Whitley College Council Chair Rev Katrina Lambert today announced that the Rev Associate Professor Darrell Jackson has been appointed as Principal of Whitley College.
Associate Professor Jackson served four years as Whitley’s Dean of Research and has been acting as the College’s Interim Principal since August 2023. He was ordained to pastoral ministry at East Dartmoor Baptist Church (UK), before going on to work as National Mission Advisor to the Baptist Union of Great Britain for eleven years, followed by three years as the Executive Researcher in European Mission and Evangelism for the European peak ecumenical body. Associate Professor Jackson was a faculty member and founding Director of a European Mission Research Centre at Redcliffe College (UK) for five years and has served as visiting and adjunct faculty at Bristol Baptist College, and the International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague, CZ.
In 2012, Darrell was invited to serve on the faculty of Morling College, Sydney, as their Associate Professor of Missiology, before moving to Whitley in August 2019. Rev Lambert said: “The College Council warmly welcomes Associate Professor Jackson’s appointment as the new Principal of Whitley College. He brings a deep commitment to the Baptist Church and its mission in the world. He also brings a strong history of leadership and partnership in teaching and research in an ecumenical and evangelical context. The primary objective of the Principal’s role is to foster and implement a shared and compelling vision for the college that reflects its theological and ministry formation mission. Darrell is passionate about shaping theologically informed people as a resource for the Baptist movement, local churches and the world. He has demonstrated his ability to work towards fostering an environment that supports this vision through collaboration with staff, students and the wider Baptist community. The College Council looks forward to continuing working with him.”
Darrell’s response to the invitation from the College Council was characteristically optimistic, “I am delighted to receive this invitation and understand it as a way to express my call to Christian ministry through the service of discipleship, scholarship, and theological education. My experience of pastoral, denominational, and theological leadership finds their fulfilment in this call to serve Whitley College as its next Principal. I invite the Baptist community in Victoria to continue praying for myself and colleagues, as we seek to model what it means to be faithful and scholarly followers of Jesus.” Associate Professor Jackson will take up the role immediately and his appointment will be presented to the Baptist Union of Victoria’s Gathering for affirmation in October.
Rev Katrina Lambert,
On behalf of the College Council
Whitley College is a culturally diverse community of learners committed to practical expressions of God’s activity in the world. We wrestle together in spiritual formation through theological reflection, creative exploration and academic rigour.
Shaped by the Bible, and drawing on our Baptist heritage, we are responsive to the contemporary needs of church and society, affirming liberty of conscience in conversation with other traditions of religion and spirituality.
Our educational ethos unifies heart, thought and hands, giving priority to personal and social transformation.
Cathryn McKinney
University of Divinity
St Francis College
Great appointment!