Julian Dobbs

Julian M. Dobbs (born 1968) is a New Zealand-born American bishop. He serves as the Diocesan bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word (ADLW), a jurisdiction of the Anglican Church in North America. Dobbs' ministry as a bishop includes overseeing congregations and clergy of the diocese. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States on February 7, 2014.

Julian Dobbs

Early career

Dobbs was born and raised in New Zealand, where he married his wife, Brenda, and had three children. In 1991, he was ordained in the Anglican Church in New Zealand. He has an L.Th., Th.M. and a D. D. He planted three congregations, led the fastest-growing congregation in New Zealand and hosted a weekly hour-long television show in Nelson.[1]

In 2004, Dobbs became executive director of the Barnabas Fund, promoting awareness of the persecution of Christians around the world, particularly in Laos, Malaysia, Syria, Egypt and North Korea. In the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami, Dobbs' relief work in Aceh, Indonesia was recognised by the New Zealand government with the New Zealand Special Service Medal.[2] In 2006, Dobbs and his family relocated to the Washington, D.C. area where he continued to work at the Barnabas Fund.

CANA ministry

In 2008, Dobbs was appointed archdeacon and canon missioner in the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, where he contributed to clergy development, worked to help North American Anglicans understand and the challenges posed by the rise of Islam in Africa, and develop a West African-American clergy and lay mission partnership.[2] To continue this work, he was elected a bishop by CANA and the Church of Nigeria in spring of 2011, and consecrated by Nicholas Okoh in Lagos on September 25, 2011.[3]

Dobbs has been active in opposing and publicizing the Boko Haram attacks on Christians in northern Nigeria and calling for international prayer and action.[4] In August 2012, Okoh visited Washington, D.C., and through Dobbs' connections met with policymakers and officials to promote action against the Muslim militants in the north.[5] He serves on ACNA's task force on Christian-Muslim relations.[1]

On May 7, 2013, in Wayne, Pennsylvania, Dobbs became the first bishop of the newly formed Missionary Diocese of CANA East.[6] CANA East stretches from Maine to Miami and from Tulsa, OK and The bronx, NY. The diocese has 38 congregations and over 80 clergy, it is one of the three dioceses formed out of The Convocation of Anglicans in North America.[7]

Dobbs attended the GAFCON 2 meeting in Nairobi Kenya in 2013 and serves as a member of the International Board of Barnabas Fund, an organization that supports suffering Christians.

In 2013 Dobbs wrote an open letter to the President of the United States, Barack Obama, calling for urgent intervention in support of persecuted Christians in Syria.[8]

In January 2014, Dobbs was appointed as the Missionary Bishop of CANA by the Most Rev. Nicholas D. Okoh, Primate of all Nigeria. Dobbs will remain in his current role as bishop of the CANA East diocese while taking on the additional responsibilities of providing oversight and leadership to CANA's overall ministry.[9]

Dobbs wrote his first pastoral letter to CANA on January 24, 2014.[10] In September 2014, Dobbs spoke at the "In Defense of Christians" forum in Washington, D.C. Hundreds of activists, including Christian clergy from across the Middle East and more than a dozen members of Congress attended a three-day conference aimed at training a serious policy-impacting force in Washington to protect persecuted Christians overseas. Dobbs presented a paper entitled "Why Christianity is Vital To the Middle East". He said: "Christianity is intrinsically linked to the Middle East. It is in the Middle East that Christianity was birthed in the backwaters of the Roman Empire and from where the message of the Christian gospel spread throughout the Roman Empire, to Ethiopia, and to the Persian Empire."[11]

As missionary bishop, Dobbs presided over the 10th anniversary of the founding of CANA. In his anniversary address, Dobbs said, "CANA was missionary then and she is missionary now. As a Convocation we exist not only as a jurisdiction for the 120 congregations and 450 clergy and chaplains who serve as members of our Convocation, we exist as a missionary movement called by Almighty God to replant biblical missionary Anglican Christianity across North America. This is the mission to which we in CANA have all been called by Almighty God."[12]

Anglican Diocese of the Living Word

At the 2019 Missions Conference and Synod Bishop Dobbs encouraged the diocese (then CANA East) to remain a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America and establish a ministry partner relationship with the Church of Nigeria (anglican Communion). As a result, the diocese changed its name to the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word. The diocese became a diocese of ACNA in 2013. Bishop Dobbs said to the synod, "I believe that the best way forward for our diocese is to continue, with as little change as possible, as a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America (which we already are) and to request (under the new arrangement) that we become a ministry partner with the Church of Nigeria." Bishop Dobbs has also said that the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word is in communion with all Anglican Churches, Dioceses and Provinces that hold and maintain the 'Historic Faith, Doctrine, Sacrament and Discipline of the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church'.

Living Through the Word

In the summer of 2019, Bishop Dobbs became the main host of Living Through the Word podcast which has rapidly developed a national and international audience. In the inaugural episode Bishop Dobbs interviewed his mentor, Bishop Martyn Minns.[13]

Land of Israel Bible Tours

Bishop Dobbs and his wife Brenda have led 9 bible study tours to Israel.[14]

Marathon Runner

Dobbs is a keen marathon runner having run the following marathons:

  • NYC 2013
  • NYC 2014
  • MCM 2015
  • Pocono 2016
  • MCM 2016
  • NYC 2017
  • PHILADELPHIA 2018
  • Richmond, VA 2019

References
  1. "New Bishops Elected for North America". March 5, 2011. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  2. "CANA Welcomes Julian Dobbs as Canon Missioner". December 8, 2008. Archived from the original on March 11, 2014. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  3. "Julian Dobbs and Felix Orji Made CANA Bishops". September 26, 2011. Archived from the original on December 27, 2013. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  4. Dobbs, Julian (January 4, 2012). "Pray for Nigeria". Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  5. "Archbishop Okoh to Visit the United States in August". June 28, 2012. Archived from the original on June 21, 2013. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  6. "VirtueOnline – the Voice for Global Orthodox Anglicanism".
  7. "Anglican Diocese of the Living Word". www.adlw.org.
  8. "Letter of Bishop Julian Dobbs to the President of the United States, August 20, 2013" (PDF).
  9. "Read the media release here" (PDF).
  10. "Bishop Julian Dobbs Pastoral Letter to CANA, January 24, 2014" (PDF).
  11. "Why Christianity Is Vital to the Middle East – Bishop Julian Dobbs". September 11, 2014.
  12. "Pastoral address" (PDF).
  13. "Anglican Diocese of the Living Word | 001: An interview with Bishop". www.adlw.org.
  14. https://www.adlw.org/
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