Justin Charles Hopkins Duckworth (born 1968) is the current Anglican

Bishop of Wellington The Diocese of Wellington is one of the thirteen dioceses and hui amorangi of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. The diocese covers the area between the bottom of the North Island of New Zealand up to the area of Mount Ru ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Early life and education

Justin Duckworth was raised in

Stokes Valley Stokes Valley, a major suburb of the city of Lower Hutt in the North Island of New Zealand, lies at the edge of the city, seven kilometres northeast of the city centre. It occupies the valley of a small tributary of the Hutt River, called Sto ...

, New Zealand. His parents, Claire and Les Duckworth, separated when he was ten years old. His mother was an art teacher. Duckworth joined a Christian youth group,

Youth for Christ Youth For Christ (YFC) is a worldwide Christian movement working with young people, whose main purpose is evangelism among teenagers. It began informally in New York City in 1940, when Jack Wyrtzen held evangelical Protestant rallies for teenagers ...

, as a teenager and was baptized at age 15. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Victoria University, then went on to earn advanced degrees in philosophy and theology. He also completed a master's degree in development studies at

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

Urban Vision

Duckworth worked with youth while studying. After graduating from Virginia, he married Jenny Boland, whom he had met in the Youth for Christ group. Together, they ran a home for teenage girls in Newtown, a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. After seven years, they moved to Upper Cuba street in Wellington, where Duckworth engaged in street ministry, reaching out to sex workers, the homeless and other marginalized persons. The Duckworths began creating a community called Urban Vision. The community established communal homes in poor or disadvantaged parts of Wellington, where residents lived together in a cooperative model. The movement developed into a new religious communal order, a modern interpretation of the ancient monastic tradition within Christianity. The Duckworths eventually established a contemporary monastery for the Urban Vision community, Ngatiawa, located in the valley of

Reikorangi Reikorangi is a rural locality on the Kapiti Coast in New Zealand's North Island. It is inland, behind Waikanae in the Akatarawa Valley of the Tararua Ranges. The Ngatiawa River and Reikorangi Stream both meet the Waikanae River in Reikorangi. ...

, where they lived for ten years. The community holds prayer services three times a day, and shares communal meals. In 2012, there were approximately 20 people living in the monastery on a regular basis and about one thousand visitors in a year.

Ordained ministry

Duckworth was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

in 2005. His work was not centered on parish ministry, but on building a contemporary communal order and monastery. He did not serve as priest in a local church. His nomination as bishop in 2012 was surprising to some in the church, because his ministry was unconventional. Nevertheless, the selection was ratified by the House of Bishops and the General Synod. Duckworth was consecrated a bishopACANZP Lectionary, 2019
(p. 145) and installed on 30 June 2012. The service was held in the Anglican Cathedral in Wellington, and was attended by more than 1200 people. He succeeded Tom Brown, who served as the diocesean bishop in Wellington from 1998 to 2012.

Personal life

The Duckworths has three children, who have grown to adulthood. Justin and Jenny Duckworth moved to

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

in 2018, to be closer to the Anglican churches in the northern part of the diocese of Wellington. Duckworth is known for his dreadlocks, and for often traveling barefoot.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duckworth, Justin Charles Hopkins 1968 births Living people Anglican bishops of Wellington 21st-century Anglican bishops in New Zealand People from Lower Hutt