Vale Dr Keith Suter AM, servant and prophet of the Uniting Church

Peter Bentley

(Born England, 25 July 1948 – 10 December 2025, Sydney, Australia)

There will be many reflections about Keith Suter during these coming weeks. Keith wore many hats and had a considerable number of personal connections, and was involved in a broad range of organisations and businesses. Keith would become quite widely known in the general public as the Foreign and International Affairs Editor for Sunrise and The Morning Show on Channel 7, a commentator role he commenced in 2002.

John Sandeman (The Other Cheek) asked me to provide an article about Keith’s church connection, which was primarily the Uniting Church, though he did speak and connect with many different denominations. Keith received his AM in 2019, “For significant service to international relations, and to the Uniting Church in Australia.”

Keith’s connection with the Uniting Church coincided with most of the life of the denomination, which was formed in 1977.

One of Keith’s early roles in Australia was at the significant and influential Parish, the Central Methodist Mission in Sydney, which would become Wesley Mission (Sydney). Keith started under the formative leadership of (soon to conclude) Superintendent Rev Sir Alan Walker and held the role of Director for Administration from 1976-1981. 

Time with the Uniting Church Assembly

An opportunity arose for Keith to use his growing academic and writing skills with the newly established Commission on Social Responsibility. This Commission, along with other commissions, had been formed in 1977 with the creation of the Uniting Church, and were tasked with providing national perspectives and resources for the national council of the Uniting Church, the Assembly. The Commission on Social Responsibility began to find its feet in terms of considering major public and social issues, and was looking for a person to establish the work on a broader academic foundation. Keith became General Secretary of the Assembly Commission on Social Responsibility in the early 1980s, serving for a term from 1982-1985, concluding, as he told me, as ‘collateral damage’ in what would be one of many restructurings of the Assembly governance structure and office. 

Keith was the ideal person in these early years as he had finished his first PhD on international law and warfare, and had a keen interest in peace initiatives, particularly nuclear concerns, and these were a major public focus and interest for many organisations and movements in the 1980s. 

In a memorable media frenzy during these years, Keith was caught up in The Bulletin’s exploration of new left movements, with their initial article having the wonderful headline ‘The Radical Left’s New Power Bases’ (January 25, 1983). 

I understand Keith was quite bemused by this and thought his burgeoning depiction as a leading communist in Australia to be quite exaggerated. Keith certainly connected with and wrote for communist publications, though he was keen to have his work published by all who were interested in matters of peace. Interestingly, one of Keith’s mentors, Alan Walker, was a pacifist in World War II (the Vietnam era is the one usually highlighted).

‘The Bulletin affair’ dragged on into 1984 as it also became a prominent matter in debate in Synod publications and discussion in local congregations. The membership of the Uniting Church was, of course, a good deal more traditional and conservative then. 

Time in Western Australia

Trinity Church (a church from a congregational tradition that entered the UCA in 1977) was located in central Perth and had a large financial base from a redevelopment. The church decided to use some of the proceeds to create a centre focused on Peace. The Trinity Peace Research Institute was formed, and the timing and connection for Keith fitted perfectly. He took on the role of inaugural director, serving for five years (1986-1991). Keith decided to leave Perth at the end of the term as he found it did not present the wider opportunity for academic connection and the intellectual challenge he needed at that time.

Back to Sydney

On return to Sydney, Keith reconnected with Wesley Mission Superintendents, past leader Alan Walker, and the now established leader Gordon Moyes. 

Keeping busy in his ‘retirement’, Alan Walker had established a new organisation, the National Goals and Directions Movement. Alan was keen to promote public discussion of major issues and consider the future of Australia from a Christian foundation. Again, Keith was an ideal person, and he became the Executive Director of NGDM (1991-2001) on a part-time basis.

Keith also started a fruitful time of new collaboration at Wesley Mission that would span nearly three decades, including 17 years as a policy and issues consultant. This allowed Keith a wide-ranging opportunity to explore topics, and he soon became a regular person for media organisations to seek out for public comment (increasingly wider than the initial 2GB role that came from Wesley’s connections). After concluding his employed role, Keith continued serving Wesley as a board member from 2009 and then in the pivotal role of secretary from 2012. He only retired from these roles in the last few years, though this did not mean he was thinking of retirement, and he willingly accepted more speaking engagements, and also took up new initiatives, including a podcast on international affairs.

Early in that new decade of ministry and service, Keith embarked upon his third PhD (awarded in 2013). The topic was “The Future of the Uniting Church in Australia: The Application of Scenario Planning to the Creation of Four “Futures” for the Uniting Church in Australia”. A copy can be downloaded at one of his websites: Church Futures.

Keith was disappointed that, in general, the Uniting Church leadership or ‘hierarchy’ ignored his thesis, as he viewed this decade to be a critical time because the denomination had entered a period of substantial decline. Keith spent some time promoting the scenarios through selected invitations, particularly in WA and in a limited way in Queensland, and there was also significant discussion and connection with evangelical groups and organisations within the Uniting Church.  

During all these decades, as an accredited Lay Preacher, Keith maintained a regular preaching schedule, as well as visiting churches and Christian organisations to take seminars and speak on international and contemporary issues.

Keith’s Christian commitment was the foundation of all his work and service, and among his wide legacy will be a tremendous body of writing and reflection, worthy of a Presidential Library. I am hopeful that someone will complete a PhD on Dr Keith Suter. His insightful mind will be missed. 

With prayers for his partner Jane, and Keith’s many friends and supporters. Well done, good and faithful servant.

Peter Bentley 

pkbentleyarchive.com; 12 December 2025