THE 2026 scholars
These women and men are already leading the Church. Their studies will help deepen that leadership for the Church’s greatest challenges and its most promising growth.
Shandenii
Shandenii is a pastor and a full-time lecturer in New Testament studies at the Nile Theological College (NTC) in Khartoum, Sudan. Additionally, he serves as the director of the Evangelical Cultural Centre (ECC) in Khartoum. In his dissertation, he will examine the connection between God’s plan and human actions in the Gospel of Luke in order imagine how the Sudanese Church can be more united.
Peniel
Peniel is a researcher and teacher in biblical studies with a focus on Old Testament wisdom literature. His work explores how themes such as mortality, wisdom, and moral discernment in the Bible can help to shape believers’ character and faith in contemporary contexts. In particular, his PhD research examines how reflections on mortality in Ecclesiastes and Proverbs contribute to moral discernment and reverent living.
Steven
Steven is a licensed social worker and pastor from Taiwan. He holds degrees in practical theology (Princeton Sem., Th.M.; Oxford, M.Th.) and is currently pursuing a PhD in systematic theology at Wycliffe College in the University of Toronto. In his research, he is exploring how the doctrine of the Trinity can help the Church understand how to function in ways that are more healthy.
Truong Tran
Truong’s calling is to equip Christian leaders in Vietnam and across Asia so that believers can do evangelism and discipleship that is more biblically faithful and more culturally sensitive. Currently he is serving as a teaching assistant at the International Graduate School of Leadership in Manila, the Philippines. During his PhD studies, he is researching how congregations of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam can use their church buildings as sacred spaces, dedicated to God to serve their communities.
Dayrin Cardona Cruz
Dayrin Cardona Cruz is a professor of theology at the Central American Theological Seminary (SETECA) in Guatemala, where she currently teaches. Originally from Huehuetenango, Guatemala, she holds degrees in theology and physics, as well as an MTh from Duke Divinity School. She is committed to teaching and to forming the next generation of Christian leaders in her context. She is pursuing her doctoral studies at the University of Oxford, U.K., where her research investigates the relationship between God’s purpose and our understanding of how time works from a Latin American perspective.
Joseph Louis
Rev. Joseph Louis serves as a full-time faculty member at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo (ETSC), Egypt, where he teaches Pastoral Care and Practical Theology. He holds an M.Div. from the same seminary (2016) and a Th.M. from Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia (2023). He is currently earning his PhD from the London School of Theology, where his research is developing a theology of disability for Egyptian and Arab Christian communities, as he combines biblical, theological, and pastoral perspectives to help churches and public society welcome and integrate persons with disabilities. Joseph was ordained in 2017 in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Egypt. He is married to Enas and is a proud father to his two daughters, Holly and Flora.
Georgina Kwanima Boateng
Georgina Kwanima Boateng is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, as well as being an advocate for women and for creation care, and a creative writer. Currently she is earning her PhD at the Akrofi-Christaller Institute in Ghana. Her research explores how corruption adversely affects both the environment and women in Ghana, with the goal of developing new policy tools that will help the church protect our world and the marginalized.
Miguel Reyes
Miguel is from El Salvador. With degrees from the Central American Theological Seminary (SETECA) in Guatemala City, he is a lecturer in theology and serves the Church in worship, preaching, and pastoral care. Right now, he is earning his PhD at St. Andrews in the U.K. He is developing a new understanding of what justice means by combining the themes of eschatology and of beauty in the Pauline epistles. Through this study, he will help the Latin American Church understand beauty and justice as the restoration of life and flourishing.
Jennifer Porras Pabón
Jennifer is a theology professor and Head of the Research Division at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia (FUSBC) in Medellín. Currently she is earning a PhD from ETF Leuven where her research will explore how Old Testament concepts of justice can help the Colombian Church evaluate social programs; she will also propose new guidelines for the practice of justice in Colombia. Her other ministries right now include serving as the national facilitator for Langham Preaching and as a member of the board of directors of Sirvientes en Cooperación Colombia. She and her husband, Camilo Rincón, have two sons, Samuel and Christopher.
