Rev Deacon Sandy Boyce - Executive Officer, Victorian Council of Churches

President of DIAKONIA World Federation, Rev Deacon Sandy Boyce, has been appointed to the position of Executive Officer, Victorian Council of Churches, to begin on April 19th, 2022. 

Victorian Council of Churches 

ABN 51 350 238 724

Level 6, West Tower, 608 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne 3004

Telephone 03 9412 8487, Email: vcc@vcc.org.au

President: Dr Graeme L Blackman AO; Executive Officer: Rev Sandy Boyce

21 March 2022

The Victorian Council of Churches is delighted to announce the appointment of Reverend Sandra (Sandy) Boyce as Executive Officer. Sandy, an ordained Minister in the Uniting Church in Australia, will commence the role on Tuesday 19 April. 

 

Sandy is currently President of DIAKONIA World Federation, an international and ecumenical community for diaconal ministry agents who are part of member associations. She has held the position since 2013.

Sandy has a long background working in the church, particularly with youth and young adults. In 2021, she concluded a long ministry placement at Pilgrim Uniting Church in Adelaide, where she supported and encouraged diaconal ministry in that congregation, and in the wider church. For six years, Sandy worked in a national role coordinating the volunteer’s program for those preparing for short term volunteer placements with overseas partner churches in Asia, Africa and the Pacific, with visits to volunteer placements and meeting with church leaders. 

Sandy loves to cook and welcome people into her home, which has included many overseas students, 'couchsurfers' and other visitors including hosting a regular gathering of young people from various faith traditions and cultural backgrounds so they could learn more about each other while sharing a meal together.

In reflecting on her new role as Executive Officer, Sandy recalls the statement by Konrad Raiser (2003), former General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, who said that “ecumenism - the fellowship of Christian churches as a sign of hope for the world - is not a building project whose state we can describe in a neutral and objective way, but a living process with which we must engage if we want to understand and appreciate it.”

She is looking forward to being part of the vital work of the churches finding their unity in Christ with an openness and appreciation of each other, and discerning with intentionality what God is up to in the world and joining in as part of the praxis of living ecumenism.

Sandy reflects: 

"In a fractured, conflicted world with all its challenges and divisions, the churches have an important leadership role to play in valuing what we share in common and building towards visible unity, as well as speaking into the public space through the lens of justice, compassionate care, peacebuilding initiatives, and reconciliation".

The President of the Victorian Council of Churches Dr Graeme L Blackman AO said: 

“I warmly welcome Rev Sandy Boyce as the new Executive Officer of the Victorian Council of Churches.  Sandy brings a wide range of experience and expertise across many areas of church life including parish ministry, youth ministry and ecumenical engagement, especially within the churches in South Australia.  The Council and Standing Committee of the Victorian Council of Churches look forward to welcoming Sandy to Melbourne and to working with her as we advance the mission and strategic plan of the VCC.”

Anglican; Antiochian Orthodox; Armenian Apostolic; Bulgarian Orthodox; Churches of Christ; Coptic Orthodox; Greek Orthodox; Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East; Lutheran; Malankara Orthodox Syrian; Mar Thoma Syrian; Religious Society of Friends; Roman Catholic; Melkite Catholic and Ukrainian Catholic Eparchies; St George Jacobite Syrian Orthodox; Romanian Orthodox; Salvation Army; Syrian Orthodox; Uniting Church; Welsh Church.