Faith and Public Life
Rethinking Church in the 21st Century
Edited By Alfred Sebahene
God’s love in Jesus Christ for the salvation and recreation of all things is still the hope of the world.This Christian affirmation is the reality that “holds all things” and “holds all things together.” Yet in today’s world, it is easy to understand why the church is in pain and declining in its Christian and moral influence.
Rethinking Church in the 21st Century is the culmination of three years of exploration into the condition of the church around the world today. Bringing together a diverse community of Christian voices, these essays offer reflections and admonitions to ignite the hearts of pastors and leaders during the dynamic, vulnerable, and hopeful times we face.
In this third volume, the contributors explore how the church should be engaged in the public space, in the face of the new opportunities and fundamental challenges confronting the global church today. These realities – missional expansion, persistent barriers to human progress, shifts in the composition and centre of gravity of world Christianity, and a growing attention to the need for the church to embrace a radically different way of life – call for a new approach to the role of faith in our public life, to the different ways of witnessing to Christ and stewarding the mysteries of Christian faith. With solid grounding in Scripture and critical reflection for authentic Christian public witness and mission, this book speaks of how the gospel of Jesus Christ endlessly relates to the whole world and its reconciliation with God.
ALFRED SEBAHENE is a lecturer, researcher, and consultant at St John’s University of Tanzania, Dodoma. He has a PhD in systematic theology, public theology and ecclesiology from Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He is on the editorial board of the African Journal for Transformational Scholarship and assists NGOs, churches and other organizations in understanding, formulating and responding to public policy. He is a priest in the Anglican Church and prior to working in higher theological education, Alfred spent fifteen years with the Diocese of Kagera, Tanzania.
Endorsements for Faith and Public Life
Faith and Public Life is a timely and theologically grounded work, reminding us that theological education must go beyond academic excellence and become a space of holistic formation. I warmly commend this book to theological educators and Christian leaders across the Majority World and beyond.
Elie Haddad, PhD
President, Arab Baptist Theological Seminary,
Mansourieh, Lebanon
This instalment in the Rethinking Church in the 21st Century series is well worthy of time and attention, as editor Sebahene gathers a diverse range of voices to address weighty, crucial topics such the church’s response to trafficking, disability, abuse, environmental destruction, and more. Don’t miss out on this book!
Stephanie A. Lowry, PhD
Senior Lecturer, Africa International University,
Nairobi, Kenya
Faith and Public Life is a much-needed collection that seeks to inform, inspire, and (re)invigorate Christian witness. It is a refreshing and insightful collection that demonstrates the vigor and hopeful, but challenging, trajectory of the churches in the Global South.
Gordon L. Heath, PhD, FRHistS
Professor of Christian History, Centenary Chair in World Christianity,
McMaster Divinity College, Canada
This book calls the church to bear an unwavering witness to Christ and to exercise faithful stewardship of the mystery of God in public spaces. A treasure chest of wisdom, this book is not only to be read, but to be slowly digested, deeply embodied, and birthed into the public square as a living, critical witness for the flourishing of global societies.
Chammah J. Kaunda, PhD
Academic Dean,
Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, UK
These persuasive essays also summon evangelical churches in all contexts to realize that faithful witness to the Gospel must embrace bold prophetic engagement with the dehumanizing ideologies of power and profit that increasingly shape the contours of the contemporary world.
Brian Stanley, PhD
Professor Emeritus of World Christianity,
University of Edinburgh, UK
Here in this book, you will find what you will need in a wide presentation of the church in social ministry. Thirteen topics from accomplished scholars describe what it means to engage in social ministry, whether in its social action form or in its social advocacy form. The writers in this book, with their compelling arguments, cannot but convince many a skeptic along the way – especially on how to proceed in the twenty-first century.
James K. G. Walton, PhD
Senior Research Fellow,
Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture, Ghana
Contributors
Milton Acosta Benítez
MILTON ACOSTA BENÍTEZ (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is an Old Tes- tament professor at the Seminario Bíblico de Colombia in Medellín. He is the author of El humor en el Antiguo Testamento (Puma, 2009) and Old Testament editor of the forthcoming Comentario Bíblico Contemporáneo. His areas of research include rhetorical patterns in the Hebrew Bible, forced migration, and violence in the Bible. He also leads a small group of pastors and academics in Medellín who explore the issue of worship and liturgy in evangelical churches.
Sunday Bobai Agang
SUNDAY BOBAI AGANG is Associate Professor of Ethics, Theology and Public Policy at ECWA Theological Seminary Kagoro, Nigeria. Sunday holds a BA (JETS), MDiv (Palmer Theological Seminary, Phildalphia, Pensylvania), and a PhD (Fuller Seminary, Pasadena). He has published several articles on various theological issues as well being a regular contributor to Christianity Today. An ordained minister with the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) as well as a member of the Institute for Global Engagement, he is founder and chair of the International Foundation for Entrepreneurial Education (IFEE) and co-founder and Vice President of Gantys Aid to Widows, Orphans and Needy (GAWON). Sunday Bobai Agang is a just peacemaking advocate.
Ruth Barron
RUTH BARRON is a #metoo and #churchtoo activist who has worked in full-time ministry since 2000 and as a missionary in Kenya since 2007. With degrees in English and psychology (BA from Milligan University) and Christian doctrine (MAR from Emmanuel Christian Seminary), her focus is on the intersection of trauma, theology, literature, and church polity. She has developed curricula for Maasai and Turkana churches and writes academic articles, essays, poems, and stories.
Brenda Darke
BRENDA DARKE is an experienced teacher of children with severe cognitive disabilities, serving with Latin Link in Latin America since 1985, based in Peru and now in Costa Rica. For the last 20 years she has been engaged in educating pastors and leaders about how to better include people with disabilities in churches as well as giving pastoral support to people living with disabilities and their families.
Eunice Kamaara
EUNICE KAMAARA is from Kenya. She is a Professor of African Christian Ethics at Moi University, Eldoret. She loves teaching and learning for life. She is Presbyterian by birth, Roman Catholic by marriage, and Christian by choice. She teaches like a mother and mothers like a teacher.
James A. Lemons
JAMES A. LEMONS is a neonatalist physician at Indiana University Health and a Professor of Pediatrics Practice at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. He served as co-director of the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) project at Moi University and the Riley Mother and Baby Hospital (RMBH), both in Eldoret, Kenya, and was responsible for the building of RMBH.
Víctor Manuel Morales Vásquez
VÍCTOR MANUEL MORALES VÁSQUEZ holds a PhD in theology from the University of Liverpool, UK. Teacher of evangelical religion, philosophy, and Spanish in elementary and middle school at the Georg-Müller Schule, Bielefeld, Germany.
Eberhardt Ngugi
EBERHARDT NGUGI is the Head of Department of Theology and Lecturer of Practical Theology at the University of Iringa. He received a bachelor of divinity degree from Tumaini University in Arusha, Tanzania (1999), a master’s in pastoral care and counselling from the University of Kwazulu Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa (2005), and a doctor of philosophy degree in practical theology from the University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa (2013). After graduating from Stellenbosch University, he took a job working at Sebastian Kolowa Memorial University in Lushhoto, Tanzania, as a Director for Postgraduate Studies and afterwards the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Planning, Finance and Administration, from the same university. He later became the assistant to the bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, North Eastern Diocese. He lives in Tanzania with his wife and their three children: a daughter and two boys.
Josué Oledo
JOSUÉ OLMEDO is an International Fellowship of Evangelical Students IFES staff-worker and co-leader of the IFES Latin America Logos & Cosmos Initiative. He is from Ecuador with studies in education (Universidad de Guayaquil), Bible (Regent College), and theology (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador). He lives with his wife and their two daughters in Quito, Ecuador.
Alejandra Ortiz
ALEJANDRA ORTIZ is an International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) staff-worker and co-leader of the IFES Latin America Logos & Cosmos Initiative. She is from Mexico and studied history (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California) and later specialized in church history (Regent College). She lives with her husband and their two daughters in Tijuana, Mexico.
Lucy Schouten
LUCY SCHOUTEN conducted her doctoral research in world Christianity at the University of Edinburgh, studying the response of Arabic-speaking Jordanian churches to the refugee crisis since 2012. Her research focuses on synthesizing interviews and observations from her multiple fieldwork trips to Amman, Jordan, with insights from scholarship in migration studies, political theology, and Christian-Muslim relations. She also served as the project coordinator for the Christian-Muslim Studies Network for the University of Edinburgh from 2017 to 2020, in addition to teaching courses on religion, violence and peacebuilding, and Islam and Christian-Muslim relations. She currently lives in Arizona with her husband, James, and their two children.
David Kirwa Tarus
DAVID KIRWA TARUS currently serves as Executive Director of the Association for Christian Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA), a project of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa. Previously, he served as a lecturer and Deputy Principal at AIC Missionary College, an affiliate institution of Scott Christian University. David is a graduate of McMaster Divinity College (PhD in Christian Theology), Wheaton College Graduate School (MA, Historical and Systematic Theology) and Scott Christian University (bachelor of theology). He is the author of A Different Way of Being: Toward a Reformed Theology of Ethnopolitical Cohesion for the Kenyan Context (Langham Academic), co-editor of Christian Responses to Terrorism: The Kenyan Experience (Wipf & Stock) and has written many articles. His research interests are theological anthropology, ecclesiology and social issues. He is an ordained minister of the Africa Inland Church, Kenya.
Myrto Theocharous
MYRTO THEOCHAROUS has a PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK. She is professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at the Greek Bible College in Athens, Greece and serves as president of Nea Zoi Anti-Trafficking Ministry.
Eva Wong Suk Kyun
EVA WONG SUK KYUN is the Director of Malaysia Pentecostal Research Centre and full-time lecturer at Bible College of Malaysia. She holds a PhD in theology (Pentecostal studies) from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies in partnership with Middlesex University, UK. She is an ordained minister of the Assemblies of God Malaysia. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Asia Pentecostal Society and Lausanne Global Analysis Editorial Advisory Board, and co-leads the ScholarLeaders Women’s Peer Leader Forum.