Graduates

Featured Graduates

Dr. Anwar Berhe (Ethiopia)

PhD in Intercultural Studies – Islamics (2019), Fuller (USA)

Anwar first encountered Christ in a dream. Having grown up as a passionate Muslim, he studied Christianity for several years before he committed himself to Christ. In Ethiopia, because of Christianity’s historical dominance, Muslims are a hostile minority. Anwar’s family and community immediately rejected him after his conversion, though some converted later. Thus, Anwar’s PhD topic – Muslim-Christian relationships – extends his personal experience. His research will help the Church understand how to counteract deep interfaith tensions, how to reach Muslim neighbors with the Gospel, and how to disciple Muslim converts more sensitively. Anwar has returned to Evangelical Theological College (ETC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as ETC’s first full-time faculty with a PhD in Islamics and as the Academic Dean for undergraduate programs. His teaching and research will prepare a new generation of Ethiopian Christians for fruitful relationships with Muslims.

Dr. Judy Wang’ombe (Kenya)

PhD in Intercultural Studies – Islamics (2019), Africa International University (Kenya)

Judy has dedicated her life to the Borana Muslims, who live in a barren region near the Ethiopian-Kenyan border in northern Kenya. As Islam spreads, the Kenyan Church needs to understand how to minister to these neighbors, whom the Church has often left alone out of a sense of inadequacy. Judy’s research, which focuses on spirit possession cults, calls the Church to see this Muslim group as separate from Islamic ideology and to understand their unique spiritual and psychological needs. Before she started her PhD, Judy served the Borana for twenty years as a missionary. With her PhD, she will continue missions work, and she will also train the next generation of Kenyan missionaries and pastors to approach these Muslims with Christlike care and understanding.

Dr. Prabodith Mihindukulasuriya (Sri Lanka)

PhD in Church History (2019), University of Colombo (Sri Lanka)

Before beginning his PhD, Prabo served as Deputy Principal and Professor at Colombo Theological Seminary (CTS) in Sri Lanka. His PhD will further equip him to train pastors in Sinhala-speaking churches to explain the Bible faithfully. He will also teach apologetics to young people so that they can understand and defend their faith. Because the Sri Lankan Church has often struggled to articulate Christianity intellectually, Prabo’s work will be essential to the Church’s maturity. Further, Sri Lankans often connect Christianity with Western colonialism, so Prabo’s dissertation research will counteract these stereotypes as he explains how Christian humanitarian organizations campaigned for justice after the 1915 genocide.

Dr. Tharwat Nagib (Egypt)

PhD in Pentecostal Studies (2019), Regent University (USA)

Tharwat’s story combines several strands of Egyptian Christianity. Growing up Coptic, he spent time in the Methodist church, studied with the Presbyterian Synod of the Nile, and now serves Pentecostals. This diverse experience has equipped him to promote Church unity through his research, which links the early church fathers and the modern Pentecostal movement. He has lectured at Veritas College Seminary, Evangelical Theological Seminary – Cairo, and First Pentecostal Seminary in Cairo, to which he returns as full-time faculty. In addition to teaching, he has pastored churches and written and translated books about the Holy Spirit, personal holiness, and missions. He will encourage Christians to heal from the battered minority syndrome that often marks the Egyptian Church and, as a body united in Christ, to embrace reconciliation and courageous church planting.