Malcolm George Richards (born 1959/1960) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

in the

Anglican Church of Australia The Anglican Church of Australia, formerly known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the Anglican Communion. It is the second largest church in Australia after the R ...

. He has served as an

assistant bishop An assistant bishop in the Anglican Communion is a bishop appointed to assist a diocesan bishop. Church of England In the established Church of England, assistant bishops are usually retired (diocesan or suffragan) bishops – in which case they ...

in the

Anglican Diocese of Sydney The Diocese of Sydney is a diocese in Sydney, within the Province of New South Wales of the Anglican Church of Australia. The majority of the diocese is evangelical and low church in tradition. The diocese goes as far as Lithgow in the wes ...

, as the Bishop for International Relations, since July 2019. Richards grew up in Canberra, and originally trained and worked as an optometrist. He and his wife pledged to become missionaries, and from 1988 to 1994 they moved to what was then

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

with their children to carry out youth work. He lived in

Goma Goma is the capital of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. The lake and the two cities are in the Albertine Rift, the weste ...

on the Rwandan border during the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

. On returning to Australia, Richards trained at

Moore Theological College Moore Theological College, otherwise known simply as Moore College, is the theological training seminary of the Diocese of Sydney in the Anglican Church of Australia. The president of the Moore Theological College Council is ''ex officio'' t ...

, then worked in parish ministry in the

Anglican Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn The Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn is one of the 23 dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia. The diocese has 60 parishes covering most of south-east New South Wales, the eastern Riverina and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It st ...

, where he planted a church. He then returned to the now-

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

in 2005 where he worked for a further five years for the Anglian Diocese of Kindu. In October 2010, Richards was appointed as General Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory branch, a position he remained in for eight years until he became bishop. He was a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney St Andrew's Cathedral (also known as St Andrew's Anglican Cathedral) is a cathedral church of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney in the Anglican Church of Australia. The cathedral is the seat of the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney and Metropolitan ...

between 2012 and his consecration as bishop in 2019. In April 2019, Richards was named by

Anglican Archbishop of Sydney The Archbishop of Sydney is the diocesan bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, Australia and ''ex officio'' metropolitan bishop of the ecclesiastical Province of New South Wales. From 1814 to 1836 the colony of New South Wales was part of ...

Glenn Davies Glenn Naunton Davies (born 1950) is a retired Australian Anglican bishop. Since August 2022 he has served as bishop of the Diocese of the Southern Cross, an Anglican diocese set up outside of the Anglican Church of Australia. He previously serv ...

as Bishop for International Relations, replacing

Peter Tasker Peter Tasker is a former assistant bishop in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, Bishop of Georges River. Tasker was educated at Moore Theological College and ordained in 1964. After curacies in Wollongong, Chatswood and Engadine he was Vicar ...

who had held the role since 2009. He was consecrated bishop on 6 July 2019. Richards was the first person to hold the role without a concurrent diocesan bishop responsibility. Instead, Richards took up a position as Director of the Centre for Global Mission at

. Richards is married to Elizabeth and has three children. He is fluent in Swahili and French.

References

21st-century Anglican bishops in Australia Anglican missionaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Assistant bishops in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney Australian Anglican missionaries Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Evangelical Anglican bishops {{Australia-Anglican-bishop-stub