April 2012 Newsletter

Receive greetings in Jesus name!

 News from CWC at AIU

George returns from Edinburgh

George Atido a student in PhD Intercultural Studies, World Christianity track has just returned from the Edinburgh university, Scotland where he had been for three months on a cross-cultural academic trip. Atido was based at the Centre for World Christianity, Edinburgh. His stay culminated with a Langham Scholars’ Conference at Cambridge. Welcome back, George.

The Dictionary of of Africa Christian Biography (DACB) in partnership with CWC had a successful conference. The two day conference began on Friday to Saturday 2012. Its theme was ‘Telling our Story: African Christians, African Church and African Society’. A number of institutions including Kenyatta University, Daystar University, Tangaza and Marynoll College, St. Paul’s University, the Organization for Africa Indepedenmt Churches (OAIC), Nairobi University and AIU were represented by the 39 participants. Dr Bernard Boyo, Dean of students at Daystar University, opened up the conference with an inspirational devotional message on the importance of three things: remembrance, the need for Africans to tell their story, and the need to write down their history for the benefit of the church. Moses Owoijaye, Maggie Gitau, Micheal Dikki and Zipporah Wambua, Intercultural Studies students, presented biographies as well as Dr. Kollman and Fr. Kevin Kraft both from Tangaza College.  For more information see www.DACB.org.

Professor Mark Shaw, the CWC director has been away in the US seeking treatment for his wife Lois. In his absence Dr. Caleb Kim has been overseeing the affairs of CWC.  For more news and information about Mark and Lois visit http://shawsonsafari.blogspot.com

 Upcoming Events and Deadlines

1. Theological perspective on AIDS Conference – May 28^th to Friday June 1^st 2012 at Africa International University. This conference is being organized through a partnership of CWC and AIM international.
2. May Residency; May 21  - June 1
3. Special Lecture in May by Dr. Diane Stinton – details will be communicated later
4. Master of Theology thesis defence for George Atido, Michele Sigg and George Ouma will be held at AIU on June 6, 13 and 20 respectively

2012 Prayer and thanksgiving

 Continued treatment and recovery for Mrs. Lois Shaw

MTh students and those intending to graduate

Financial provision for students

Successful DACB conference

Upcoming HIV/AIDS conference

Upcoming May 2012 residency

Grace,

Mark

Building Partnerships

The dictionary for African Christian Biography (DACB) and the Centre for World Christianity are in talks about how to work together to advance this imporant project. The DACB is an online dictionary that captures the untold stories of African christian heroes whom God has used to build his church in Africa.

Click DACB to go to official website.

On January 24 and 25, AIU chapel services focused on the Dictionary of African Christian Biography in an effort to promote awareness of the project on the campus and to invite student involvement. Professor Andrew Walls’ message entitled “The Acts in Africa: Luke’s Only Change of Direction” presented the story of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 as an important geographical detour in Luke’s account that highlights the importance of Africa, from the very beginning, in the history of Christianity. DACB Project Manager spoke of the importance of following in the footsteps of Gospel writer Luke to write “orderly accounts” of the “Acts of the African Apostles” and told the stories of several African Christian figures.

In March, DACB Project Director Dr. Jonathan Bonk will hold discussions with AIU and CWC leadership to discuss the particulars of the upcoming cooperation with DACB. He describes it this way: AIU will be the first “of a complex of DACB-Wiki centers across Africa. [The] agreement with the university will serve as a template for subsequent agreements with other similar centers across Africa. Researching and writing African Christian biographies will be the primary focus of these envisaged centers.”

Prof. Andrew Walls lectures, September 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zlvK1xLhaw

Oliver Lowoton

What is your background? Where did you grow up?

I was born in Kenya and grew up in Turkana County as a herd’s boy until the age of ten (10) when I joined an AIM mission school. I have done all my theological studies in Kenya. I have translated and recorded the Jesus Film script from the English version to the Turkana language for Campus Crusade for Christ International; now in use as a tool for evangelism in Turkana and other Ateger Speaking groups. By mid 2011, I have been translating the Children Bible into Turkana language. I look forward to translating other scholarly theological publications in to mother tongue including: Africa Bible Commentary, the Handbook to the Bible, the complete guide to the Bible, what the bible is all about and a scholarly revision of the Bible with theological notes, side reference columns and footnotes among others. At present, I have pioneered Arid Zone College; now registered by the Government of Kenya. Arid Zone shall be offering programs at Certificate, Diploma and Degree programs in affiliation with public and private universities. Arid Zone College shall soon launch theological programs. The institution shall be located in Turkana County, in Kakuma with a strategic target to the Refugee population now numbering close to 100,000 people.

Tell us a little bit about your family life now.

I grew up in a small family with only two sisters. Now I am married and have three children. My daughter Gloria is 8 and in standard 4 in 2012. Debra is 6 and in standard 1 in 2012. Sandra is 2 and is at home. My wife, Sarah, was a graduate of AIU/NEGST Diploma in CMP /2008 class. He is also a trained HIV/AIDS counselor with the Liverpool and NASCOP and is presently working for a Roman Catholic Mission Hospital in Kakuma, Turkana County while serving in the Church as women leader.

How would you define world Christianity and how did you develop an interest in this subject?

World Christianity is a multiplier effect kind of growth of the Church in the third world to which Professor John Mbiti contends in reference to the church in Africa may be as a result of her peoples’ notorious spirituality. My interest in World Christianity arose from my studies of Missions; Islamic studies. Particularly Current Trends in Islam and a book review of the Next Christendom by Professor Philip Jenkins. My wonder was Islam is growing and Christianity is growing; what might likely be their future? A clash!

Why AIU and CWC?

First, AIU offers me the opportunity to study missions, theology and history from a global perspective different from the usual narrow Western and dualistic framework which many theological trainings in Africa as a result of western Curriculums are being presented. This is sometimes Armenian – Calvinistic frame of reference.  Second, the studies emphasize the importance of context as a frame of reference in our research and ministry as practical applications to the academic work are sought for the challenges facing the African church today, in a specific setting.  I have been involved in our church ministry in several ways, settings and capacities for several years and thus CWC offers me the opportunity to pursue more research, writing and ministry varied fields.

What do you see as one of the greatest challenges facing the African church?

As a middle aged, growing church, it faces several challenges so I will mention possibly four that come to mind. First, weak governance in successive African democracies/ republics and in successive local African churches; this seems to have bred rampant corruption and systematic lack of doctrinally sound, dependable and morally upright and integral citizen and believers. From the contentions of Paul Gifford on Christianity and Public life in Kenya and in Ghana, he ascertains that there was no clear distinction between the government and the Church. Second, the theological emphasis on Culture at the expense of other bible motifs; while culture is important for examination in regard to context, the foreign mission movement never comprehended all that was African or special to the Southern hemisphere. Moses or David never understood all that pertained the coming of Christ and his social world. Christ never condemned them. In that respect, there should be appreciation of the contributions of pioneers of Christianity and an emphasis on positively correcting their mistakes and further continuing the good work they had started. Third, the impact of HIV/AIDS especially to the church in Southern and Eastern Africa where the prevalence rate is noted highly at around 6 to 26% world wide is a cause for alarm. What is the role of the church and the governments in this regard? What is unique about this part of the world? Lastly, the effect of global warming to the struggling African economies; this may be coupled with the sensational gospel of prosperity today. Did the church participate in the recent revision of the Kyoto protocol that was discussed recently in South Africa? What was the Churches position? Why the effect more in the Southern Hemisphere than the Northern? The church in Africa will be struggling with most of these.

What are the opportunities for the African church?

There are several opportunities. The phenomenal growth of the church if doctrinally prepared sound through theological preparation may be a stable source for mission workers for the church in the northern hemisphere. The recent political uprising in the Arab world in North Africa if utilized well would bring about opportunities for stabilizing Africa’s weak democracies/republics and further seize the opportunities for missionary work among the Muslim world as Africans who have little antagonism with the Arabs unlike the West as may be viewed. The ICT explosion especially with the introduction of fiber optic, mobile banking and other communication avenues today makes our world a global village. A lot today can be done in one location/setting with minimal costs and risks.

 

How can World Christianity equip African Christians to respond to these challenges and opportunities?

World Christianity challenges students to think globally and act locally. It helps students see the growth of Christian empire across the world and in particular in the Southern hemisphere. With an equipped library that has gone into ICT; the passionate and qualified staff; with the charter award by the government of Kenya; the AIU and CWC now is much positioned to leap in bounds in seizing the available opportunities to move beyond AIU/NEGST perimeters into engaging the society outside the school arena including the churches, mission agencies, the government bureaucracies, the political class, the corporate community, the traditional African villages, farming and  pastoral communities and further the Muslim community that competes for the African soul. All these can be done when AIU/NEGST and CWC endeavors to stand by the vision and mission of her students and all that shall seek her services without favor or fear.

How are AIU and your programme helping you personally to prepare for these challenges and opportunities?

I am so grateful that I am learning from a global community of scholars who are at the cutting age in their research and ministry involvements; professors and teachers alike. The program also gives both practical and theoretical exposure and a global perspective of missions, history and theology to enable me deliver in my initiated projects particularly the translations and Arid Zone College Projects

CWC Strategic Goals

STRATEGIC GOALS

T

o further the mission and vision of the Centre for World Christianity at Africa International University the following goals will be pursued and accomplished by 2015:

Primary goals:

  G1. To lead our two Mth cohorts and our first PhD cohort to completion. 

  G2. To develop a master plan to create a world class library for the study of world Christianity. To implement stage one of that master plan.

  G3. To form a network of ten like minded centres to promote the study of world Christianity both in the global north as well as in the global south and east.   Current partnerships exist with the Centre for the study of World Christianity at Edinburgh University and Asbury Theological Seminary.

  G4. To raise scholarships to assist as many of our students as possible in meeting tuition needs.

  G5. To encourage skills in digital research by ensuring that all CWC students and staff have  an e-reader and/or notebook/tablet and high level internet skills.

  G6. To hold regular events (workshops, lectureships, work in progress seminars, book discussions, conferences, etc) to make the  CWC a year round programme.

  G7. To become a center of publishing on World Christianity. 

  G8. To help take the Dictionary of African Christian Biography to the next level by  facilitating a network of partner institutions in Africa (at least 10),   establishing an annual conference on the DACB,   initiating a student prize for best bio of year, formalizing the  partnership between aiu/cwc and  dacb and   generating 100 articles per year.

 Secondary Goals:

 G9.  To educate 100 key church leaders locally and globally in the relevance of world Christianity to their ministry.

  G10.To install an African director of CWC.

  G10. To increase our CWC faculty team to 8 (full and part time).

  G11.To recruit a full time administrator and staff to facilitate the following: automating systems, assisting with research and writing, web development and promotion, and granting writing.

  G12.Host two international conferences on world Christianity with leading experts from around the world.

 

Note: Details for achieving these strategic goals are spelled out in our action plan 2015. For further information please contact the CWC director at markshaw2020@gmail.com

Maggie Gitau, student PhD. Intercultural studies, World Christianity track

What is your background? Where did you grow up?

If you’ve read Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s “The River Between”, a historical fiction set in the rolling hills of Muranga in central Kenya, that would pretty much describe my childhood home and life. I have some great childhood memories. Like I don’t believe I ever walked. I always seemed to be skipping or running some place.  I loved to climb to the very edges of fruit trees to get the last of the fruit.   I herded our odd cow or goat, fetched water from the river, cut wood, and picked tea on school holidays. That idyllic childhood was of course colored by issues that many African families have to deal with, including scarcity and family dysfunction, so there were parenting gaps in my childhood. But in spite of being a bit socially maladjusted in primary and secondary school levels, I made my way to University of Nairobi for a Bachelor in Education (Linguistics and Literature) and an MA in Missiology at African International University, then NEGST,.

Tell us a little bit about your family life now.

I eat my dinner straight from the pot, that is to say, it is just me and occasionally my lovely nieces and nephews. I’m the third born in a family of six, four sisters and one brother.

How would you define world Christianity and how did you develop an interest in this subject?

It is the retelling of story of the Church of Jesus Christ as it straddles generations and continents up to the present. WC tells the conventional accounts that we’ve grown accustomed to through our ecclesial, theological and missiological encounters, but also seeks out other lesser known yet equally significant versions of the Christian story. Particularly significant to WC are the animating elements of Christianity and how the new expressions of Christianity are impacting communities in fresh ways.

I became interested in WC as a combination of several things: In a large part the influences (including my lecturers) from years at NEGST as I was pursuing a Masters in Missiology, a good bit of cross-cultural exposure over the years, experience with a church’s that has a concern for global missions and a sense of calling to make a significant contribution to the church in Africa.

Why AIU and CWC?

Being in AIU means I don’t have to compartmentalize my life as has been the case of many that have had to leave the country to pursue post graduate studies. The ICS program is scheduled in modular classes, which means I attend two weeks of intense residential classes per term, and then continue readings, research and writing away from the school setting. I have the option of being concretely planted within a local community so that the issues I’m engaging are also integrated within my ministry context, or at least are rooted in real life encounters. Just yesterday I was at a church staff workshop. Ten minutes into the presentation, I realized the speaker was addressing a research question for one of my assignments due next month. I whipped out my recorder and promptly recorded the session. This may prove to be fun after all!

Apart from remaining within our communities, we have a world class faculty, a well resourced library and the diversity of the AIU community enriches our learning experience. I don’t know where I else where I can go to feel so at home and yet so global.

What do you see as one of the greatest challenges facing the African church?    What are the opportunities for the African church?

Some years ago I lived in the backyard of Toi Market, a bustling and sprawling second-hand clothes market annexed to the Kibera slums.  During the 2007/ 2008 political violence it was razed to the ground. After it was reconstructed the market was as alive as ever, but in the reordered version, I found my way much more easily and could direct a stranger on where to find products. Later, I watched a TV feature that showed how suburban residents come to new Toi Market to shop, freely mingling with kibera slum dwellers, all looking for quality deals on clothes and foodstuff.

The Church in Africa is quite like that market. It is alive and aflame with all sorts of activity. It has a lot to offer to the continent, but I do not think we have yet realized let, alone appropriated that potential.  For me, there-in is the challenge and the opportunity. I believe we need to understand our own story, in a way, to ‘make sense of this market space’.  If can articulate the common themes around which we as Africans Christians identify, despite our numerous diversities, we will rally together more easily to resolve the immense challenges facing the continent in the 21^st century. And that way—if we solve practical bread and water type of problems, then we will be all the more relevant. We will help those who are on the fringes to discover that there is something for them in the church as well. In short, make order of the market to make room for even more efficient and productive business.

How can World Christianity equip African Christians to respond to these challenges and opportunities

And this is the role of scholars of World Christianity; the first step is to recognize and appreciate the colorful chaos; the second order of business is to make thematic sense of all activity, and the third is to reinterpret it all in light of today’s African realities. If we do this, I believe we will help today’s African and the generation after us to make the faith their own.  I think this will be my path of scholarship in Word Christianity.

How was your first week of class?

My first week of class—whew! Intense! I’m discovering how exacting scholarship can be. Yet I have a strong sense of rightness about being part of it. Our program was inaugurated by the venerable Andrew Walls, who engaged us in discussion on the origins and transitions of Christianity the first 1500 years. Walls is like the Word was made flesh, for us a bridge into the world of historical, missiological and theological scholarship, all of which came alive on his octogenarian face. It was also great to meet fellow colleagues in our ICS cohort, fifteen of us from different countries. Remarkably each of these students  (apart from me) comes into the program with a string of credits from ministries and projects they have been involved in. We all have a passion for Africa so I look forward to the exciting journey that we will take together over the next four years and beyond.

October 2011 Newsletter

Receive greetings in Jesus name!

 News

Africa International University launched a new PhD in Intercultural studies on September 16th. 8 of the 15 students in the first PhD class will be pursuing the World Christianity track. We welcome Justus Mutuku, Zipporah Wambua, Moses Owoijaye, Simon Makau, Geoffrey Ongondo, George Atido, Michael Wambua and Maggie Gitau on the Phd Intercultural Studies, World Christianity emphasis.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines

•       Deadline reminders – Essays submission deadline for courses taken during the September residency will be on November 31, 2011

•       Centre for World Christianity will host a special lecture on the 27th October at 3 p.m. at the Phd room. Professor John Karanja, a published author who teaches in the united states and is a former lecturer at Nairobi university as well as AIU will give the lecture. His topic will be a research report on “Then and Now:  The theological evolution of Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity in Kenya.”

•       Dr Bob  Priest of Trinity International university in the USA has been invited by the ICS programme to give a seminar on dissertation methodologies on 7^th November.  Please mark this on your calendar.  More details to come.

 Useful Information on Scholarships

You are encouraged to visit the financial aid office for information regarding scholarships. In addition, you may explore and apply for financial aid from other sources e.g

Scholar leadership scholarships

Langham – http://filemanager.silaspartners.com/dox/lpi.lpi/ApplicationforSupportfromLanghamScholarships.pdf

Mustard seed – http://msfdn.org/

You may also browse other useful sites like; www.scholarship-positions.com and

www.scholars4dev.com

New Research Professor of World Christianity

Prof. Andrew F. Walls, Research Professor of World Christianity   

We are pleased to announce that Professor Andrew F.  Walls was formally installed as Research Professor of World Christianity at Africa International University  on 14 September 2011 at the University’s main campus in Karen, Nairobi, Kenya.  His installation address was “World Christianity: The last Five Hundred Years.” Among those present in the gathering of nearly 200 attendees were AIU’s Chancellor Prof. Watson Omulokoli, the Vice Chancellor Dr. Douglas Carew, AIU Alumni, Faculty, Staff and students as well as distinguished guests from other institutions.  With his new position, Professor Walls officially joins the Centre for World Christianity at AIU where he will guide students engaged  in doctoral work in World Christianity, part of the new PhD in Intercultural Studies.

Professor Walls is Emeritus Professor at Edinburgh University where he founded the Centre for the Study of World Christianity. Since 1997 Professor Walls has had worldwide ministry holding distinguised positions at many schools including Princeton theological seminary and Harvard Divinity school. His current commitments included residential teaching at both the Akrofi-Christaller Memorial Centre in Ghana as well as at Hope Liverpool University in the UK. His various essays on Christianity and culture have been collected into two award winning volumes, The Missionary Movement in Christian History, and The Cross Cultural Process in Christian History,  both published by by Orbis Press.

The Centre for World Christianity (CWC) at Africa International University (AIU) seeks to promote excellence in African Christianity through  special events, seminars and lectureships as well as programmes of research and writing in the history, theology and mission of World Christianity with special emphasis on  Africa’s unique role in that larger context.

 

 

CWC e-newsletter

News

• Congratulations are in order to Moses Owojaiye, the first MTh World Christianity student to graduate from AIU. Moses graduated on 8th July alongside over 100 other graduates from different programmes in AIU.

• Professor Andrew Walls was appointed as Research Professor in World Christianity in AIU’s Centre for World Christianity. Andrew Walls is Professor of the History of Missions, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, England; Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh and founder and former director of the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World there; and an International Bulletin of Missions Research (IBMR) contributing editor. The installation of Prof. Walls will be in September, 2011.

• CWC hosted a special forum in June which saw the coming together of faculty from both public and private universities as well as some key church leaders. The forum entitled Coinherence of Faith and Science was facilitated by Dr. Ross Hastings from Regent College, Vancouver.

Upcoming Events

The launch and commencement of PhD Intercultural Studies will be in September. The first cohort in World Christianity track will include Owojaiye Babatomiwa Moses, Michael Wambua Muoki, Pirwoth Atido George, Makau Simon Musyoki, Justus Mutuku, Zipporah Mulee Wambua, Godfrey Ongondo and Maggie Gitau

The first residency will be in September 12-23. Two courses will be on offer;

o IS 901 Research Methodologies

o IS 902 Key Concepts in World Christianity
Essays submission deadline for both courses will be on November 31

Our 2 members of CWC faculty, Dr. Steve Morad and Dr. Nkansah Obrempong are expected to be back from leave in the course of August. We extend a warm welcome to them.

CWC Student: Michele Sigg

What is your background? Where did you grow up?

I was born in the United States and grew up in Alabama and Georgia until the age of eleven. Then we moved to France because my dad was a missionary pastor in the Reformed Evangelical Church. I grew up in France and went to French schools until it was time for college. I did my university studies in the U.S. and a couple of years in Paris. I taught French language for many years at the university and high school levels. In the last ten years I have been working as the Project Manager for the Dictionary of African Christian Biography (www.DACB.org).

 Tell us a little bit about your family life now.

 I grew up in a small family with only one brother. Now I am married and have three children. My son, Johan, is 17 and graduating from high school this year. Annie is 16 and in 10th grade. Catherine is 7 and in 2nd grade. My husband, Sam, was also a missionary kid who lived in France and the DR Congo. He is a trained artist and has worked in art in various capacities, as a teacher, and as a translator.

How would you define world Christianity and how did you develop an interest in this subject?

World Christianity describes a phenomenon in which the church in the Global South has outstripped the church of Christendom which is on the wane. While Christianity shrinks in the West, having lost its “first love,” it is growing exponentially in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, as the Spirit moves powerfully.

I am fascinated with the way God can speak to the heart of people in any culture. For too long the emphasis has been on Western Christianity and all that the West has to offer the rest of the world. Right now, the tables are turned and I think that the renewal of the Western Church—whenever it happens—will come from looking to what the church in Africa, Asia, and Latin America has to offer. As a Westerner, I want to understand how God’s Spirit is working in the African church and how I can be a part of the church’s growth and renewal, wherever God places me.

Why AIU and CWC?

First, AIU offers me the opportunity to study theology and history from a different perspective than my Western, dualistic framework. Second, the program pushes us to go the extra mile in our research and think about the practical application of our academic work to the church today, in a specific setting. This is absent in too many theological programs in the West. I have been involved in African church history for several years and the CWC offers me the opportunity to pursue more research in that field.

What do you see as one of the greatest challenges facing the African church?

As a young, growing church, it faces many challenges so I will only mention two that come to mind. First, globalization has brought many Western values to Africa, such as consumerism and secularism, which are making terrible inroads in the African church. Second, the African church must come to terms with who she is in relation to her own culture and history. If the memory of the African church is lost or if the local culture is ignored, the church will have a crisis of identity.

What are the opportunities for the African church?

I think there are endless opportunities for the African church if she can free herself from dependency on outside resources. Because of the global recession, fewer resources will be available in the West for missions in the next generation. Perhaps the greatest opportunity—and challenge—is how the African church can help to create just government and political leaders who have vision and integrity to work for their countrymen (instead of for themselves). This will greatly contribute to the transformation and renewal of African society.

How can World Christianity equip African Christians to respond to these challenges and opportunities?

World Christianity teaches students to think globally and see patterns in God’s work around the world. In addition to the strong academics, the CWC and AIU offer a great opportunity to interact with other students and be challenged to grow in one’s worldview and spirituality in view of future ministry.

How are AIU and your programme helping you personally to prepare for these challenges and opportunities?

I am profoundly grateful to be able to learn from my colleagues and the professors whose intellectual wealth, experience, and depth of spirituality challenge me on every level. The program will also give me theoretical tools and a better understanding of history and theology to work on the DACB project.