Global Mission scholars from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East gathered in Dallas to exchange ideas and best practices in evangelism and witness.
Academics from the Global South presented and discussed papers on mission and evangelism, while academics from the Global North responded. The papers will be published before the 2020 Lambeth Conference.
The Rev. Lydia Mwanki, director of theology, family life and gender justice for the All Africa Conference of Churches, wrote about evangelism challenges in Africa and noted a difference between faith and action. She said that Christianity is rapidly growing in Africa but there is a lot of behavior that is ungodly.
The answer is ensuring more theologically grounded teaching of the faith and developing deep ecumenical relationships, she said. “We all need to strengthen relationships between denominations because one denomination can’t do it alone,” Mwanki said.
The Rev. Albert Sundararaj Walters is a Malaysian national from a South Indian background who serves as vicar general in the Diocese of Iran. He wrote about being friends with those from other faiths and asking what it means to live one’s life as a Christian.
The Rev. Marianela de la Paz of Cuba wrote about how Christians should not consider themselves superior to non-Christians because only God should judge. Christians, in humility, should build communities of love, peace, and justice with believers in other religions and offer caring service to their neighbors.
The Mission Theology in the Anglican Communion project is sponsored by the Anglican Communion Office and aims to raise up new doctors of the Church from the Global South to write, network, publish, and engage with theologians in the Global North.
Adapted from a report by Kimberly Durnan for the Diocese of Dallas
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
