Harold D'Arcy Wood (born 9 December 1936) is an Australian semi-retired minister of the

Uniting Church in Australia The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is a united church in Australia. The church was founded on 22 June 1977 when most Wiktionary:congregation, congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church o ...

(UCA) and was President of the UCA Assembly from 1991 to 1994. He has been active in

ecumenism Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

in Australia and globally.

Childhood and family

H. D'Arcy Wood (known as D'Arcy) is the son of the Reverend Dr

A. Harold Wood Alfred Harold Wood Order of the British Empire, OBE (4 May 1896 – 27 August 1989) was a 20th-century Australian Christian minister, educator, writer, hymnologist and advocate of church union. Early life A. Harold Wood was born in Geelong, Vic ...

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(1896–1989), a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

then

Uniting Church The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is a united church in Australia. The church was founded on 22 June 1977 when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost a ...

minister and

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

, and medical doctor Olive K. Wood (née O'Reilly). He is a brother to historian Elizabeth Wood-Ellem and actor

Monica Maughan Monica Cresswell Maughan (née Wood, 15 September 1933 – 8 January 2010) was an Australian actor with roles in theatre, radio, television, film and ballet over a career spanning 52 years. Early life and education She was born Monica Cresswel ...

. His cousin Winston O'Reilly was the second President of the UCA Assembly.

Education

Ordained into the

Methodist Church of Australasia The Methodist Church of Australasia was a Methodist denomination based in Australia. It existed from 1902 to 1977, when the Uniting Church in Australia was formed. It did missionary work in Australia through two organisations: the Methodist Overse ...

, Wood completed his theological education and doctorate at

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a Private university, private seminary, school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Establish ...

Career

From 1974 to 1988, Rev. Dr Wood lectured in systematic theology and liturgy at the then Parkin-Wesley Theological College in

Adelaide, South Australia Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. He was moderator of the

Synod of South Australia The Synod of South Australia (also known as Uniting Church SA and formerly Presbytery and Synod of South Australia from 2005 to 2019) is the entity of the Uniting Church in Australia covering most of the state of South Australia. It is one of six g ...

from 1981 to 1983. Wood was a staff member of the Australian Council of Churches from 1969 to 1973 and president of that body from 1984 to 1988. He was also involved in the

National Council of Churches in Australia The National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) is an ecumenical organisation bringing together a number of Australia's Christian churches in dialogue and practical cooperation. The NCCA works in collaboration with state ecumenical council ...

since its formation. His involvements include: *member of the

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) is Australia's national agency for information and statistics on Australia's health and welfare. Statistics and data developed by the AIHW are used extensively to inform discussion and policy ...

's ethics committee *member of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...

' special commission on Orthodox participation in the WCC and he contributed to that commission choosing to operate with a

consensus decision making Consensus decision-making is a group decision-making process in which participants work together to develop proposals for actions that achieve a broad acceptance. Consensus is reached when everyone in the group ''assents'' to a decision (or ...

process, having been involved in its introduction in the UCA *past editorial committee member of the replacement for the '' Australian Hymn Book'' and '' Together in Song'' and compiler of the ''Companion to Together in Song'' (2006) In 2015, Wood travelled to his country of birth to crown

Tupou VI Tupou VI (ʻAho‘eitu ʻUnuakiʻotonga Tukuʻaho; born 12 July 1959) is King of Tonga. The youngest child of King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV, he served as Prime Minister of Tonga from 2000 to 2006. Following his elder brother's accession to the ...

, the King of Tonga, in a coronation ceremony at Centenary Church, Nuku'alofa.

Awards

*1999: Percy Jones Award for outstanding service to

liturgical music Liturgical music originated as a part of religious ceremony, and includes a number of traditions, both ancient and modern. Liturgical music is well known as a part of Catholic Mass, the Anglican Holy Communion service (or Eucharist) and Evensong, ...

*2003: Named an associate of the

Royal School of Church Music The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) is a Christian music education organisation dedicated to the promotion of music in Christian worship, in particular the repertoire and traditions of Anglican church music, largely through publications, tr ...

(based in the United Kingdom)

Publications

* * * * * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, DArcy Australian Methodist ministers Uniting Church in Australia presidents Living people 1936 births Uniting Church in Australia ministers 21st-century Australian Methodist ministers 20th-century Australian Methodist ministers