David was born in Melbourne, Australia in September 1952 of Christian parents and educated at a Methodist boys school in Melbourne. Much of his early social life revolved around teaching Sunday school and the local church youth group. He preached he first sermon at the tender age of 15!
He entered university at the age of 17, taking an honours degree majoring in ancient history and then a PhD in classical studies. He worked for a time as a graduate entrant in the State Electricity Commission and applied to become a candidate for the Ministry of the Word at the time of the formation of the Uniting Church in Australia out of the Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches in 1977.
He trained at the UCA Theological Hall in Melbourne and during that time met and married his wife Julie in 1980. He was ordained later that year - having already served in two parishes during his college days as a student pastor - and began his ordained ministry in the brown coal power generation region of the Latrobe Valley in the eastern region of the southern state of Victoria in 1981.
After serving for 5 years there, the church in Victoria sent him to study for another doctorate, this time in early church history, in the UK (1987) at Wesley House in Cambridge. David and his family returned to Australia at the beginning of 1988 and he was appointed to another rural parish, this time in north central Victoria, while he completed the doctorate (in 1991).
In 1992 he was appointed to the theological college (Trinity) in the northern state of Queensland as Principal Lecturer in Church History and became Academic Dean of the college in 1993 (serving in that role for 10 years) and then Principal from 2004 to 2010. He has been actively involved with the parishes in which he had membership in Brisbane and was Associate Minister at Centenary Uniting Church.
Julie was diagnosed with a very serious illness in 1996 and died in June 2002 at the age of 41.
In 2008 his daughter Nicole moved to the UK where she now lives in Luton and David, with his son Michael, moved to the UK and joined the Circuit Ministry Team in September 2010. He hopes to be joined in due course by his new partner, Julie, who has to remain in Australia for the time being because of work and family commitments.
Rev Dr David Rankin
01235 813242
