Our Leadership Team

Here’s a brief bio about each of the members of our Session (elders).

Andrew Kerr hails from Perth (WA) and Wagga Wagga (NSW) where he studied to be a teacher and was very involved in the work of AFES through the Christian Fellowship at Charles Sturt University. He is a maths and science teacher at a local Secondary College, was ordained as an elder in 2012 and is the Session Clerk of St John’s. Drew is married to Esther and is father of 1 daughter and 3 sons.

Rev Keith Bell is a Queenslander who was ordained a Minister of the Presbyterian Church in 1982. He has served in the parishes of Bell (Qld), Naracoorte (SA) and Hamilton (Vic) as well as being full-time Presbyterian Chaplain at the Royal Children’s Hospital (Melb.). He has also served as Moderator of the PCV. Keith also served as the Minister of the Alice Springs Mission Church for 5 years under the direction of the Presbyterian Inland Mission (PIM). In February 2018, Keith was appointed as an assessor to the Session after moving to Bendigo. He is married to Jenny and they have 1 son, 4 daughters (one in glory) and 8 grandchildren!

Rev Philip Burns is from Aspendale (Vic), studied at RMIT, then trained for the ministry at the Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne (then known as the Presbyterian Theological Hall), was ordained in 1986 and has ministered in the Upper Yarra (Warburton) from 1986-1997, in Vanuatu in 1998 with APWM and then in Warrnambool (St John’s) from 1999-2006. He has served as the Minister of St John’s Bendigo since March 2007 and is currently the Acting Deputy Clerk of the PCV. He is married to Sandra and they have 2 sons, 2 daughters and 6 grandchildren.

Rev Peter Phillips grew up and worked in Bendigo before studying at the PTC in Box Hill, was ordained in 1991 and served as the Minister of the Clifton Hill, Essendon and the Terang-Camperdown-Noorat Charges, before retiring and moving back to Bendigo in 2018.  Peter has also served as the Moderator of the PCV (three times), and is now the Acting Clerk of the PCV’s General Assembly. He was appointed as an assessor to the Session in April 2020. Peter is married to Lorraine (they clocked up 50 years in December 2019) and have two sons, one daughter (in glory), 6 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.