Tag: Jill Sheppard

Image SYDNEY, Australia — At a regular Sunday morning service, before the praise songs and a sermon on resilience, a pastor at one of Sydney’s largest Pentecostal churches mentioned a congregant who was usually among those worshiping there. But he was not with them this past Sunday. On Friday, he became Australia’s newest prime minister. “I’m incredibly hopeful — hopeful for the future of our generation,” said Alison Bonhomme, a senior pastor at Horizon Church, reflecting on the political tumult that led Scott Morrison to become the country’s leader. He is the first prime minister to come from one of the country’s growing evangelical Christian movements, leading many experts and voters to wonder how his Christianity might affect various issues, from foreign policy to social policy. “The question is whether Morrison will choose to make his faith part of his political persona or to what extent he will,” said Hugh White, a professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University. Sign up for your local Morning Briefing to get the news you need, Monday through Friday.] For a decade, Mr. Morrison and his family have been part of the congregation at Horizon Church in a middle-class southern suburb of Sydney, where his wife volunteers and his daughters are involved in the children’s ministry. “I think that people of faith around the nation are very much filled with hope that someone of Christian faith and principle is holding such a role in public life,” said Kristy Mills, the executive pastor. Mr. Morrison is the latest politician to become prime minister after a messy leadership “spill,” in which a leader was ousted by party rivals — in this case, Malcolm Turnbull, a moderate pushed out by conservatives.