News

“Raymond” from China

It is customary for Chinese churches to reach out to local communities at Christmastime. However, as the situation worsens for many churches, and as Christians are constantly discouraged and even threatened, I am really not sure how we could sit around the table again this year to sing Christmas carols and retell the story of the Nativity. We Christians are in tears, crying as the psalmist once cried out in overwhelming desperation: “How long, O Lord, will you look on…” (Ps. 35:17).

Kei Hiramatsu from Japan

In Japan, where only 1-2% of the population is Christian, people do not celebrate Christmas in the way Christians around the world do. Our culture generally associates Christmas with romance; thus, young people feel urged to find someone with whom to spend this “romantic holiday.” Alternatively, many families perceive Christmas as the day when they eat Kentucky Fried Chicken together (it is funny but true!). For many Japanese, Christmas is not the day for celebrating our Savior’s birth.

LeaderStudies Graduate Anwar Berhe Becomes Academic Dean

We congratulate Dr. Anwar Berhe, a recent LeaderStudies graduate. He is faculty and department head for the Christian-Muslim studies program at Evangelical Theological College in Ethiopia. Next month, he’ll become ETC’s Academic Dean for undergraduate programs — a role in which he’ll mentor many students as they seek to serve the Church more effectively. We …

Read Dr. Jason Tan’s Analysis of Pastoral Training

As the spring semester begins at many institutions, we highlight this article by Jason Tan from the most recent issue of our sister publication, the InSights Journal for Global Theological Education. In it, you can learn about ways to understand pastors’ individual contexts in order to provide them with more helpful education.

LeaderStudies Recipient Sofanit Abebe Writes about Gender & Identity

Today we invite you to read this post by Sofanit Abebe, a LeaderStudies recipient from Ethiopia. She talks about the challenges and opportunities she faces as she seeks to cherish the identity Christ has given her:

LeaderStudies Recipient Prabodith Mihindukulasuriya Defends Dissertation

We congratulate Prabodith Mihindukulasuriya, a LeaderStudies recipient from Sri Lanka, who successfully defended his dissertation last week. His research explores how British Christians contributed to the Sri Lankan campaign for justice. He’ll guide believers to think carefully about Christianity and national identity.

ScholarLeader of the Year Yohanna Katanacho visits Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary

This week, Yohanna Katanacho is visiting Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary as part of his ScholarLeader of the Year award. Today, January 20, he’s teaching students about the Gospel of John. Later, he’ll speak about Christianity and national identity. We praise God for Yohanna (a former LeaderStudies recipient) and for the sisters and brothers at UETS …

Gerardo Corpeño from El Salvador & Guatemala

What strikes me about the Christmas story (according to Mathew’s account) is that the first Christmas was not a quiet and nice story at all. On the contrary, from the very beginning, on that first Christmas, the good news of salvation for humankind was jeopardized by hatred and violence.

Desi Diaspora

We celebrate with Suraja Raman, whose article was published in “Desi Diaspora” (ed. Sam George of the Lausanne Movement and published by SAIACS, a VSI school). If you’re interested in what it means to teach cross-culturally for Indians living in Africa, you will find this piece helpful.

David Kasali in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Special Update

We ask for your intercession on behalf of Beni. Our town has been brutally attacked twice in six days. The armed group that has been killing civilians in the Beni territory since 2014 has made incursions into the town of Beni and into our neighboring town of Oicha, killing over 75 of the most vulnerable inhabitants over the last three weeks. On November 24, one of the members of our contractor’s construction crew, the son of one of our campus guards, was killed in his neighborhood near our main campus.

Anne Zaki on Revelation 22

Anne Zaki spoke on Revelation 22:6-21 during the December 31, 2018 session of Urbana 18, InterVarsity’s 25th student missions conference.

Asian Christian Theology: Evangelical Perspectives

This month, we congratulate several members of the ScholarLeaders Fellowship who were recently published in this collection from Langham (July 2019). If you’re curious about how Scripture intersects with life as an Asian believer, we encourage you to explore the essays in this book.

Seblewongel Denneque on “Why a PhD?”

Dr. Seblewongel Denneque from Ethiopia, a LeaderStudies recipient, talks about how a PhD has been essential to her ministry: “I really feel responsible…. I need to write, I need to do research, I need to raise leaders, educate others.” Seble returned to Ethiopia to help lead the Child Development Training and Research Center in Addis …

Prophetic Call from the Lebanese Church

We highlight a statement from the Lebanese Church concerning recent protests in Lebanon. Our Vital SustainAbility Initiative encourages faculty in the Majority World to speak prophetically from the Gospel to society and encourages schools of theology to support those prophets. We give thanks for this prophetic call for the common good – that this diverse and ecumenical group of leaders are united to condemn corruption, call for peace, and ask politicians to labor for society’s wellbeing. May we all – throughout the Global Church – have such courage.

from Mar/Apr 2019

Meron Gebreananaye

Meron Gebreananaye’s first impression of Scripture was influenced by her mother’s large Orthodox Bible. Rare and expensive, it was wrapped in cloth and displayed in a prayer niche. It was never read. “In the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition,” she says, “Scripture is elevated to the extent that you are not expected to read it as a layperson.