The Rev Stephen Black contemplates the Christian message from behind the altar at St Andrew’s Anglican Church, Cambridge. Photo: Chris Gardner
The Reverend Stephen Black grew up in a very exclusive club. As the son of the Rev Monty Black, he was what church communities affectionately call a PK – a Pastor’s Kid – a title that carries both expectation and scrutiny.
Yet throughout his childhood, he kept his father’s public role to himself and resisted any suggestion that he might one day follow the same path.
“At school I resisted any suggestion that I might one day be ordained,” he said.
The Rev Stephen Black works from an office at St Andrew’s Anglican Church, Cambridge. Photo: Chris Gardner
This month, however, Rev Black was installed as the new vicar of St Andrew’s Anglican Church in Cambridge, stepping into a position his father briefly held in 2015.
Around 300 people attended the February 1 service, including staff and students from Waikato Diocesan School for Girls, where the 47‑year‑old previously served as chaplain and teacher.
“They were incredibly good to me,” he said. “I found working with young people was incredibly life‑giving.”
One of his fondest memories from that time was accompanying students to ring the school bell in celebration of achieving NCEA results.
Rev Black was ordained in 2010 as a deacon assistant at Onslow Anglicans in Khandallah while also working as managing editor for Thomson Reuters in Wellington.
He was born in Feilding and spent his childhood following his father’s ministry across several lower North Island towns and attended Hereworth School in Havelock North and Hastings Boys’ High School. He later studied English literature at the Canterbury University, earned an honours degree at Victoria University in Wellington, and completed a theology degree at Otago University.
The distinctive spire of St Andrew’s Anglican Church towers over its new vicar. Rev Stephen Black. Photo: Chris Gardner
His role as director of ministry education and vocation for the Anglican Diocese of Waikato and Taranaki brought him – along with his wife Melanie and sons Alex and James – to Hamilton in 2015. Melanie teaches in the learning enhancement department at St Paul’s Collegiate School. Rev Black’s job is no secret to his sons’ friends; he’s even been known to coach their sports teams straight from work, still in his clerical collar.
A strong advocate for the poetic language of the King James Bible, Rev Black nevertheless prefers using the New Living Translation in church for its accessibility. He cites American pastor Richard Foster’s book Prayer as a key spiritual influence: “It was the most significant exploration of prayer that I have experienced. I encountered a man in deep relationship with God.”
As he settles into his new parish, Rev Black says his first responsibility is simple but essential: to “listen, ask, learn, think, and pray.” It would be “a bold vicar,” he said, who outlines the future of a parish in his first weeks.
“Ultimately, the purpose of a parish is to serve the needs of her community. So, what are they? How are we already responding? What are the gaps? What are we good at? Where can we collaborate?”
Outside of ministry, Rev Black enjoys playing the banjo, op‑shopping for shirts to pair with his clerical collars, and science fiction.
Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica, Frank Herbert’s Dune series – a model ornithopter sits proudly on his office shelf – Star Trek, and Star Wars all rank among his favourites.
He will remain based in Hillcrest while his youngest son finishes high school.
The Rev Stephen Black contemplates the Christian message from behind the altar at St Andrew’s Anglican Church, Cambridge. Photo: Chris Gardner
