phillip jensen

The Very Rev Phillip Jensen is a prominent Australian clergyman of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, currently the Dean of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney. He is the brother of Peter Jensen, the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney. Phillip Jensen studied theology at Moore College, and won the Hey Sharp prize for coming first in the ThL (Licenciate of Theology, the standard course of study at that time), a year after his brother Peter also won it. Phillip became chaplain to the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 1975 and Rector of St Matthias, Centennial Park, in 1977. Phillip Jensen could be described as the "Ian Chappell" of Anglicanism - deeply conservative in his Calvinist theology yet radical and iconoclastic in his ministry style. Basing his University ministry around expository preaching and "Cold Turkey Evangelism", Phillip Jensen and his "Campus Bible Study" revolutionised student ministry. The result was a large number of conversions, large student gatherings at UNSW, and the growth of St Matthias from a group of 20-30 in 1977 to well over 1000 by the mid 1990s. Bombastic, sometimes brusque, Jensen gained many followers and almost as many detractors. His work at UNSW included the creation of the Ministry Training Strategy (MTS) which took willing young men and women and trained them in practical ministry skills, preparing them for a lifetime of ministry, ordained or otherwise. It was the exponential growth of the MTS strategy in other universities and churches throughout the 1980s and 1990s that saw student number at Moore College grow from around 150 in 1985 to over 400 in 2004. Many of these graduates are now Rectors of Anglican Churches in Sydney. Phillip Jensen also authored the popular Two Ways to Live Evangelistic tract, and founded The Briefing, an insightful and sometimes polemical magazine that mixes conservative Evangelical and Calvinistic theology with intellectual rigour in a uniquely "Aussie" style. In 2003 Peter Jensen appointed Phillip Jensen as Dean of St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney, a move many considered nepotism. Media reports seem to indicate that Phillip Jensen's radical style and unorthodox antics - he has discarded the traditional vestment, put the "altar" (actually communion table) on wheels, and scaled back the choir performances - has alienated the mostly traditionalist congregation of the Cathedral. Nevertheless, Phillip continues preaching in the heart of Sydney at St Andrews Cathedral.

Phillip Jensen

See also