Rev. Dr Sean Gilbert DipPastCare, BTheol, MA(Hons), PhD 

Before joining the faculty at Uniting College, Sean spent over twenty years as a Minister of the Word in congregational ministry within the Uniting Church. He enjoys bringing the richness of that experience to leadership formation, teaching in areas related to ministry practice. He believes that the love of God and imaginative, reflective application is core to all fruitful expressions of ministry

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Sean is somewhat eclectic. He is a reader of culture, a player of acoustic music, a writer of liturgy and an occasional writer of poetry and song. He is also a keen political observer, a long suffering supporter of the Essendon Football Club, and coaches at a suburban cricket club.

Sean is married to Christine and has a blended family of five. He has two grandchildren.

Rev. Dr Maja Whitaker BSc, GradDipTheol, PGDipTheol, PhD (Theology)

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Maja is the Academic Dean at Laidlaw College in Aotearoa New Zealand; she oversees all programme development and delivery and contributes to the development and outworking of College strategy, with a focus on integrated programmes and a strong partner ecosystem.

Maja is a lecturer in the School of Theology, and has served as Practical Theology Lead and with the School of Theology Leadership team. She teaches into courses on spiritual formation, reflective practice, leadership, and pastoral ministry.

Maja's research focusses on what the Christian tradition can offer to critique and inform modern cultural ideologies about human flourishing in general and the diversity of bodies in particular.

Maja is an ordained pastor in the Equippers Church (ACTS) network. She is married to Dave and they have four daughters in primary and high school.

Major Sandy MacDonald BEc, AdvDipSAMin, GDCS, MATS, GCRM

Sandy is a Lecturer at the Salvation Army Eva Burrows College and teaches supervised Theological Field Education and Reflective Practice for Vocational Formation.

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Sandy has been a Salvation Army Officer for over 20 years with varied appointments including almost eight years of church-based leadership and pastoral ministry in Australian remote, regional, rural, suburban and city settings, almost a decade of dedicated focus on youth and children’s ministries and, most recently, over five years in the training and formation of Salvation Army Cadets, Auxiliary Lieutenants and Lieutenants.

Sandy is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Professional Practice within University of Divinity.

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Rev. Associate Professor Michael A. Kelly CSsR, BTheol, STM, MEd, PhD
Yarra Theological Union, Victoria

Michael teaches at Yarra Theological Union which is located in Box Hill (Melbourne) and is a College of the University of Divinity. He is responsible for the religious education programs of the college. His area of specialisation is pastoral theology, and he teaches a variety of units in leadership, religious education, practical theology and homiletics. He is Chair of the Department of Theology: Mission and Ministry. He is also the editor of the Australian Journal of Mission Studies (AJMS).

He is a Catholic priest and a member of the Redemptorist Congregation an international Catholic religious order present in eighty-five countries.

Rev Dr Ian Hussey PhD (Australian Catholic University) MTh, MMgt, GradTheol, BTh(Hons), DipEd, BSc

Ian Hussey was a Baptist pastor in Brisbane for 17 years before becoming a lecturer at the Queensland Baptist College from 2011 to 2024. He joined  Morling College in 2025 as Associate Dean (Brisbane) and Associate Director of Research teaching in the areas of Research Methods and Ministry and Practice. Ian is a Practical Theologian researching and publishing in areas like homiletics, spiritual formation, church life and pastoral leadership. He is also the Regional Minister for the Metro Central region of Queensland Baptist churches.

Pastor Monica O’Neil
Vose Seminary, Western Australia

Monica has been involved in pastoral ministry since 1985, including rural and city churches, church planting and being on team in a mega church. Her supervisory experience began as a combination of a counselling practice and an emerging role as a pastoral supervisor in the megachurch environment.

In 2007 she joined Vose Seminary to launch Vose Leadership, a professional development centre focussed on resourcing Christian leaders for a lifetime of healthy service. This has had a natural synergy with the Field Education program at Vose, which she has coordinated since 2009. Monica also oversees the development of the Seminary’s RTO and the offering of Vocational Training to augment the training needs of churches and not for profit agencies. She has recently completed her Master of Arts (Ministry) through ACT.