African Theological Scholarship

Africa Bears Witness is a collection of essays by scholars and practitioners edited by Malawian missiologist, Harvey Kwiyani. The book explores the theology and praxis of contemporary African Christian mission on the continent and in the African Diaspora. It delves into scholarly African thought about God’s mission.

Africa Bears Witness: Mission Theology and Praxis in the 21st Century, by Harvey Kwiyani (Nairobi: African Theological Network Press, 2021), xiii+ 220 pages. ISBN: 978-9914-704-80 -8.

Babatunde Adedibu holds a PhD in Missiology from North-West University, South Africa. He is an Associate Professor and the Provost of the Redeemed Christian Bible College, Lagos, an affiliate of Redeemer University, Ede, Nigeria. He is also Research Associate with the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide, Cambridge, UK. He is a visiting lecturer in Missiology and Honourary Research Fellow at the University of Roehampton, London.

Ezekiel Adewale Ajibade holds a PhD in Christian Preaching. He is a  Fellow of the Stephen Olford Centre for Biblical Preaching in the USA  and a Visiting Scholar to Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids,  Michigan, USA. He has authored several books and journal articles,  including the title, Contextualization of Expository Preaching: Engaging Orality for Effective Proclamation in Africa.  He currently lectures at the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso. He is married with two children.

Luc Kabongo grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a Roman  Catholic family. He moved to South Africa as a refugee in 2002. He did his undergraduate studies in Philosophy and  Administration. He, then, pursued his post-graduate studies in Applied Theology and Missiology. He obtained his PhD in Missiology with specialisation in community development at the University of Pretoria.  He is the current Africa regional director of InnerCHANGE, a missional order among the socially marginalised. He is also a part-time missiology lecturer at the University of Pretoria.

Emmanuel Egbunu is the Diocesan Bishop of Lokoja and the Archbishop Emiterus of the Anglican Province of Lokoja, one of 14 within the Church of Nigeria. In this episode, he discusses his research on "The Legacy of The Church Missionary Society (CMS) in Lokoja Niger-Benue Confluence Area."

B. Moses Owojaiye, Ph.D., is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Biblical Christianity in Africa. He is an ordained minister of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA). Moses studied World Christianity at Africa International University and the University of Edinburgh. Currently, he is pastor of First ECWA, Ilorin and an adjunct at ECWA Theological Seminary, Igbaja, Nigeria. He has a significant understanding of the practice of pastoral ministry in Africa. Moses enjoys teaching World Christianity and speaking in Christian gatherings around the world. 

In this episode, Moses discusses his PhD research.

Wanjiru M Gitau is the author of the award-winning book, Megachurch Christianity Reconsidered: Millennials and Social Change in African Perspective. She is also co-author of The Kingdom of God in Africa: A History of African Christianity, with Mark Shaw. She earned a PhD in World Christianity at Africa International University. She has been involved in multiple research projects on Christian revitalization, religious pluralism, African Christian leadership and  Anglicanism around the world. She teaches also Practical Theology.

Rudolf K. Gaisie (PhD) is a Research Fellow at the Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture at Akropong-Akuapem, Ghana. In this conversation, he discusses his PhD research.

Abraham Waigi Ng’ang’a is a Kenyan scholar and a Research Fellow at the  Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture, in  Akropong, Ghana. He is also responsible for promoting partnership with like-minded institutions across the globe. His PhD thesis, entitled  “African Theology and African Literature: A Theological Critique of Wole  Soyinka’s Aesthetic Framework for Reconstituting African Life and  Thought”, was submitted in May 2015. He has written several articles which have been published in several journals and also contributed several chapters in published books. He is based in Liverpool, UK,  together with his wife, Claire, and their two children. 

Modupe Adefala is prison chaplain and pastor of Word Fountain Christian  Ministries, a Pentecostal church based in Oxford. In this very  stimulating conversation, we discuss her Master's Degree research at  Church Mission Society's "Pioneer Mission Leadership Training" in which she investigated the pioneering initiatives of 5 Nigerian Women in  London. 

Joseph Bosco BANGURA holds an MPhil [Fourah Bay College, University of  Sierra Leone], ThM [ETF Leuven, Belgium], and PhD [ETF Leuven, Belgium & VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands]). He serves as Senior  Researcher in Missiology and African Pentecostalism at two university departments: Religious Studies and Missiology, at the Evangelische  Theologische Faculteit, Leuven (Belgium); and Intercultural Theology at the Protestant Theological University, Groningen (the Netherlands). 

Kyama Mugambi is the editorial manager of the African Theological  Network Press (www.atnpress.com). He was born and raised in Nairobi,  Kenya, where he lives with his family. Many people recognise his name because his father, Prof. Jesse N.K. Mugambi paved the way for many  African theologians starting in the 1980s. He is also an associate researcher at the Centre for World Christianity at Africa International University in Nairobi, Kenya. He is adjunct lecturer at several institutions in addition to being Pastor-at-Large in the Mavuno family of churches. His research interests are in African urban Christianity.  He is passionate about those things that inspire transformation amongst young Africans in the continent's cities. Kyama has authored three books, as well as numerous book chapters and articles that relate in various ways to his passion.

My chat with him explored his doctoral research process. He focused on the subject of leadership formation in Kenya's urban Pentecostal movements wrestling with the question of how leaders are made in these contexts. This fascinating conversation opens a window for us on the developments taking place in African Christianity and the leadership challenges facing some of its emerging movements. He also shared some insightful lessons about the PhD journey that researchers will find helpful.

Rev Israel Oluwole Olofinjana is the founding director of Centre for  Missionaries from the Majority World. He is a Baptist minister and pastor of Woolwich Central Baptist Church, south-east London, UK. He is the author and editor of several books on African Christianity, church and mission. Israel has a BA (Hons) in Religious Studies from the  University of Ibadan, Nigeria and an MTh from Carolina University of  Theology, Virginia, USA.  

ABOUT THE BOOK | World Christianity in Western Europe: Diasporic  Identity, Narratives & Missiology  

Christianity is a world religion with about 2.3 billion Christians.  While World Christianity with its attention on the explosive growth of  Christianity in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Pacific and Oceania is definitely significant, it is also important to consider World  Christianity as it is developing in Europe. This book investigates this phenomenon in Western Europe through the prisms of Diasporic Identity,  migrant narratives and their mission theology. It considers the complex  Christian identity of people migrating to Europe, their stories and mission praxis. Here is a book including contributors who are scholars and practitioners. These scholars and practitioners are Europeans as well as migrants from the Majority World (Africans, Caribbean, South  Asia and Latin Americans) employing an interdisciplinary approach, their work encompasses the fields of Diaspora Missiology, Practical Theology,  World Christianity, Contextual Theology and Pentecostal Studies. 

Dr Sheila Akomiah-Conteh is a Ghanaian scholar based in Glasgow,  Scotland. She did her PhD at the University of Aberdeen and explored church growth in Scotland. To do this, she looked at new churches planted in Glasgow in the years between 2000 and 2016. She quickly realised that a majority of new churches in Glasgow are planted by  Africans. Of course, this is to a great extent representative of the church planting situation in Britain and has serious implications on how we talk about and research church growth in Europe nowadays. Of great interest to me, though, was her research process — she had to do some radical things to get her research done. This is one of the most insightful interviews in this series.  

JERRY M. IRELAND, PhD, serves as department chair for Ministry, Leadership, and Theology and Intercultural Studies at the University of  Valley Forge in Phoenixville, PA. He also co-hosts the Sorry Not Sorry  Podcast. His publications include series editor for the forthcoming  Baker Academic Global Christian Life Series; ‘For the Love of God:  Principles and Practice of Compassion in Missions’ (Wipf & Stock,  2017); and ‘Evangelism and Social Concern in the Theology of Carl F. H.  Henry’ (Pickwick, 2015).

Dr Caleb Nyanni is the Academic Dean at Birmingham Christian College. He is also the Lead Pastor at Sparkbrook Elim Christian Centre. He holds a  PhD from the University of Birmingham where he studied under the supervision of Professor Allan Anderson (who also supervised Caleb’s father’s PhD). Caleb explored spirit-talk among young members of the  Church of Pentecost in Britain. 

This conversation makes a very significant contribution to the discourse on the faith of young Africans in the diaspora. He shows us some of the ways the younger generation of  Africans in Britain think of their parents’ churches and what they want from the older generation if they are to follow God and impact the world in their generation.