Dickson was ordained in the
Anglican Church of Australia, serving in several Sydney churches. He was the senior minister of
St Andrew's Anglican Church, Roseville, from 2009 to 2019. Dickson's output, described as "prolific", has occasionally been surrounded by controversy, both inside and outside the church. In 2012, Dickson wrote
Hearing Her Voice: A Case for Women Giving Sermons. In it, he argued that
1 Timothy 2:12 ("I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man") does not mean that women cannot give sermons today, since the "teaching" referred to meant "preserving and laying down the traditions handed on by the apostles", and that does not happen in most sermons today.
Matthias Media published a volume of essays in response to Dickson's book: ''Women, Sermons and the Bible: Essays interacting with John Dickson's Hearing Her Voice''. On 6 May 2015, Dickson's book
A Sneaking Suspicion (1995) was
banned from state schools by the
New South Wales Department of Education and Communities on the basis of a "potential risk to students in the delivery of this material, if not taught sensitively and in an age appropriate manner". The ban was lifted on 18 May 2015. Dickson frequently produces opinion pieces, such as for the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In one column, he offered to eat a page out of his Bible "if someone could find a full Professor of Ancient History, Classics or New Testament in any real university in the world who argues that Jesus never lived." Some of his public statements on the Christian faith involve historical perspectives, such as the contrast between the high value the New Testament holds for empathy, in contrast with the views of antiquity, which saw empathy not as a virtue, but a weakness. In 2018, Dickson announced that he was stepping down from church ministry to concentrate on public engagement. In 2007, Dickson became the founding director of the
Centre for Public Christianity and was there until 2019. It was the leading religious podcast in Australia, UK and Ireland by 2020. In 2022, Undeceptions became a podcast network with existing podcast With All Due Respect (hosted by
Michael Jensen and Megan Powell du Toit), Small Wonders (hosted by Laurel Moffatt) and Delorean Philosophy (hosted by Steve McAlpine). The masthead series also features live events. Dickson has been a
fellow of Macquarie's Department of Ancient History (2004–17), visiting academic of the
Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford, in the UK (2017–2020) Wheaton College in Illinois appointed Dickson as its first Jean Kvamme Distinguished Professor of Biblical Evangelism and Distinguished Scholar in Public Christianity in 2022. Dickson directed the feature-length documentary
The First Hymn, released in 2025. It explores the story of the oldest known Christian hymn, the
Oxyrhynchus Hymn, dating back to the 3rd century. The film traces its origins in the Egyptian desert through to its modern revival, culminating in a live concert performance of a newly arranged version of the hymn. The film features
Ben Fielding and
Chris Tomlin, who co-wrote the adaptation, which was released globally on 11 April 2025. The world premiere of
The First Hymn project took place on 14 April the Ethel Lee Auditorium at
Biola University in La Mirada, California. ==Books==