Lead Pastor

Joseph McAuley is the lead pastor at St Luke’s and loves nothing more than helping people discover, in Christ, the holy, wholesome and whole kind of lives that God created them to live.  Lives immersed in the depth, wonder, mystery, truth, goodness and beauty of God.  

Having completed a Ministry Internship Diploma with Laidlaw College, a Master’s Degree with Alphacrucis, and a Doctorate of Ministry with Fuller Theological Seminary, Dr Joseph is a ‘pracademic’ who is committed to theology as a life-giving discipline that serves the local church and helps Christ followers to navigate the complexities of our contemporary culture in faithfulness to the gospel.  He has no interest in ivory-tower type intellectualism for intellectualism's sake, but is deeply committed to a thoughtful, well informed and well formed faith that is anchored in Scripture, tradition, reason, experience and great mystery.  His interests include spiritual disciplines, slow-Bible, the fusion of the charismatic and the contemplative, the reconstruction of faith in a world of deconstruction, Scripture as metanarrative, Genesis, the Cross, Revelation, the Christian Calendar and the liturgy of our lives, and renewal as the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 

He is married to Lisa and together they have three children; Annamari, Romeo, and Lochlan.  If you are familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality types, he is an INTJ.  If Strength Finders is more your thing, Joseph’s top five traits are; strategy, learner, futurist, maximiser and relator.  He is a keen reader but also loves the outdoors, running up the Mount, an occasional surf, getting to the gym, the NRL, cricket, good coffee, red wine and craft beer.