Africans in Diaspora and Diasporas in Africa

Thomas, T. V., DMin, is a Malaysian Canadian evangelist with the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada and the founding Director of the Centre for Evangelism and World Mission in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. He is Chairperson and a member of the Advisory Board of the Global Diaspora Network and Co-Chair of the International Network of South Asian Diaspora Leaders (INSADL) as well as Chair of the Ethnic America Network (EAN).

Jehu J. Hanciles, PhD is the D.W. and Ruth Brooks professor of world Christianity and director of the world Christianity program at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Georgia, USA. Originally from Sierra Leone, he has lived and worked in Sierra Leone, Scotland, Zimbabwe, and the US, and has been a visiting professor at schools around the world. Previously, he was an associate professor of the history of Christianity and globalization, and director of the Center for Missiological Research at Fuller Theological Seminary, California, USA. He is the author of Migration and Making of Global Christianity (Eerdmans, 2021), Beyond Christendom (Orbis Books, 2009), and other books.

HARVEY KWIYANI is a Malawian theologian at the Church Mission Society in Oxford, UK, where he leads the Centre for Global Witness and Human Migration, and manages the world Christianity and diasporas programs. He founded and continues to serve as Executive Director of Missio Africanus, an intercultural mission training initiative that seeks to equip and empower the global church for mission in Europe. Having long-served in mission in Europe and North America, he writes on cross-cultural mission and leadership, and has authored several books, including Sent Forth: African Missionary Work in the West (Orbis Books, 2014) and Multicultural Kingdom: Ethnic Diversity, Mission and the Church (SCM Press, 2020). His blog is harveykwiyani.substack.com.

Moses O. Biney , PhD is professor of religion and society, and African diaspora studies at New York Theological Seminary, USA. He holds ThM and PhD degrees in social ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey, USA, and other degrees from universities in Ghana. He is the pastor of Bethel Presbyterian Reformed Church in Brooklyn, NY as well as the current moderator of the Presbytery of New York City, and moderator of the Conference of Ghanaian Presbyterian Churches in North America. He is a member of the editorial board of the World Christianity Journal. He is the author of From Africa to America (NYU Press, 2011) and co-editor of World Christianity, Urbanization, and Identity (Fortress Press, 2021).

REV. DR. THARWAT WAHBA is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical (Presbyterian) Church of Egypt. Dr Wahba received his PhD from London School of Theology, UK and is now Professor of Mission and Evangelism and the Chair of the Mission Department in the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo, Egypt. He worked as a staff member and campus director with Campus Crusade for Christ in Egypt for twelve years. Currently, he is Chairman of the Pastoral and Outreach Ministries Council of the Presbyterian Church of Egypt.

André Jonas Chitlango, PhD studied theology in Mozambique, Ghana, and holds a doctorate in theology from University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. André lived and worked in South Africa and is originally from Mozambique. He is the executive director of More than a Mile Deep (MMD), an organization that trains leaders for the church in Africa using an African curriculum. MMD was a key partner in the publishing of the Africa Study Bible. Andr. is an ordained minister and past president of the United Baptist Church Mozambique (IUBM). He currently lives in Maputo, Mozambique.

Dr. Yaw Perbi is a physician, pastor, and principal at the global executive leadership education company PELÉ. He served as pastor of a Chinese church in Canada (2012–2016), where he was also president of International Student Ministries Canada (2013–2021). Yaw has been the Lausanne Movement catalyst since 2015 and is the international director of Kwiverr, providing thought leadership and catalyzing movements among internationals. Dr. Perbi is the author of about 20 books including Thinking Outside the Window (Xulon Press, 2015) and Africa to the Rest (Xulon Press, 2023). As global CEO of The HuD Group, he champions holistic leadership development on all six continents and has physically served in over fifty countries. He has been the toast of media groups worldwide including CNN, the National Press Club (Washington, DC), VOA, CBC, and BBC. Yaw and Anyele have seven delightful children and make their home between Montreal, Canada, and Accra, Ghana.

Harshit Gudka serves as an associate lecturer in theological and intercultural studies at the International Leadership University, Kenya (formerly known as The Nairobi International School of Theology). He is also an elder with New City Fellowship, Nairobi, a multicultural church plant with a focus on South Asians in Kenya. He is an associate teacher with Naya Jeevan Project, a ministry of Cru focusing on South Asian diaspora ministries. Harshit is a PhD candidate in intercultural studies at the Cook School of Intercultural Studies, Biola University, California, USA.

G. John Daniel, PhD serves as the academic dean and professor of intercultural studies at South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS), Bangalore, India. He was a church planter and pioneered a couple of Bible schools. He is a church-growth consultant and conducts workshops and seminars. John researched the Tamil diaspora in the UK and his PhD research was on the diaspora Sri Lankan Tamils in the city of London. John mentors young pastors and provides leadership to a couple of churches.

Wenhui Gong, PhD is a diaspora Chinese and has worked as a peasant, immigrant worker, electronics engineer, business entrepreneur, church pastor, missionary, and missiologist. During his rich and colourful life, he had various desires fulfilled but never satisfied until he met Jesus Christ and was saved byhim in 1999. His life was then turned inside out. He has become all things to all people for the sake of the gospel so that by all means he may share with them in its blessings (1 Cor 9:23). He planted house churches in China, started campus ministries and Chinese diaspora church pastoring in the USA, and discipled church leaders with iTM in Africa. In 2016, he founded Chinese Diaspora Mission (CDM) with a mission field in Kenya and headquarters in the USA. CDM seeks to help Chinese churches mobilize, equip, and send out missionaries who will make disciples among diaspora Chinese and beyond.

ELIZABETH MBURU was the first woman to gain a PhD from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, North Carolina, USA. She is an associate professor of New Testament and Greek at International Leadership University, Africa International University and Pan-Africa Christian University in Nairobi, Kenya. Dr Mburu is on the board of the Africa Bible Commentary and is the editorial coordinator and New Testament editor for its revision, as well as the Anglophone Africa Regional Coordinator for Langham Literature. Professor Mburu is also the author of Qumran and the Origins of Johannine Language and Symbolism (T&T Clark, 2010).

Godfrey Harold , PhD holds two doctoral degrees in theology and presently serves as the principal at Cape Town Baptist Seminary as well as on the executive council of the Baptist Union of Sothern Africa. He serves as a distinguished fellow at BH Carol Theological Institute, USA, and a postgraduate supervisor at The South African Theological Seminary and the University of Forth Hare. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in national and international theological journals and serves as the chief editor of the South African Baptist Journal of Theology. He is author of The Apostolic and Prophetic Reformation (Lambert Academic Publishing, 2017) and several book chapters. Godfrey is a research associate at Stellenbosch University and an associate minister at Athlone Baptist Church, Cape Town. Godfrey is married to Patricia and they have a daughter, Odelle Amy.

Mitch Hamilton, PhD, DMin is a pastor, diaspora missiologist, and migration strategist for the International Mission Board and numerous faith-based organizations. Together with his wife, Teresa, they seek to understand diaspora culture and the challenges sub-Saharan Africans face as they follow the perilous routes to a perceived better life. Networking with indigenous, immigrant, and international churches, they are committed to developing better methodologies to engage moving people with the gospel. Over the past four decades, Dr. Hamilton has served in leadership positions across his own denomination while continuing to write, lead conferences, and teach in globally diverse academic settings. He served as senior pastor in urban contexts for nearly thirty years before transitioning to the Sahel in 2015. Their background has allowed them to consult with pastors on five continents and over thirty countries. They currently make their home along the Mediterranean and divide their time between Africa and Europe.

Anne Abok has an associate of arts degree in communication arts and media from the University of the Nations, a bachelor’s in theology from Faith Bible College, South Africa, and a master’s degree in social rehabilitation from the University of Abuja, Nigeria. She is a screenwriter and filmmaker. She is also an astute development worker, passionate speaker, media trainer, and accredited facilitator with the South African qualification framework. Anne’s passion for social change and godly transformation of society led her to pioneer Media Village in Nigeria (www.mediavillageng.org ) in 2005. Anne also pioneered Media Campaign Against Human Trafficking (MeCAHT) in 2008 where she acquired experience in anti-trafficking work leading her to write and produce more than a dozen anti-trafficking films. She has won several awards for her work locally and internationally. Anne has published on issues related to COVID -19 and anti-trafficking. Anne currently lives in the UK and is pursuing ordination within the Church of England.

Clene Nyiramahoro is a Rwandan and married with six children. She works for SIL International on the Global Diaspora Services team. She has trained mother-tongue Bible translators and has worked as a translation consultant. Currently, she is working as a trauma healing master facilitator and coordinator. She has lived and worked in cross-cultural contexts for the last twenty-eight years. She is currently working among refugees mostly living in Africa, but hoping to expand her ministry to refugees living outside Africa as well. She has led trauma healing workshops in different countries hosting refugees in East and Southern Africa and she has seen first-hand the impact of that lifechanging ministry in the lives of people. She is the author of Beyond the Tears: A Story of God’s Faithfulness (Integrity Publishers, 2010). She believes God uses our brokenness to encourage others in the Kingdom, and to give hope to the hopeless.

Mabiala Justin-Robert Kenzo, PhD was born and raised in Maduda, in the Democratic of Congo (formerly known as Zaire) where he still holds strong ties. Currently, he is serving as the District Superintendent of the Saint Lawrence District of the Alliance in Canada, while at the same time teaching as an associate or visiting professor at the École de Théologie Évangélique au Québec (Université Laval), Ambrose Seminary (Ambrose University), and Regent College. In the past, he served as National Church President of the Evangelical Community of Alliance Churches in the DRC as well as teaching theology at Trinity Divinity School in the USA (sessional), Ambrose Seminary in Canada, FATEAC in Côte d’Ivoire (sessional), CFTEAC (Gabon), and the Alliance University in Congo.

Afolabi Ghislain Agbede est chercheur, enseignant, pasteur d’Église locale, leader, conférencier invité dans diverses facultés théologiques et séminaires bibliques en Afrique. Il a encadré et continue d’encadrer de nombreux étudiants de tous niveaux et participe aux jurys de soutenances pour le Master et le Doctorat. Il est également membre de l’équipe de recherche de la Faculté de Théologie (Centre du ministère Contextuel) de l’Université de Prétoria en Afrique du Sud dans le cadre du projet de recherche de l’Institut Nagel sur le thème : « Afrique urbaine 2050 : Imaginer l’éducation/formation théologique pour des villes africaines florissantes ».

Écrivain et auteur, il est le Président de la Fondation Adonai-Yireeh House, un ministère d’enseignement, de séminaires, d’émissions radiophoniques, d’édition et de publications d’ouvrages théologiques. Il est le pasteur principal de la Communauté Baptiste Siloé de Kandévié-Siriki (CBSKS) / Porto-Novo au Bénin.Il est marié à Ilboudo Ladnewende Eveline et ensemble, ils ont quatre enfants.

Rudolf Kabutz is a media research strategist at TWR Africa, specializingin future media perspectives and engaging media user communities. Witha background in nuclear physics and strategic foresight, he supports globalmedia collaboration to share the hope of the Gospel. He also acts as a catalystfor the Lausanne Media Engagement Network, promoting purposeful mediaengagement for societal transformation. His work empowers individuals to askcritical questions for exploring the future for action paradigm in the present.