Rev. Dr. Richard James Waugh is a well-known leader in the Wesleyan tradition.

Waugh’s tertiary education was at St Johns Theological College (LTh, STh), Massey University (BA), and University of Auckland (MBA). He was a student in the Beeson Pastor Program and received his D.Min. from Asbury Theological Seminary in 2010. He was also chosen to receive the faculty’s Distinguished Dissertation Award for that year and in 2012, he was named a Distinguished Alumnus.

Richard was ordained in the Methodist Church of New Zealand in 1985 and in 2000 he joined the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Aotearoa and New Zealand, a renewal movement of Methodism, where he served as National Superintendent from 2002 to 2020.

Waugh has experience with church planting, including being founding minister of East City Wesleyan Church in Auckland, one of the larger multicultural Wesleyan Methodist churches in the South Pacific, which he continued to pastor until retirement in 2022.

In 2012, he was appointed the founding President of the South Pacific Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. He was also chair of the National Church Leaders Aotearoa New Zealand Meeting (2012–2021), chair of the Auckland Church Leaders Meeting (2009–2019), and inaugural chair of the Auckland Prayer Breakfast (2016–2019).

Richard served as a member of the World Methodist Council, President of the World Methodist Historical Society (2016–2024), and as the South Pacific Regional Secretary for World Methodist Evangelism for many years (2014–2022).

In 2000 he was elected National Superintendent Emeritus at the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Aotearoa New Zealand national conference.

Waugh was born in Christchurch, New Zealand of British immigrant parents and his mother’s family had been Methodist for generations. His father Brian served throughout World War II, including as a pilot. After the war and with civil flying and engineering licenses, Brian emigrated to New Zealand to help pioneer regional airline services in the South Island and worked many years as Chief Pilot for West Coast Airways.

Since 1998, Richard has served as Honorary Chaplain for the Honourable Company of Air Pilots, officiating at services and organizing many aviation historical events.

From 1994 to 2011, he led a project to commemorate the nine airline accidents in New Zealand from the 1930s to the 1960s in which 73 people lost their lives and worked with others to ensure permanent memorials for each accident.

From early 2016, he was the initiator and spokesperson for the Erebus National Memorial which was subsequently endorsed as a major Government project. In June 2023 he was elected President of the Aviation Historical Society of New Zealand.

Over the years Waugh has had a wide range of voluntary community leadership roles including: chair of the Henderson 150th Anniversary celebrations (1993–1994), trustee of the Corban Winery Estate (1993–1996), trustee of the Howick 150th Anniversary celebrations (1996–1997), elected member and deputy chair of the Pakuranga Community Board (1998–2004), chair of the Howick 175th Anniversary celebrations (2021–2023), and founding chair of the Auckland Brit & Euro Classic Car Show Committee, helping organize one of New Zealand’s largest classic car shows (2016-2023).

As a historian, he has authored or co-authored many books and articles on New Zealand aviation, church history, motoring, social history, and theological subjects.

In June 2007, Richard was awarded the Queen’s Service Medal for services to aviation history and the community. In 2012, his voluntary efforts were recognized with the Kiwibank Local Hero Award and the Howick Local Board’s inaugural Citizen of the Year Award. In September 2015, he was honored for his ecumenical service in a ceremony hosted by Chester Borrows, then Deputy Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament. In 2020, he was recognized by the Royal Aeronautical Society and was awarded the Meritorious Gold Service Award. In July 2022 Christopher Luxon, then Leader of the Opposition, described Waugh as, “quite possibly the most interesting man in New Zealand.” In 2023, Waugh was presented with a Howick Local Board Voluntary Recognition Award. Most recently, he was awarded with the Sir Alan Cobham memorial award by the Honorable Company of Air Pilots.