married to a speech and language therapist named Vivien, they have two children.
The Anglican Communion has reported that Jeans will be sorry to be losing his Sheffield Ministry, which included a chaplaincy at Sheffield Wednesday Football Club which has been his personal arena of mission for the last 16 seasons.
Jeans is succeeding Dr John Wright who retired last year. The plan is for Jeans to take up his post in late April or early May, after he has got past the formalities of the immigration process.
