Tim Costello

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Australian Baptist minister (born 1955)

title: "Tim Costello" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1955-births", "21st-century-australian-baptist-ministers", "australian-republicans", "delegates-to-the-australian-constitutional-convention-1998", "gun-control-advocates", "living-people", "monash-law-school-alumni", "officers-of-the-order-of-australia", "people-educated-at-carey-baptist-grammar-school", "religious-leaders-from-melbourne", "20th-century-australian-baptist-ministers", "anti-gambling-advocates"] description: "Australian Baptist minister (born 1955)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Costello" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Australian Baptist minister (born 1955) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox religious biography"]

FieldValue
honorific_prefixThe Reverend
nameTim Costello
honorific-suffix
imageTim Costello 2011.jpg
captionCostello in 2012
religionChristianity (Baptist)
churchSt Kilda Baptist Church
Collins Street Baptist Church
alma_materCarey Baptist Grammar School
Monash University
International Baptist Seminary Rueschlikon
Melbourne College of Divinity
nationalityAustralian
birth_nameTimothy Ewen Costello
birth_date
birth_placeMelbourne, Victoria, Australia
spouseMerridie Costello
relativesPeter Costello (brother)
Patrick Costello
postMayor of St Kilda
President of the Baptist Union of Australia (1999–2002)
CEO of World Vision Australia (2003–2016)
::

| honorific_prefix = The Reverend | name = Tim Costello | honorific-suffix = | image = Tim Costello 2011.jpg | alt = | caption = Costello in 2012 | religion = Christianity (Baptist) | denomination = | church = St Kilda Baptist Church Collins Street Baptist Church | alma_mater = Carey Baptist Grammar School Monash University International Baptist Seminary Rueschlikon Melbourne College of Divinity | nationality = Australian | home_town = | birth_name = Timothy Ewen Costello | birth_date = | birth_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | death_date = | death_place = | spouse = Merridie Costello | children = | parents = | relatives = Peter Costello (brother) Patrick Costello | title = | period = | post = Mayor of St Kilda President of the Baptist Union of Australia (1999–2002) CEO of World Vision Australia (2003–2016) | website =

Timothy Ewen Costello AO (born 4 March 1955) is an Australian Baptist minister who was the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Advocate of World Vision Australia. Costello worked as a lawyer and served as mayor of St Kilda. He has authored a number of books on faith and life. A National Trust poll in 2014 elected him one of Australia's 100 national living treasures.

Early life

Costello was born in Melbourne, Victoria, where he grew up in the suburb of Blackburn and was educated at Carey Baptist Grammar School (graduating in 1972). He is a descendant of Irish immigrant Patrick Costello, who was expelled from the Parliament of Victoria in the 1860s for electoral fraud.

Costello studied at Monash University, graduating with a Bachelor of Jurisprudence degree in 1976, a Bachelor of Laws in 1978 and a Diploma of Education in 1979.

Costello is the brother of Peter Costello, the former treasurer of Australia and Federal Member for Higgins.

Career

Legal

Costello practised as a solicitor in family and criminal law, both in established firms and in his own practice.

Ministry

In 1981, Costello travelled to Switzerland with his wife, Merridie, where they both studied theology at the International Baptist Seminary Rüschlikon near Zürich, before graduating with a Bachelor of Divinity and returning to Australia to become the minister of St Kilda Baptist Church.

Ordained as a Baptist minister in 1987, Costello, along with his wife Merridie and a team of others, rebuilt the congregation at the St Kilda Baptist Church and opened a drop-in centre. He also taught urban ministry at Whitley College, a college of the University of Melbourne.

From 1995 to 2003, Costello was a minister of the Collins Street Baptist Church and the executive director of Urban Seed, a Christian not-for-profit organisation created in response to concern about homelessness, drug abuse and the marginalisation of the city's street people.

Costello served as the president of the Baptist Union of Australia from 1999 to 2002. He has also been patron of Baptist World Aid Australia, a member of the Australian Earth Charter Committee, a council member of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, a spokesperson for the Interchurch Gambling Taskforce, a member of the National Advisory Body on Gambling and a member of the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation.

Political career

Costello was elected Mayor of St Kilda Council in 1993 and became well known for championing the cause of local democracy and for his clashes with the Premier of Victoria, Jeff Kennett.

Costello was an elected delegate at the Australian Constitutional Convention in Canberra in February 1998.

World Vision Australia

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Tim_Costello_2010-06-20_(cropped).JPG" caption="Costello in June 2010"] ::

Costello was appointed as CEO of World Vision Australia on 24 November 2003. Having spent much of his career focussing on local and domestic issues, Costello said he relished the opportunity to focus on international issues. During Costello's tenure, the organisation grew from funding 480 projects benefiting 10.4 million people, to more than 800 World Vision development projects benefiting close to 100 million people across the globe including in Australia.

After 13 years as CEO, Costello announced that he was stepping aside to become the Chief Advocate for World Vision Australia on 9 May 2016. He remained as Chief Advocate for a further two years before resigning on 7 June 2019, citing the physical and emotional toll of the role over many years.

Other roles

Costello has since become the Director of Ethical Voice, Executive Director of Micah Australia and a Senior Fellow at Centre for Public Christianity. He is also Chair of the Community Council of Australia and an Advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform.

Awards and honours

Costello received the Victorian of the Year award in July 2004 in recognition of his public and community service. He was made an officer of the Order of Australia in June 2005 and was the Victorian nominee for the Australian of the Year award in 2006. He is the 2008 winner of the Australian Peace Prize awarded by the Peace Organisation of Australia. He is also listed by the National Trust as a "National Living Treasure".

In 2008, Costello received an honorary doctorate from the Australian Catholic University in recognition of "his contributions to religious life and social justice".

In 2025, Costello was awarded an Honorary Doctorate at Monash University following his devotion to social justice, global poverty and community wellbeing.

Publications

  • Costello, Tim; Riddell, Michael; Gill, Athol; Nichols, Alan; U'ren, John; Duncan, Michael; Corney, Peter; Ministry in an Urban World: Responding to the City, Acorn Press, ACT, 1991,
  • Costello, Tim, Streets of Hope: Finding God in St Kilda Allen & Unwin, 1997,
  • Costello, Tim, Tips from a Travelling Soul Searcher Allen & Unwin, 1999,
  • Costello, Tim and Millar, Royce, Wanna Bet? Winners and Losers in Gambling's Luck Myth, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2000.
  • Costello, Tim and Yule, Rod, Another Way to Love, Acorn Press, 2009,
  • Costello, Tim, Hope, Hardie Grant Books, 2012,
  • Costello, Tim, Faith: Embracing Life in all its Uncertainty, Hardie Grant Books, 2017,
  • Costello, Tim, A Lot with a Little, Hardie Grant Books, 2019,

References

References

  1. "Tim Costello". ABC.
  2. Farouque, Farah. (16 November 2006). "Oh brother! Costellos bump up against each other again". The Age.
  3. (14 July 2005). "Bean counter to spill some of the beans". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  4. (2005). "Biography – Patrick Costello". Melbourne University Press.
  5. Coslovich, Gabriella. (16 July 2006). "The ancestor who gave Peter Costello that smirk". Fairfax Media.
  6. Maiden, Samantha. (29 January 2010). "Infamous Costello smirk "a cover for insecurity over bad teeth"". The Australian.
  7. "Resignation of Professor D. P. Derham, Dean of the Faculty of Law".
  8. "Mr Tim Costello AO". Monash University.
  9. Desmond, Rosemary. "A Pragmatic Idealist". National Seniors.
  10. "World Vision's Rev Tim Costello". ABC Queensland.
  11. "Our CEO – Tim Costello". World Vision Australia.
  12. Hudson, Phillip. (25 October 2002). "Handgun curbs on the way". The Age.
  13. (2003-11-24). "Tim Costello appointed new World Vision CEO".
  14. "Boxing Day Asia Tsunami Disaster - World Vision Australia".
  15. Ferraro, Paul J.. (2017-12-21). "Are payments for ecosystem services benefiting ecosystems and people?". Oxford Scholarship Online.
  16. "Tim Costello to Step Down as World Vision CEO".
  17. Beach, Kylie. (7 June 2019). "Tim Costello finishes at World Vision - Eternity News".
  18. "Micah Team".
  19. Payne, Kaley. (3 July 2019). "Tim Costello joins Centre for Public Christianity - Eternity News".
  20. Harris, Rob. (2020-08-02). "Australian punters propping up global bookmaker profits".
  21. "Rev Tim Costello AO {{!}} Community Council for Australia".
  22. "Reverend Tim Costello AO Victoria Australian of the Year 2006 – Recipient". Australian of the Year.
  23. "Peace Prize Winner Tim Costello in Conversation with Archbishop Philip Freier". Christianity Today.
  24. "Reverend Tim Costello AO". Australian Catholic University.
  25. https://www.monash.edu/alumni/alumni-events/graduation/speaker-profiles/september-2025/reverend-dr-tim-costello-ao

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1955-births21st-century-australian-baptist-ministersaustralian-republicansdelegates-to-the-australian-constitutional-convention-1998gun-control-advocatesliving-peoplemonash-law-school-alumniofficers-of-the-order-of-australiapeople-educated-at-carey-baptist-grammar-schoolreligious-leaders-from-melbourne20th-century-australian-baptist-ministersanti-gambling-advocates