Reverend Phil Howes is keen to lead new contemporary service at All Saints Anglican Cathedral

Rev Howes, who became the Senior Associate Minister for Families and Young People at the cathedral, has been tasked to head up a new contemporary service at the All Saints Anglican Cathedral.

He was originally approached by the diocese's Bishop Mark Calder, who proposed the idea of heading up the new contemporary service, something he was keen to take on.

"The bishop suggested the idea of a renewed service at the cathedral. It sounded pretty tasty, sounded quite good," he said.

"The most exciting thing is telling people how awesome Jesus is. It's a new way of doing things, to be able to introduce new generations to who Jesus is.

"Typically, services that have been done before have been very well done but not the most engaging for younger generations. This new service is to give more variety and options for people.

"The traditional service is still happening but we're just adding a new style of service."

Rev Howes grew up in Bathurst, attending Bathurst High School, before he left for Sydney for university and work.

He would later complete his theological training at the Sydney Missionary and Bible College in Croydon, get married and then spend 12 months working in Newcastle before returning to Bathurst.

In 2009, he would eventually move to the Dubbo parish, before serving in the Narromine parish from 2011 to 2020.

"Good things about Narromine is the strength of the local community and the recognition and understanding people have of the church," he said.

"A lot of people have an association with the church. I think in terms of a tight-knit community, that's a positive and a negative.

"I think the travelling distance is always something that isn't too much of trouble, because Trangie is only just up the road."

Rev Howes said he's looking forward to the lifestyle in Bathurst.

"I think there's lots of opportunities, lots of good coffee, lots of scopes for different things," he said.

"I like the cooler weather. It's good for our family and it's a lovely part of the world to live in."

In a world that might be rejecting the idea of religion or Christianity, Rev Howes said belief in Jesus is both reasonable and rational.

"The first thing is belief in Jesus is rational and reasonable based on all the evidence of Jesus," he said.

"The second thing is, people say, 'We need to get rid of religion or Christianity because we'll be better off'. If you look at the census results and the percentage of Christians in Australia, a lot of people say it's in decline and percentage wise it is.

"But the flipside of it is society isn't getting better. We've got such an increase rate of difficulties in society, so it's not getting better and in fact you could argue it's getting worse."

Rev Howes will be commissioned by Bishop Calder at both the traditional (8.30am) and new contemporary (10am) services on Sunday, February 14.