Geoff Stevenson

Rev Geoff Stevenson

Geoff Stevenson
Presbytery Chairperson-Mission Strategist

Geoff provides missional leadership to congregations across the Presbytery. He is also the Chairperson of the Presbytery and provides institutional leadership, both in line with the Presbytery Vision 2055. He has significant pastoral ministry experience, community organising and a strong interest in spirituality and public theology. 

Geoff is a keen musician, photographer, enjoys walking through the local bush and following the Western Sydney Wanderers.

Geoff's Reflections

When We Are Loved...

There’s a bloke that used to stand on a corner opposite Westfields Parramatta. There, at the lights, he spruiks his particular line of religious belief with passion and desperation. Occasionally someone will sidle up and engage him in a conversation that encourages and affirms his hard-line, narrow stance. Occasionally someone who had time and energy to take him on did so, but he gave no ground. His size and fierce, passionate manner was intimidating, and most people simply ignored him and couldn’t wait to cross the road.

Persistence, Prayer, and Love!

This morning, like all mornings, our 8 year-old Short-haired Border Collie X Cattle Dog was very keen to go for a walk. As soon as I am up and about, he is persistently nudging or licking me and then looks into the laundry where his lead is. He repeats this in the late afternoon as well, if I am around. Nico loves his daily walk(s)!

In the Borderlands, Grace!

Most of our lives are lived in the in-between places, what this week’s story will call the borderlands. This is the place between the places, the moment between the moments. It is the place or journey between the destinations. On the larger scale it might be the journey between our first and last breath. But along this way there are many ‘betwixts and betweens’ or borderland spaces – it is where life is mostly lived.

Faith Like A Mustard Seed

Theologian Walter Wink (1935–2012) recalls a tense moment in Selma in which a reminder to love their enemies shocked the conscience of the crowd and forged a nonviolent path forward: King so imbued this understanding of nonviolence into his followers that it became the ethos of the entire civil rights movement.

LOVE: Breaks down Barriers that Divide

Sometimes something is right before our face, and we do not (cannot/will not?) see it. I have often looked in the fridge or cupboard for something and cannot see it. I look and look and look but it is not there – well it is but I do not see it. Perhaps it was in a slightly different position or had a different label or looked different for some reason and I did not see it.

LOVE: Relationship and Connection

Recently I was reminded of a trip Susan, and I made a few years go. It was a visit to the Top End of Australia – Darwin, Kakadu and East Alligator River, Litchfield NP, Katherine and Nitmiluk, and Adelaide River. I was reminded of the immense beauty and wonder of this place. The diversity of flora and Fauna continues to create a sense of awe in me.

Lost and Found – in Love!

I knew a woman once who told a story that perplexed and deeply concerned and moved me. She grew up in a particular part of Western Sydney considered impoverished, challenging, rough and where, of course, no-one of any capacity would emerge.

A Party Where Everyone is Welcome…

On our morning walks, Nico and I sometimes walk down a particular road and there, amongst the houses is a simple home, a bit the worse for wear. Often, in passing, we see an older woman sitting out on her front veranda, well rugged against the winter cold.

Love over Legalism – Liberation into Life!

Tex Sample is an American United Methodist Minister, theologian and storyteller. He tells a story of growing up in the deep south, in the times of racist segregation and exclusion on people ‘of colour.’ His world was one of white people dominating those of different ethnic backgrounds and this was reinforced in both the wider (small) community context and inside his church.

Curiosity that Leads to Love, not Judgement…

I haven’t, as yet, see the Ted Lasso series but various clips from the show have appeared in my social media feeds and I find myself moved, laughing, even inspired. There is one particular scene that keeps reappearing, and I keep watching. I think it is called the ‘dart’s scene.’ In it, Ted and several of the Richmond Football club are in a bar.

The Courageous Way of FAITH!

Faith in the Darkest Places… Sometime ago, I stumbled across the story of Father Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Catholic Priest – actually a Franciscan Friar. He lived through the first half of last century.