Tribute to Revd Harvey L Perkins, who died on 25 November 2012 in Canberra as resolved at a meeting of the Council’s Executive Committee on 28 November 2012

Harvey Perkins was born in Hobart in 1919, educated at Wesley College, Melbourne then served in the Australian Navy from 1942-45.  He studied commerce, law, then theology, at the University of Melbourne, where he was active in the Australian Student Christian Movement (ASCM), and President of MU SCM.  After serving as a minister with the Methodist Conference in Victoria he was appointed in 1956 as the General Secretary of the Australian Council for the World Council of Churches.  During his term the title changed to the Australian Council of Churches (ACC) in 1960.

His years as General Secretary were marked by several significant events which involved both leaders and ordinary members of the Australian churches.  The former were well represented at the National Conference of Australian Churches, held in Melbourne in February 1960, when some of the great international ecumenists were speakers.  It was a time when outstanding leadership was offered by the newly formed ecumenical movement in Australia with strong support from its then eight member churches and their national leadership. The national Church and Life Movement in 1966 was an ecumenical study program which brought together people from local churches to meet in community-based groups to relate Christian faith to everyday life.

During the 1950s and 1960s, as part of its engagement with the wider community, the ACC was very active in the establishment of the Overseas Service Bureau, was instrumental in the commencement of the twin community organisations, the Freedom from Hunger Campaign (now merged with Oxfam), and Australians Care for Refugees, referred to as Austcare, as a direct challenge to the infamous ‘White Australia Policy.’ During these years the ACC was a founding member of the Australian Council for Overseas Aid (ACFOA, now ACFID), which brought together aid and development agencies in church and community.  The conscientious and effective work of the ACC in each of these tasks was headed by its General Secretary, Harvey Perkins, with a strongly supportive executive staff.The Australian churches’ commitment to overseas aid and development had grown in parallel with the establishment of the ACC. The Christmas Bowl of Remembrance Appealhad been commenced by the Churches’ International Relief and Rehabilitation Committee, formed in Melbourne in 1948. After a small scale appeal at Christmas 1948 it went national in 1949, collecting gifts of both money and goods for despatch in those early years to assist in the reconstruction of post-war European countries.  Another inter-church agency, the Refugee Department, was initially associated with the WCC Service to Refugees program, with separate offices in Sydney and Melbourne.In 1963 these two service arms of the Australian churches came together as the Division for Inter-Church Aid, Refugee and World Service (DICARWS) of the ACC. In the words of a later General Secretary, Frank Engel, ”. . . it was Harvey Perkins who faced this oddity of growth, and it was his vision, energy and negotiating skills which brought them together.” The Annual Christmas Bowl appeal was later complemented with the establishment of a monthly giving program Force Ten, reflecting the strong wind-force which can produce great change.  All this happened under the oversight of Harvey Perkins as ACC General Secretary, and in the years 1967-68, also the Secretary for DICARWS for the Australian Council of Churches.

In his time as General Secretary the NSW Committee for the ACC was formed in 1961, and in the following year its first full time Secretary, Revd Clive Harcourt Norton was appointed. He and Harvey developed a strong working relationship, with both organisations based in the same offices at 511 Kent St, Sydney.  A team approach to involving the churches in local ecumenical work developed, with close relationships between the national and state offices. The staff of the State Councils had a key role in the promotion of the overseas aid and development work of the Christmas Bowl and Force Ten.  In response to the need to have Australia represented at the growing number of international conferences, Australian Church Women was formed in 1965. An ecumenical youth movement also began, which carried the title Christian Youth Council, with national and state affiliates. They were years of developing ecumenical structures in this country as well as regionally and internationally. Harvey was then to hear the call to contribute internationally.

Harvey Perkins was a participant in the initial meeting of Asian churches in Prapat, Indonesia in 1957, which led to formation of the East Asia Christian Conference (EACC), now the Christian Conference of Asia.  The Australian and New Zealand churches were invited to be active participants in the movement which brought together the churches of Asia.  It was recognised as early as the 1950’s that although we had a great European heritage Australia’s destiny lay among its neighbours in Asia and the Pacific, a reality of which some in our society are just becoming aware.  After 12 years of service to the ecumenical movement in Australia in 1968 Harvey Perkins was invited to become the Secretary for Inter-Church Aid in the EACC. The energetic vision which he had brought to the ecumenical movement in this country was now to be shared more widely.

His period of three years in Singapore with the EACC was a stepping stone to his appointment in 1971 to the World Council of Churches (WCC) as Secretary of the Commission on the Churches Participation in Development.  Publication which stimulated new concepts of development, economically, politically and spiritually were shared through the occasional newsletter Colleagues in Development and the book Guidelines for Development, which was re-printed a number of times. A brief period back in Australia from1973 to 1976 with the Methodist Overseas Mission heralded his return to Singapore to be the CCA Secretary for Development and Service for four years to 1980. His prolific writing continued in this role and in his summary of ecumenical philosophy Roots for Vision he describes the achievements of these years overseas.   “To relate biblical theology and social action for justice is particularly important for Christians. ……my story is of an action-reflection process with my colleagues in development…..an exercise of doing theology contextually.”

He returned home in 1981 to be the General Secretary of the Board of Social Responsibility of the Uniting Church, until his retirement in 1984. His vision for a liberated world free of oppression for the marginalised was an example to all who worked with him, if they could keep pace with his prodigious activity in the name of Christ.  Jill was a constant companion and supportive partner in all he achieved, as well as a significant contributor in her own right.

The international ecumenical movement mourns the passing of the visionary Harvey Perkins.  Our local churches have lost a leader who has influenced many and who has been a treasured mentor to many now in leadership positions. The Executive of Churches Together NSW.ACT acknowledges his great contribution to our life and witness.

Doug Hewitt, General Secretary, NSW Ecumenical Council, 28 November 2012