People
The Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture is governed by a Board of Directors (under delegation from the Council of Charles Sturt University) consisting of representatives of the Christian churches.
The ACC&C also has Centre Ambassadors, including its Patron, the Governor-General of Australia.
Staff
Meg Richens
Interim Executive Director
Meg Richens is a Canberra local with 40+ years’ experience in human and community services at the local, state, national and international levels. She represented Australia in the (British) Commonwealth Youth Program and the World Assembly of Youth while she was voluntarily the Vice-President of the Youth Affairs Council of Australia. She has worked in both the government (state and national) and non-government (local and state) sectors, and has run a private consultancy in strategic planning, evaluation and management support. She has worked in Indigenous, women’s and youth affairs, health and health promotion, and prior to retirement was the Chief Executive Officer of Kippax UnitingCare, providing emergency relief, family support, children’s development and community development services, along with a social enterprise that enabled people who found it hard to gain and maintain employment to re-enter the mainstream workforce, to the West Belconnen and wider Canberra community. Meg brings training, skills and experience in managing, building and rebuilding organisations so they give their best possible return to investors and stakeholders. She is passionate about communities that are built on the foundations of equity and kindness and is committed (if she ever properly retires) to spending more time writing and in the garden.
Dr Jonathan Cole
Director of the Centre for Religion, Ethics and Society (CRES)
Jonathan Cole has a PhD in Christian political theology (Charles Sturt University, 2019), an MA specialising in Middle Eastern politics and Islamic theology (Australian National University, 2007) and a BA Hons in Modern Greek language and history (La Trobe University, 2000).
Prior to embarking on an academic career in 2014, Jonathan spent 13 years working in a number of Australian federal government agencies (2001–2014), including the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Medicare Australia, the Defence Signals Directorate and the Office of National Assessments.
His research is primarily in the area of Christian political theology. Recent publications include: Christos Yannaras, On the "Meaning" of Politics, translated and with an introduction by Jonathan Cole, foreword by Rowan Williams (Routledge, 2024); Jonathan Cole, The Reign of God: A Critical Engagement with Oliver O'Donovan's Theology of Political Authority (London: T&T Clark, 2022); Peter Walker and Jonathan Cole, eds. Theology on a Defiant Earth: Seeking Hope in the Anthropocene (Lanham: Lexington, 2022); Jonathan Cole, "The Trinity: Prototype of Real Existence or Danger to Political Wellbeing? Tanner, Volf, and Yannaras in Conversation," Religions 12, no. 998 (2021); and Jonathan Cole, "The Addition of Orthodox Voices to (Western) Political Theology," Studies in Christian Ethics 33, no.4 (2020).
Liz Jakimow
Communications Officer
Liz Jakimow has been working as the communications officer for two years. She is a keen photographer and her photos have appeared in a Lonely Planet Guide and a monopoly board. She also had an exhibition titled 'A journey with grief: exploring loss through photography and poetry.' She is also a writer and poet and her poems have appeared in various publications. Liz works in the beautiful Araluen Valley (about 20 minutes out from Braidwood).
Miss Sarah Stitt
Corporate Services and Events Officer
This is Sarah’s 7th year job sharing in the position of Corporate Services and Events Officer. She came to the Centre with prior experience in event management and many years working within the arts. Sarah was previously employed in both private and public art institutions. She sings with A Chorus of Women who have been artists-in-residence at the ACC&C for some years, singing up the need for wisdom for the common good with their concerns for peace, social justice and the environment.
Mr Badri Rimal
Bible Gardener
Introducing our new Bible Garden gardener, Badri Rimal, who joined us in April 2021. Badri describes himself as grass loving, tree-hugging, outdoorsy and ‘committed to the Bible Garden and creating a perfect reflection as scripted in the Bible’. He sees the garden as a way of reading the bible texts in a different way, and the layout assisting in understanding some of the symbols in the texts. Badri has a deep love of the garden and the way people can be refreshed and connect with faith in different ways.