Malcolm Richards
Malcolm Richards is an Australian bishop in the Anglican Church of Australia. He has served as an assistant bishop in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, as the Bishop for International Relations, since July 2019.
Richards grew up in Canberra, and originally trained and worked as an optometrist. He and his wife pledged to become missionaries, and from 1988 to 1994 they moved to what was then Zaire with their children to carry out youth work. He lived in Goma on the Rwandan border during the Rwandan genocide.
On returning to Australia, Richards trained at Moore Theological College, then worked in parish ministry in the Anglican Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn, where he planted a church. He then returned to the now-Democratic Republic of Congo in 2005 where he worked for a further five years for the Anglian Diocese of Kindu.
In October 2010, Richards was appointed as General Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory branch, a position he remained in for eight years until he became bishop.
In April 2019, Richards was named by Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Glenn Davies as Bishop for International Relations, replacing Peter Tasker who had held the role since 2009. He was consecrated bishop on 6 July 2019. Richards was the first person to hold the role without a concurrent diocesan bishop responsibility. Instead, Richards took up a position as Director of the Centre for Global Mission at Moore Theological College.
Richards is married to Elizabeth and has three children. He is fluent in Swahili and French.
