During the 2022–23 academic year, OMSC launched its new online course and certificate program in Lived Theology and World Christianity, a yearlong course delivered fully online to provide introductory training in qualitative research and theological reflection for church leaders and scholars around the world (https://omsc.ptsem.edu/what-we-do/digital-curriculum-certificate/). Designed and led by Easten Law, OMSC’s Assistant Director for Academic Programs, the course’s inaugural cohort featured students from Japan, Hong Kong, India, Nigeria, Uganda, and the United States. During this year of online study, students engaged prerecorded video lectures and curated readings from leading and emerging scholars in both World Christianity and Practical Theology, reflected through online discussion boards and one-on-one video advising with Law, and put their learning into practice by conducting small-scale research projects in their contexts. Those who completed the online course and their research project earned a Certificate in Lived Theology and World Christianity. Projects included research on how Ugandan migrant laborers working in the Gulf States experience God’s presence through online worship and on how alumni of Japan’s elite private Christian high schools perceive Christianity and God. This academic year (2023–24), the cohort includes students from India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Uganda, and the United States. Building upon last year’s experiences, Law has expanded the course by recruiting course facilitators Kwabena Benyah, a researcher at the Department for the Study of Religions, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland; Caroline Yih, an honorary post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland; and Chung Chi Divinity School, Chinese University of Hong Kong, to lead small-group discussions based on time zones and provide additional practical training in interviews and participant observation. This online course and certificate program is one of a growing number of OMSC’s online learning initiatives to provide new opportunities for theological education for the world church.
The German Society for Mission Studies (DGMW) will award its Research Prize Intercultural Theology in 2024. The prize recognizes the special significance of Intercultural Theology and its function of advancing missiology, epistemologically, and methodologically. “Intercultural Theology thus proves to be forward-looking within the framework of academic theology [and] its relevance for contemporary society” wrote Moritz Fischer, DGMW’s Vice President, who is Professor of World Christianities and Mission History at Fachhochschule für Interkulturelle Theologie in the University of Applied Sciences for Intercultural Theology, Südheide-Hermannsburg, Germany. The international research award is given every two years by the DGMW in cooperation with the Evangelische Mission Weltweit and the Steyler Mission for outstanding research in the field of Intercultural Theology and is endowed with 5,000 euros. The prize, Fischer added, is intended to honor research work that results in a relevantly published dissertation in the field of Intercultural Theology that was published after 2020. The call for submissions is addressed to the German-speaking academia (Germany, Switzerland, Austria) and it explicitly includes young researchers from Africa, Asia, Oceania, or Latin America who have completed their doctorates at German-speaking universities or who have received their doctorates through personal or institutional cooperation between their university of international origin and a German-speaking university. Works from the entire disciplinary breadth of Intercultural Theology will be considered provided that they deal with issues of Christianity as a global religion in an interdisciplinary manner that takes into account intercultural, interreligious, and multipolar societal relations. For details, contact Fischer at vm.fischer@fh-hermannsburg.de or go online to the DGMW website (https://mission-weltweit.de/en/about-us/members/full-members/german-society-for-mission-studies.html.)
A conference on “Christianity and Christians in Pakistan” was held June 15–16, 2023, at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, UK, to assess the development of Pakistani Christian community “through the lens of identity, class, caste and other categories” and to explore the idea of Pakistani Christian theology. “Long led and nurtured by foreigners, the Christian leadership in Pakistan is now almost wholly local. Thus, what kind of theological interventions have developed and are emerging in the community needs critical attention,” co-convenors Abraham Murad, Faculty of History, University of Oxford; and Yaqoob Khan Bangash, Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University, wrote in their conference call for papers (https://www.kellogg.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Christians-in-Pakistan-Conference-Programme.pdf). Scholars working in history, politics, economics, anthropology, sociology, gender studies, literature, law, and other fields participated. Michael Nazir-Ali, a Pakistani-born British Roman Catholic priest and former Anglican bishop, was the keynote speaker. A second conference planned for January 4–6, 2024, in Lahore, Pakistan, “aims to delve deeper into issues relating to Christianity and Christians in Pakistan. “Our sixfold aims,” according to the co-convenors, “remain the same with the hope that conversations achieve a greater degree of depth and academic rigour, leading to significant outputs” that will include the publication of selected papers and a handbook of Christianity in Pakistan. For details, go online to https://ohh.web.ox.ac.uk/event/call-for-papers-international-conference-christianity-and-christians-in-pakistan.
A conference with the theme “The Many Faces of Christianity in China: Navigating Sino- Christian Studies” was held at the John Paul II Catholic University, Lublin, Poland, August 2–5, 2023. The keynote speakers were Lauren F. Pfister, Hephzibah Mountain Aster Academy and Hong Kong Baptist University; Ping-Cheung Lo, Fuller Seminary and Hong Kong Baptist University, and Thierry Meynard Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou. The conference was organized by Antonio De Caro of the University of Zürich and Claire Zhenxu Fan, a doctoral candidate at the University in Lublin. They brought together Sino-Christian Studies scholars from Poland, Switzerland, Italy, China, Taiwan, Australia, and the USA. Speakers addressed themes and issues from the 16th to 21st centuries in Chinese contexts. These included studies of both published and unpublished works produced in Chinese by Roman Catholic figures, as well as themes related to cross-cultural encounters that included non-Christian Chinese traditions. Specialized studies were presented on questions about fasting as a spiritual discipline, Franciscan periodicals and Sino-Catholic art works produced in the early 20th century, as well as analytical studies of Chinese Bible translations in both Protestant and Roman Catholic versions, according to a conference report by Pfister.
The Institute for Studies in Religion (ISR) at Baylor University, Waco, TX, held an international conference on International Evangelicalism: Studies in the History of Global Connections, October 4–6, 2023. The papers presented included Uta Balbier, St. Anne’s College, Oxford, UK, “Billy Graham’s Safari for Souls in Nigeria, 1960”; Jay Case, Malone University, Canton, OH, “Missionary Engagement and Developments in Cultural Humility in the 19th Century”; Stewart Brown, University of Edinburgh, UK, “British Evangelicals and the Established Churches in Nineteenth-Century India”; and Elizabeth Marvel, Baylor University, “Evangelicals and Women’s Ordination across the World.” “The need for study is apparent at a time when evangelical identity is under widespread discussion. Authentic evangelicalism is not a political bloc of American voters but an international religious movement emphasizing the Bible, the cross, conversion and activism. That movement, in all its variety, needs to be explained in depth and detail if its identity is to be understood in the contemporary world,” states the ISR web site. David Bebbington, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Stirling, Scotland, and a Visiting Distinguished Professor of History at Baylor, is the ISR director.
Five professors will lecture on missiological anthropology and offer their “valuable insights and practical knowledge to navigate the complexities of serving in diverse cultural contexts” at a the 2024 Ralph D. Winter Lectureship sponsored by Frontier Ventures, Pasadena, CA. The lectures will be given February 8–10, 2024, online and in person at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena. Darrell Whiteman, Global Development; Robert Priest, Taylor University; Miriam Adeney, Seattle Pacific University; Michael Rynkiewich, Asbury Theological Seminary; and Daniel Shaw, Fuller Theological Seminary, will address the topic “Wisdom for Cross-Cultural Service: Journeys in Missiological Anthropology.” For details or to register, go online to https://rdwlectures2024.eventbrite.com.
Appointed. Abraham Waigi Ng’ang’a, Kenyan scholar and a student of the late Andrew Walls, as coordinator of the Andrew F. Walls Centre for the Study of African and Asian Christianity, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, UK. He succeeded Daniel Jeyaraj, who directed the Centre since 2008. Ng’ang’a was a Research Fellow at the Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture, Akropong, Ghana, where he submitted his thesis entitled “African Theology and African Literature: A Theological Critique of Wole Soyinka’s Aesthetic Framework for Reconstituting African Life and Thought” (2015) and earned a PhD. He examined the intersections of African Christian Theology and African Literature. An IBMR Contributing Editor, Jeyaraj now serves as the Academic Dean of the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life, an online program.
Died. Agnes Regina Murei Abuom, 73, global ecumenist, church leader, and peacemaker, on May 31, 2023. An Anglican Kenyan organizational worker who served as moderator of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches since 2013, Abuom was the first woman and the first African to hold that post. Born in the Nandi Hills of Western Kenya to a mother who worked in community development, she was educated at mission schools in her local area and at a boarding school run by missionaries. After high school near Nairobi, she studied at the University of Nairobi. Following two years as a youth worker for WCC in Geneva, she earned a doctorate in missiology and wrote a dissertation on “The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Development.” She later worked with refugee issues for WCC in Sudan and worked two years in Zimbabwe as a tutor. Returning to Kenya in 1989, Abuom was imprisoned for her opposition to President Daniel Arap Moi. She went on to work for the Anglican Church of Kenya, mostly with national development issues, and from 1991 with a civic education program. Abuom became African president for the WCC (1999–2006). She also worked with the All Africa Conference of Churches and the National Council of Churches of Kenya. Abuom was involved in ecumenical work and peace-building efforts in the Horn of Africa and other places. In 2017, the Archbishop of Canterbury awarded Abuom the Lambeth Cross for Ecumenism “for her exceptional contribution to the Ecumenical Movement.” Two years later, she received the President’s Award for Excellence in Faithful Leadership from the National Council of Churches “for exceptional, risk-taking leadership.”
Died Alexander Veronis, 90, Orthodox missions leader and priest, on June 26, 2023. An advocate for the oppressed and forsaken, he tried to see Jesus in every person. As priest and then priest emeritus for 62 years (1961–2023) at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, Lancaster, PA, Veronis taught others to use their talents, time, and money to promote the faith and to help those in need. A native of Paterson, NJ, he was President Emeritus of the Orthodox Christian Missions Center. In the 1960s, he “spearheaded the creation of a Foreign Missions Committee within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese,” according to a news report (https://www.ocmc.org/fr-alexander-veronis-mission-pioneer-former-ocmc-board-president-reposes-lord). “In 1985,” the report said, “Fr. Veronis became the first President of the OCMC Board of Directors. . . . By 1987, the Archdiocesan Mission Program moved into its own offices in St. Augustine, FL, and the Board named its headquarters ‘The Fr. Alexander Veronis Orthodox Christian Mission Center.’” He also was a member of the editorial committee that established the first Orthodox Study Bible in 1993. For 43 years, he chaired the Lancaster Crop Walk for the Hungry, a Church World Service program for which he helped raise more than $5 million to alleviate hunger and poverty in Lancaster and in 80 countries worldwide. He also helped to establish the Endowment Fund for Orthodox Missions, which endowed the Missions Institute of Orthodox Christianity at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, MA. Veronis graduated from Lafayette College (BA, 1954), Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (BD, 1958), and Boston University School of Theology (STM, 1959). He also earned a licentiate in Orthodox Theology (1961) from the University of Athens. In 2008, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America honored his philanthropic and progressive ministry with the Distinguished Ministry Award, the highest tribute given to a Greek Orthodox priest in the USA.
Died. Loren Cunningham, 88, short-term missions mobilizer, mission executive, and author, on October 9, 2023. More than 65 years ago Cunningham had a vision of a map with ocean waves of young people going around the world to “preach the good news to all creation” (Mark 16:15). His vision became reality in 1960 when he started Youth With a Mission in Lausanne, Switzerland (YWAM, https://ywam.org). The global movement of short-term, mostly young missionaries today describes itself online as having “reached into every nation on earth through evangelism, training, and mercy ministries. Tens of thousands of full-time staff from 200+ countries and various denominations and Christian traditions participate.” They serve at over 2,000 YWAM locations in nearly 200 nations. YWAM has been called one of “the world’s largest mission movements,” but when presented with this claim, Cunningham characteristically said, “Well, however large it is, it’s not large enough because Jesus’ last commandment to reach the whole world with the gospel has not been completed.” YWAM and other organizations invite youth to gather and commit to Jesus’ call to go to the nations, events called “The Send” (https://thesend.org). In 2020 in São Paulo and Brasilia, Brazil, 140,000 attended The Send and 18,400 made five-year commitments to cross-cultural mission. He was also cofounder and international chancellor of the University of the Nations. Cunningham, who was born in Taft, CA, received a call to ministry at 13, and graduated in 1957 with degrees in Bible and Christian Education from Central Bible College, Springfield. MO. Cunningham (https://lorencunningham.com) first experienced missions when he was 18 on a short-term visit to Mexico with a group of young men to witness door to door and preach on the streets, a memorable experience that put him in a hospital with dysentery, but the teen surfer considered it a success because twenty people professed Christian faith. Cunningham is coauthor of We Can End Bible Poverty Now: A Challenge to Spread the Word of God Globally (2017), The Book That Transforms Nations: The Power of the Bible to Change Any Country (2007), and other titles.
Died. Allison Mary Howell, 72, professor, missionary, and author, on November 14, 2023, in Sydney, Australia. She was born in Manono in the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), the daughter of Australian missionaries. She taught in Ghana at the Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Culture, and Mission in Akropong as an Associate Professor and Dean of Research. Previously, Howell worked with UNICEF and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, before serving as a missionary with SIM Ghana. She is the author of The Religious Itinerary of a Ghanaian People: The Kasena and the Christian Gospel (1997, 1988, 2002), which traces the Kasena’s conversion, Christian thought, and “the emerging characteristics of what became a distinctly non-European model of Christianity.” The first edition was Howell’s 1996 PhD dissertation from the University of Edinburgh where she was a student of Andrew F. Walls. Howell also wrote A Daily Guide for Culture and Language Learning (1990) and The Slave Trade and Reconciliation: A Northern Ghanaian Perspective (1998). For the IBMR, she wrote several book reviews and coauthored “Spirituality and Hope in Africa: A Study in Five Countries” [41, no. 4 (October 2017): 33–46]. The extent of Howell’s service to the Ghanian people may be seen by going online to the Akrofi-Christaller’s archives and special collections (https://www.aci.edu.gh/images/Archives-FAs/ALLISON_M_HOWELL_PAPERS_9.pdf.) Three of her students, Ini Dorcas Dah, Ebenezer Yaw Blasu, and Rudolf K. Gaisie, edited a festschrift, Understanding The Gospel, Culture, and Environments: Essays in Honour of Allison Mary Howell (2022). Jonathan J. Bonk, the OMSC Executive Director Emeritus and former IBMR Editor, who is also Director Emeritus of the Dictionary of African Christian Biography (housed at and sponsored by OMSC from 2000–2013), wrote that Howell made a “profound contribution to several generations of some of Africa’s keenest and most original theological minds. With her, they and others like them have striven to wrest Christianity from its captivity to Western cultural forms, forces, and myopias to reveal the Word made flesh in Africa.”
