Vale, Graeme Ferguson

Uniting Church theologian and inaugural United Theological Principal Rev. Dr Graeme Ferguson has been remembered as inspiring many ministries.

Rev. Dr Ferguson passed away on Monday, 28 April. He was 89.

The first Principal at UTC from 1975 to 1989, Rev. Dr Ferguson was originally from New Zealand, where he studied at Aukland and Otago. In 1965 he was called to be minister of Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington, where he shared in forming the Inner City Ministry, a model of ecumenical cooperation in the city. He completed a doctorate on Calvin at Cambridge University.

In the year 2000, Geoffrey Barnes released book about the history of UTC, Doing Theology in Sydney. The book described Dr Ferguson as formidable but generous to his colleagues.

“While the new principal came with fresh enthusiasm and without involvement in the years of negotiation that lay behind the formation of UTC, Ferguson succeeded in maintaining a team spirit,” he wrote.

“He valued the wisdom of his colleagues.”

“Ferguson had the rare gift of executive leadership that yet made his colleagues feel they were exercising their own authority.”

“With him they were called, he believed, to be ‘doctors’ of the church. He was willing to be vulnerable, to take advice and make changes to his proposals. Regular Friday lunches together and Mairi Ferguson’s dinner parties enhanced friendships. Disagreements never became bitter, because of Ferguson’s humility and delight in transcending the purely academic for the sake of the gospel.”

As well as his work at UTC, Rev. Dr Ferguson helped establish the Sydney College of Divinity. In 1988 he became senior minister of St David’s Church, Auckland.

As a theologian, he wrote about a number of topics, including the church’s place in a multicultural context.

“A great inspiration”

Rev. Dr John Squires is a retired Uniting Church minister and Editor of With Love to the World.

“Fergie was a great inspiration to me as a student and a strong encourager as I considered further study,” Rev. Dr Squires said.

“He warned me that in heading overseas for that study I would need to learn to “live on the smell of an oily rag” (which I certainly did) and informed me that I would make “a fine theologian” (which I am pretty sure I haven’t).”

“He preached on my induction at Waverley after I returned to Australia and took for his text Acts 17, the precise text that had initiated the research that led to my PhD thesis.”

“And when I went west to Perth decades later, he once again encouraged and supported me.”

“A fine man, an excellent theologian, a churchman-provocateur.”

In 2019, Rev. Dr Fergurson released his book Signposts on the Way: Theological Reflections on the Practice of Ministry, which drew on his 50 years in ministry.

A service for Rev. Dr Ferguson will be held in his native New Zealand, at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, 7 Tara Road, Henderson on Tuesday 6 May 2025 at 2:00 pm.

Insights sends our condolences to Rev. Dr Graeme Fergurson’s family, friends, and colleagues. The Synod will share a full obituary soon.

Jonathan Foye is a freelance journalist and academic.

The first Principal at UTC from 1975 to 1989, Rev. Dr Ferguson was originally from New Zealand, where he studied at Aukland and Otago. In 1965 he was called to be minister of Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington, where he shared in forming the Inner City Ministry, a model of ecumenical cooperation in the city. He completed a doctorate on Calvin at Cambridge University.