Bishop Terry Brown, former Asia-Pacific mission coordinator for the Anglican Church of Canada who served as bishop of Malaita in the Solomon Islands from 1996 to 2008, died some time before Easter, Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, said in a March 31 email to General Synod staff.
Brown, who had retired in Niagara Falls, Ont., had not been responding to emails or texts, Nicholls said, and a recent wellness check found that he had died in the past few days.
Nicholls described Brown as “a theologian, teacher and passionate advocate for the Pacific Islands amidst environmental and justice concerns.”
“Terry never slowed down in retirement—and will be remembered for his hard work, passion in mission and keen intellect,” the primate added.
Brown was also president of the Canadian Church Historical Society when he died. A message released by the society gave thanks for his life and lamented his death.
“Terry had a brilliant mind, a pastoral heart, a generous spirit, a patient temperament, and a gentle but sparkling sense of humour,” the message reads “He lived simply, faithfully, and humbly.”
The society would be dedicating its upcoming conference on the Anglican Congress of 1963 to Brown, the message says.
Born in Iowa City in 1944, Brown earned an MDiv from Trinity College, Toronto School of Theology in 1974 and was ordained a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada in 1975. From 1975 to 1981, he was a lecturer at Bishop Patteson Theological Centre in the Solomon Islands. He served as a tutor in church history at Trinity College for three years starting in 1981 and earned his ThD in church history from Trinity in 1987.
From 1985 to 1996, Brown was the Anglican Church of Canada’s Asia/Pacific mission coordinator, travelling often throughout the Asia-Pacific region and developing many relationships with the people there.
A 2008 diocesan news release said during his tenure as bishop, Brown “made huge impacts on improving the life and development of the church by helping communities achieve their basic needs to have better rural water supplies around Malaita, improved human resource development and leadership training, as well as infrastructure development in the main centers of the diocese.”
“Bishop Terry is a hard-working bishop who has deeply entered the life of Melanesia,” it added.
After retiring, Brown moved to Hamilton and stayed active, serving as associate priest of All Saints Church, bishop-rector of Church of the Ascension and honorary assistant at Christ’s Church Cathedral while occasionally presiding at St. Michael’s.
On April 1 the Church of the Ascension posted on its Facebook page a photo of Brown giving a Palm Sunday sermon there on March 24. In the text of the sermon that accompanies the photo, Brown alludes to recent surgery involving a “brush with death.”
