Leaders Appoint a New President for the Australian Union Conference

Brendan Pratt has been appointed as president of the Australian Union Conference (AUC) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The AUC officers for the 2025-2030 quinquennium were confirmed during the morning session on the second day of the AUC constituency meeting. A new CFO was also voted in, with Graeme Drinkall taking over from Peter Cameron, who is retiring. Drinkall has most recently served as the CFO of the Western Australian Conference. AUC secretary Jeffrey Masengi was reappointed, continuing in the role he has held since May 2024.

Pratt replaces Terry Johnson, who served as AUC president since 2020. Johnson will transition to the South Pacific Division as French, youth, and ministry strategy team director, a position finalized at last month’s South Pacific Division Executive Committee meetings.

The new president brings a wide range of experience to the role. He began his ministry as a local church pastor in New Zealand before moving into leadership positions, including director of Personal Ministries, Sabbath School, and Stewardship followed by director of Children’s Ministries and Discipleship at the Greater Sydney Conference. He then served as Ministerial Association director at the AUC until 2024, when he became director of the Global Mission Center for Secular and Post-Christian Mission and AUC associate Ministerial secretary.

 “The role of president is not something I expected or anticipated, but it is something that I can see potential in, that as we bring our conferences together, as we focus on mission, as we resource, train, lead our conferences for mission, I think together we’ve got some huge opportunities in Australia,” Pratt said. “I think the best years for the Adventist Church are just ahead of us as we reach post-Christian secular Australia, our Church Next strategy, our Australia for Christ missionary focus. . . . Together we will refocus our mission on what it is to be God’s people in Australia. I think as a church we have some wonderful opportunities, and I’m looking forward to being a part of that.” 

Pratt is married to Amanda Bews, and they have three adult sons.

According to the June 30, 2024, statistics from the Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, the Australian Union Conference has a membership of 65,477 baptized members who worship in 450 churches and companies across nine conferences.

The original version of this story was posted on Adventist Record.