Rev Dr Dan Cole appointed as next Principal of Trinity Theological College

Trinity Theological College is pleased to announce the appointment of Rev Dr Dan Cole as the next Principal of the College. Dan, who currently serves at Trinity as Senior Lecturer in New Testament and Greek, will take over from Rev Dr Don West who has been Principal for 21 years.

Murray Thornhill, Chair of the Trinity Theological College Council, says, “Rev Dr Dan Cole is well recognised for his outstanding scholarship, his wise leadership and encouragement among faculty and students, his commitment to the work of the gospel through the local church, and his commitment to his wife Emily and his family. In his years on faculty, he has developed the skills and insight needed for this role, and built strong relationships across churches and the communities which support the College. Dan has a clearly defined philosophy of ministry and a strong vision for theological education and ministry formation in the Western Australian context. Council believes these attributes and relationships will be invaluable in his work leading the College in facing the challenges of these times.”

Dan was born in Sydney to Christian parents, and gave his life to Christ at age 10. The family spent time on the mission field in Taiwan during Dan’s teenage years, and from an early age, Dan was driven by a desire to help the Church around the world. He recognised that the Church in Sydney was well-resourced, and expected that he would one day serve elsewhere.

At university Dan studied Engineering, on a scholarship that gave him work in this field alongside study. During this time he met and married his wife Emily, and they began to consider together what future ministry might look like for their family. At the end of his degree, Dan was invited to become a youth pastor by a minister whom he knew, and decided to take up this role rather than pursuing engineering.

After two years of youth pastoring, Dan realised, “I needed a lot more training!” So he went to study at Moore Theological College, graduating in 2009 with a Bachelor of Divinity.

Post-college, Dan became Assistant Minister at St Mark’s Darling Point, an Anglican church in Sydney, originally anticipating that it would be a fairly short appointment. “My boss at the time was approaching retirement, and so we thought we would wait until he retired and then work out what would happen next,” Dan says.

During this time, Dan and Emily began to explore what further study might look like. Dan had done well at college, and had been invited back a few times to teach in their evening courses. He even had a meeting booked in to meet with an academic advisor about starting a PhD.

But sadly, the rector of St Mark’s Rev. Canon Boak Jobbins died suddenly at 66, leaving behind a grieving parish. Dan recognised that departing in that time could bring further pain to the church, and so he chose to stay for an additional year, helping to support the church as they processed their grief and looked for a new rector. Once the new rector was announced, Dan and his family felt he could now pursue a PhD.

His academic advisor was moving to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois for a new role, and Dan decided to follow him to do his PhD there, planning to focus on Greek verbs. But a meeting with renowned Christian scholar and writer Don Carson changed his focus. 

“Carson said, ‘you should probably think about doing something a little bit more useful for the church,’ which is pretty typical bluntness from Don!” Dan laughs. “And so I thought about it, then went back to Carson and said, ‘If I do something on Paul and Isaiah, would you supervise it?’ And he said yes.”

Dan’s PhD focused on the use of the Suffering Servant imagery in Paul’s letters, and particularly Paul’s use of this image to describe not just Jesus, but himself. “And so I was asking: Why does he do that? How does he do it? How does that impact his ethics?” Dan explains. “It got me to think about how the whole Bible fits together and how especially Paul uses the Old Testament as a model for how we use it.”

In late 2015, Trinity Theological College in Perth advertised for the Lecturer in New Testament role. Dan hadn’t quite finished his PhD yet, and thought it was too early to apply, but he was encouraged to do so by various colleagues. 

“As we went through the interview process, what became clear was the two distinctives of this college really match what I think are really important in a theological college,” Dan remembers. “So there’s biblical theology, reading the Bible as a whole, and a ministry focus. I can actually get in a classroom and say, when you’re teaching this, you need to think about this with your people.”

Dan was given the role, and in mid-2017 the Coles left Illinois and moved to Perth. He finished his PhD remotely at the end of 2018.

At Trinity, Dan has taught Greek, New Testament Overview, and exegesis units in Romans, 1 Corinthians, Hebrews, 1 Peter and John, teaching in both Greek and English. He has also supervised postgraduate students.

Dan has continued his own academic writing. His PhD was published in 2021 and he has had several journal articles published including a most recent piece on how Old Testament scripture is introduced in Hebrews, and what this can tell us about how to read the Bible as a whole.

He is well-known around Perth as a gifted Bible teacher, having spoken at gatherings including Perth Gospel Partnership Challenge Conference, Perth Men’s Convention and CMS SummerFocus, as well as preaching at his home church Kallaroo Anglican and other churches around the city.

Dan was Acting Principal of Trinity at the end of 2023 while Don took long service leave.

Following the announcement in March that Don would retire at the end of the year, a search committee was established to seek out a new Principal who will lead the College in its next season.

Murray Thornhill explains, “We have had the unique blessing as a College community of having long term dedicated leadership with Rev Dr Don West as Principal for 21 years and Bruce Dodd as chair for 14 years. The College has grown and thrived in that time as the Lord has used the College to prepare so many servants of the gospel in ministry. 

“Conscious of this heritage and the range of churches and parachurch organisations that support and underpin the College community, Council selected a Principal Selection Committee to go through a rigorous recruitment process searching far and wide for the right Principal. The PSC was drawn from various stakeholder groups and met together in prayer as we went through a process of defining the role, and attracting candidates to consider applying for it. Particular thanks go to Dr Johan Nel of Comoco Talent who facilitated the process.”

When Dan became aware that the role of Principal would be vacant, he was conscious that taking on such a role would be a step away from doing as much teaching, which would be a big change. But he says, “I know God’s got this, and I was talking to people that were encouraging me to put my name forward.” So Dan decided to apply.

Murray Thornhill says, “After interviews and much prayerful discussion, the PSC was pleased to make a recommendation to Council. Council then went through a process of considering the recommendation prayerfully, before arriving at the final decision. Everyone involved sensed the Lord’s leading through the process and were greatly encouraged by the quality of candidates for the role and interest in the College’s leadership. College Council is encouraged and very excited to announce Dan’s appointment.”

The announcement of Dan’s appointment was made to the Trinity faculty and staff at a meeting earlier this week, and warmly received by Dan’s colleagues.

Dan is looking forward to continuing the previous leadership’s hard work of shepherding and guiding the College to, as he says, “keep the main thing the main thing – the proclamation of the gospel through the teaching of the scriptures.”

Please join us in congratulating Dan on his appointment, and praying for him and Emily as he steps into the role of Principal. Please pray that God would guide Trinity Theological College through this season of change and uphold His people here as we continue to prepare people for effective Christian service.