Gordon Powell began his education at Malvern Grammar School in Victoria. In 1926 he went to Scotch College, and later to Melbourne and Glasgow Universities. He was ordained as a minister of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria in 1938. Powell was a Chaplain with the RAAF during World War Two and for many years he was Minister of Scots Church in Collins Street, Melbourne, enjoying great popularity as a preacher and author. He wrote numerous books of religious and moral instruction, including Personal Peace and Power (1950), Happiness is a Habit (1954), The Blessing of Belief (1956), The Secret of Serenity (1957), Freedom from Fear (1960), The Shepherd of Bethlehem (1961), New Solutions to Difficult Sayings of Jesus (1961), Surprise Treasure (1965), The Power of Positive Emotions (1967) and Power Through Acceptance (1977). He also wrote Two Steps to Tokyo : A Story of the R.A.A.F. in the Trobriand and Admiralty Islands (1945), Coincidences in the Lives of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy (1965) and The Story of James Forbes and the History of Scots Church (1969).
Powell is the father of Jenny Goldie (q.v.).
