This paper explores why and how the full participation of women in ministry is crucial for the flourishing of the global church. First, it presents a biblical vision for the contribution of women. Biblical models for women’s leadership are retrieved through a reading of Romans 16. Secondly, it provides practical insight to assist contemporary women, particularly in the Majority World. A strategy for women to navigate complex social expectations and cultural limitations is presented. The demonstration of godly character acts as a mechanism by which women can exercise influence and pursue leadership opportunities for which they are gifted
and called.
This paper deals with Spirit-empowerment and the transformation of Christianity in Africa. Spirit-empowered Christianity is now the representative face of Christianity on the continent, and this has global implications. The enchanted African Pentecostal/charismatic formular “in the power of the Holy Ghost” is commonly used in situations needing divine interventions. Not only is the growth and dynamism of contemporary Pentecostalism explained in terms of “the power of the Holy Ghost”, but also it is in that power that Pentecostalism could be said to have spread and impacted the world. This paper explores the explosion of African Pentecostal Christianity and how it is reshaping spirituality beyond the continent today.
In various Asian countries, women have suffered from gender inequity regarding access to leadership positions, career prospects, and education.
However, as time passes, society and the church allow women to benefit from opportunities to pursue teaching and higher education jobs.
The place of women in the Asian Church and their global impact on Christianity are apparent.
Some Asian women impacted the scholarly community of local and international churches.
It will be a great help to other women to see their distinct and essential roles in influencing worldwide Christianity through my perspective on my journey through academic environments and sharing with other women researchers.
The advancement of digital technology has brought a significant change in religious practices and ministry, offering an uncharted area for theological exploration. This article explores the concept of “Digital Pneumatology,” which focuses on the Holy Spirit’s presence and power in digital spaces, in particular the metaverse. By examining the intersection of technology and theology, this study investigates how the Holy Spirit is manifested and experienced in the metaverse. The article argues that the Holy Spirit’s influence extends seamlessly into virtual spaces, drawing on the theological principles of omnipresence, transcendence, and immanence. It examines how the Holy Spirit facilitates transformative experiences, empowers individuals for sanctification, imparts spiritual gifts, and provides healing within the metaverse. This research offers insights into the ways technology and spirituality converge, contributing to the development of contemporary Pentecostal theology and ministry in the digital age.
Megachurches at large are undergoing a massive transition and transformation influenced by the recent global health crisis, wars, and political conflicts in various continents. While the study of megachurches in the Global South is still in its infancy period, they will continue to evolve and be forged by the global challenges of the 21st century. How megachurch congregants approach lived religion and how they play their role in public life are questions that are worth noting in our times. Drawing our attention from perspectives and perceptions of megachurch congregants, fresh from the results of the empirical research conducted by the research team of Templeton Megachurch Project of John Templeton Foundation, this study unpacks the collective voices of church congregants as to how they see life from the eyes of faith and how they translate that faith in public life. Using the survey templates of Qualtrics, we surveyed and interrogated megachurch people from all walks of life about faith and life, politics, socio-economic issues, cultural values, social media, and the Covid-19 pandemic and find out important and meaningful discoveries that perhaps shape the public policy toward the study of religion.
This essay proposes two elements that could be integrated into a local church UPG training curriculum.
First, Cultural Intelligence (CQ) formation. CQ is defined as capability of an individual or group to function effectively in situations characterized by cultural diversity. CQ research conducted by the Singaporean Soon Ang and others, provides compelling insight into why individuals/organizations thrive in culturally diverse settings while others do not. including the factors that make the difference. Emerging from the research evidence is a globally accepted model where the effectiveness of cultural knowledge, strategies and actions can be developed and measured. The CQ model has been adopted by Fortune 500 companies around the world. So should we.
Second, the application of an established method for understanding religion. A grasp of cultural similarities and differences is incomplete without a basic understanding of a UPGs beliefs, rituals, and practices.
Global Ambassador,
World Evangelical Alliance
(Canada)
Brian Stiller is the global ambassador of the World Evangelical Alliance, an association representing more than 600 million Evangelical Christians. He has a BA in History from the University of Toronto, MRE from Wycliffe College, and DMin from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Dr Brian has also received honorary doctorates from Briercrest College and Trinity Western University.
In the 1960s, Dr Brian worked with youth, first as director of Youth for Christ (YFC) in Montreal, then Toronto YFC (now Youth Unlimited), and finally as president of YFC Canada. He was formerly the president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. Within months of his appointment, he founded and became editor-in-chief of Canada’s first national Christian magazine, Faith Today (1983). His opinions and views on issues of moral concern have often been conveyed through weekly television (including Cross Currents on Vision TV) and other media platforms. He has authored and edited 14 books including, Evangelicals Around the World: A Global Handbook for the 21st Century (2015), An Insider’s Guide to Praying for the World (2016), and From Jerusalem to Timbuktu: A Global Tour of the Spread of Christianity (2018).
Dr Brian was also the former president of Tyndale University College and Seminary after the school had gone through a major restructuring. During his tenure, Tyndale became a university and grew to become Canada’s largest seminary. Upon his retirement from his presidency at Tyndale, Dr Brian was named president of the Tyndale Foundation.
Professor of Biblical Studies,
Alphacrucis University College
(Australia)
Jacqueline Grey is a professor of biblical studies, specialising in hermeneutics, Old Testament and Hebrew Bible, and Pentecostal theology. Her publications include Them, Us and Me: How the Old Testament Speaks to People Today (2008), Raising Women Leaders (2010), and Three’s A Crowd: Pentecostalism, Hermeneutics and the Old Testament (2011). She holds a BA from the University of Sydney, BTh (Honours) and PhD from Charles Sturt University. Her research interests include the philosophy of religion, prophetic literature, Pentecostal hermeneutics, and feminist readings of Scripture and poetics.
Dr Jacqui is a regular guest on national television and radio programmes in Australia, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation programme Q+A. She is a member and past president of the Society for Pentecostal Studies and is the co-chair of biblical ethics in the Society of Biblical Literature. She is a research fellow in the Department of Biblical and Ancient Studies at the University of South Africa and the Centre for Pentecostal Theology in Tennessee. An ordained minister of the Australian Christian Churches, Dr Jacqui is deeply committed to the unity of the church and is involved in various ecumenical dialogues.
President,
Trinity Theological Seminary
(Ghana)
Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu is a Ghanaian scholar of African Pentecostalism. He holds a Certificate in Pastoral Ministry from Trinity Theological Seminary in Ghana, BA in Religion and Sociology and MPhil in Religion from the University of Ghana, and PhD in Theology from the University of Birmingham. An ordained minister of the Methodist Church Ghana, he was elected fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015. He is currently the Baëta-Grau Professor of African Christianity and Pentecostal/Charismatic Theology at Trinity Theological Seminary, where he has held teaching posts since 1994. He has also been its president since 2018.
Dr Kwabena is known for his writings related to African Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity, such as African Charismatics: Current Developments within Independent Indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana (2004) and Contemporary Pentecostal Christianity: Interpretations from an African Context (2013). He has also been a visiting scholar at various institutions including Harvard University, Luther Seminary, and Asbury Theological Seminary.
Professor of Missions and Intercultural Studies,
Oral Roberts University
(South Korea)
Julie Ma is a professor of undergraduate theology at Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma, specialising in intercultural studies and missions. She has over 20 years of teaching experience and was a missionary professor for 10 years at Asia Pacific Theological Seminary in the Philippines. She also spent another 10 years as a research tutor at Oxford Centre for Mission Studies (OCMS). During her time in the Philippines, Dr Julie was involved in evangelism, training, and planting churches among tribal groups in the mountains. After 27 years of mission work, she joined the faculty team of OCMS, conducting a PhD programme in mission studies.
Dr Julie has taught courses in cultural anthropology, biblical theology of mission, mission perspective, contextualisation, folk religion, Pentecostal mission, and Asian mission. She has authored and co-edited numerous books, the latest being the revised edition of Mission Possible: Biblical Strategy for the Lost (2016). In 2009, she received the Award of Excellence from the Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship for her chapter Changing Image: Women in Asian Pentecostalism, published in Women in Pentecostal-Charismatic Leadership (2009). Her research interests include power encounter in healing, power evangelism, the role of the Holy Spirit in mission, Pentecostal spirituality, church-planting and growth, and Pentecostal women’s ministry.
Research & Admissions Tutor,
Oxford Centre for Mission Studies
(South Korea)
Guichun Jun has been a research tutor in congregational studies and an admissions tutor at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies (OCMS) since 2019. He earned his BA in Theology from Seoul Theological University, MDiv from Seoul Theological Seminary, and PhD from OCMS in partnership with Middlesex University. He is an ordained minister with vast ministry experience in South Korea and UK. Dr Guichun served as the secretary general of the Korean Christian Fellowship in London and the senior minister of Chessington Korean Church and Shirley Community Church in the UK.
His research interests include church conflicts, cultural studies, ethnographic methodology and skills, multicultural ministry, practical theology, futuristic church ministries in the era of artificial intelligence and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, cyber-theology, and self-theologising. Dr Guichun is currently exploring the theological controversies and missional potential of the virtual reality church. He serves as a trustee for the Institute for Bible Translation and Overseas Christian Assistance.
Director,
Asia Pacific Research Center,
Asia Pacific Theological Seminary
(Philippines)
Joel Tejedo holds a BCMin from Bethel Bible College of the Assemblies of God in the Philippines, MDiv and DMin from Asia Pacific Theological Seminary (APTS). He served as the faculty and academic dean at Luzon Bible College and opened extension centres in the major cities of Northern Luzon. Currently, he is a full-time instructor at APTS. Dr Joel has also written books and articles that have been presented at international lectureships.
He studies the Pentecostal impact on his home country, producing papers like How Filipino Pentecostals Build Communities in the Philippines, Baguio City (2011). One of the papers he has presented is A Pentecostal Witness in the Public Sphere: A Case of Four Non-Government Organizations Working Among the Most Vulnerable People in the City of Vallejo, California (2015).
President,
Mission One Eleven
(Sweden)
Karl Hargestam is an author, public speaker, pilot, and social entrepreneur. Together with his wife Jennifer, they co-founded Joshua Campaign International. Rev Karl is also the president of Mission One Eleven. At the age of 21, he left Sweden with a mandate to preach the gospel to the unreached people groups in Africa. Together with his family and staff, they brought spiritual change among African tribes that had never heard the name of Jesus Christ.
Rev Karl’s message, “One Chance for Every Person”, is a vision born from a conviction that everyone should hear the gospel at least once. By the grace of God, 4.7 million people have responded to the gospel through his ministry, and thousands of churches have been planted in various parts of the world. His services and gospel festivals draw many, the largest of which saw 370,000 in attendance. Today, Rev Karl is the executive director of CityServe Network, an organisation that empowers the local church to share the love of Jesus and meet the needs of the most desperate.
Vice President,
Mission One Eleven
(Sweden)
Jennifer Hargestam was born in California, where she attended a mission-focused Assemblies of God church. She graduated with a BA in Missions from Messenger College in Missouri. Together with her husband Karl, they served as missionaries to Ethiopia, bringing the gospel to unreached people groups and helping Ethiopian women and children affected by HIV/AIDS. Rev Jennifer is also the co-founder of Mission One Eleven and Joshua Campaign International.
Margaret S. Smith Distinguished Professor of World Missions and Intercultural Studies, Vanguard University
(USA)
Douglas Petersen is the Margaret S. Smith Distinguished Professor of world missions and intercultural studies at Vanguard University in California. He is one of the foremost ethicists and Pentecostal leaders in the world today. Prof Doug and his wife Myrna founded non-profit organisation Latin America Childcare (currently known as ChildHope) to give hope and a future to poverty-stricken children. Under his leadership, ChildHope has since expanded to 22 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, providing education, food, and medical programmes to 100,000 children in 300 schools.
Prof Doug received his PhD from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. As a Pentecostal thought leader, he has written books, published many journal articles and book reviews, and given lectures and public addresses in seminaries, Bible colleges and conferences, including the World Vision Leadership Symposium.
In 2022, Prof Doug was honoured for 50 years in ministry by the SoCal Network of the Assemblies of God in San Diego. In 2016, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Society for Pentecostal Studies. His book Not By Might Nor By Power: A Pentecostal Theology of Social Concern (1996) was selected as one of the Outstanding Books of 1996, as well as the Outstanding Book of the Decade (1990 to 2000). He also received Outstanding Book of the Year in 1999 for The Globalization of Pentecostalism: A Religion Made to Travel (1999).
Prof Doug’s recent teachings include theological themes in the New Testament, the Corinthian letters, organisational business ethics, current issues in mission studies, leadership and global issues, mission and culture in theological perspective, contemporary moral issues, research methodology/leadership studies, entrepreneurship, as well as conflict and change.
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