Relentless Love

Sheryl Haw is the former International Director of Micah Global (www.micahglobal.org). She has spent over twenty-eight years working with communities around the world to address relief, development, and justice concerns. Her career has included Operations Director for Medair, Accountability Development Manager for HAP International, lecturer at All Nations Christian College, and, for the last nine years, International Director of Micah Global (representing a merger between Micah Network and Micah Challenge). Sheryl was privileged to grow up in Zimbabwe surrounded by examples of amazing resilience that have inspired a persistent pursuit of justice for all.

David M. Boan has a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Biola University, La Mirada, California, USA. He is the Director of the Department of Relief and Development at the World Evangelical Alliance and has thirty-five years of global experience in applied psychology, research, and consulting. He is the co-author of the Handbook of Disaster Ministry (InterVarsity Press) and the author of more than fifty professional articles and presentations.

Andrew is a management and engineering adviser supporting individuals and organizations working in resource-limited contexts. Projects and leadership teams he supports have won multiple industry awards for innovation and successful project delivery. Andrew and his family have lived in Kijabe, Kenya, since 2011, where his wife, Mardi, is a paediatric emergency physician at Kijabe Hospital. He is a PhD candidate at the London School of Theology in Biblical Studies and Contextual Theology, and holds degrees in civil engineering (BSc, George Washington University), physics (MSc, Michigan State University), and theology (MDiv, University of Divinity).

Living in Cape Town, South Africa, Thandi works in communications and resource development for an organization called The Warehouse. She has recently completed a Master’s in Public Administration with a focus on education. Some of the things that take up space in her heart are writing poetry, live jazz, the Jesus that is good news to the poor, family, friends that are like family, radical education, conversations about decolonizing theology, laughing, and dreaming about and working towards a world that is just and kind.

Viv Grigg is a New Zealander and a prophetic voice among the poor of the slums, focused on multiplying poor people’s churches and community organizations in Manila, Kolkata, S.o Paulo, and Los Angeles. He has catalysed networks of communities of workers (apostolic orders) in the slums of over forty emerging mega-cities, creating a plethora of organizations that transform poverty. Viv Grigg is the author of Companion to the Poor, Spirit of Christ and the Postmodern City, Slumdwellers’ Pedagogy, among others. These have been seminal for new paradigms of incarnational mission among the urban poor, the new Western apostolic orders, transformative city-wide revival, and economic discipleship. Viv Grigg is Professor of Urban Leadership at William Carey International University, multiplying the MA in Transformational Urban Leadership in universities globally (www.matul.org).

Geoff Whiteman, MA, ThM, is an Orthodox Christian, couple’s counsellor, and resiliency researcher who is passionate about God’s mission in the world. Married to Kristina Whiteman, MA (PhD candidate at Asbury Theological Seminary, focusing on resiliency research) since 2003, they encourage global workers to be united in marriage and resilient in ministry. They began serving in vocational ministry in 2000 and have been supporting global workers since 2007. They currently serve as the Mission Specialists in Missionary Care and Training for the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) and as the founders of ResilientMissionary.org and ResilientGlobalWorker.org which disseminate the results of the Resilient Global Worker Study through innovative solutions to support global workers and those concerned with enhancing global worker resiliency. Download the results of the study and connect with Geoff at linktr.ee/geoffwhiteman.

Emily Edwards, BS, is on the MEd in Counselling Psychology programme at the University of Louisville. A graduate research assistant and student clinician, Emily has overlapping research and clinical interests in the areas of building resilient communities, empowering helping professionals to combat adversity, and supporting and preserving families. At the University of Louisville, Emily does research with the Resilience, Adaptation, and Well-Being lab and the Human Trafficking Research Initiative. Additionally, Emily is on the founding and planning team for the Emerging Care Summit, an annual gathering focused on building the future of global worker care (for more information, see www. emergingcaresummit.org).

Anna Savelle is Special Projects Coordinator at Jennings County Economic Development Commission. Prior to that she served in the ESJ School of World Mission and Evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary.

Kristina Whiteman, MA is a PhD candidate at Asbury Theological Seminary, focusing on resiliency research. Married to Geoff Whiteman, MA, ThM (Orthodox Christian, couple’s counsellor, and resiliency researcher) since 2003, they encourage global workers to be united in marriage and resilient in ministry. They began serving in vocational ministry in 2000 and have been supporting global workers since 2007. They currently serve as the Mission Specialists in Missionary Care and Training for the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) and as the founders of ResilientMissionary.org and ResilientGlobalWorker.org which disseminate the results of the Resilient Global Worker Study through innovative solutions to support global workers and those concerned with enhancing global worker resiliency. Download the results of the study and connect with Geoff at linktr ee/geoffwhiteman.

Manavala Reuben is an Indian Christian leader who worked as a pharmacist at Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, South India, from 1974 to 1984 and served as a mission worker in Northern India from 1984 to 1997 for the mission organization called Navjeevan Seva Mandal, a sister concern of Friends Missionary Prayer Band. Reuben moved to Singapore to do theological studies at Discipleship Training Centre from 1997 to 1999, and from 2000 to 2001 at Theological College for Asia, obtaining an MA in Intercultural Studies. Since 2002, Reuben has been serving among grassroots international workers as a ministry staff worker.

Amy Reynolds is an associate professor of sociology at Wheaton College (IL, USA). Her research focuses primarily on the intersections of the global church, economic globalization, development, and gender inequality. She is the author of Free Trade and Faithful Globalization (Cambridge, 2014), which examines how Christian communities in the Americas have engaged in trade policy debates. She coordinates the Wheaton Network Initiative on Gender, Development, and Christianity, which aims to advance the work of holistic development that promotes gender justice.

As Executive Director of Evangelicals for Social Action (ESA), Nikki Toyama- Szeto guides the execution of ESA’s mission and vision. Nikki came to ESA with a long history of working with leaders of faith communities to help ignite a passion for biblical justice among the global church. As an educator and advocate, she is passionate about gender issues, racial justice, refugees/ displaced peoples, and fighting poverty. She speaks and trains leaders globally. Past engagements include speaking for Tearfund (Nepal) and Centro Esdras (Guatemala), CCDA (USA), and Billy Graham Center (USA). She writes and speaks from her experiences as a leader in organizations like International Justice Mission, the Urbana Conference, and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. She served on the Third Lausanne Congress (2010), helping to develop the plenary programme. Nikki Toyama-Szeto was a co-editor of the book More Than Serving Tea (IVP, 2006), a collection of essays, stories, and poems looking at the intersection of race, gender, and faith for Asian American women. She also co-wrote Partnering with the Global Church (IVP, 2012) with Femi Adeleye and edited the Urbana Onward series. Additionally, she is a co-author of The God of Justice: IJM Institute’s Global Church Curriculum (IVP, 2015).

Dr Vilma “Nina” Balmaceda is a scholar practitioner whose work focuses on civic leadership formation and the promotion and defence of the fundamental rights of vulnerable populations in Latin America. Nina earned her PhD in political science from the University of Notre Dame du Lac. In addition to serving as CETIContinental’s Dean of Graduate Studies, Nina is the President and CEO of Peace and Hope International (PHI). Through its sister organizations in Latin America, PHI supports efforts to prevent violence and other forms of injustice, mobilizing individuals and communities to foster systemic change for peace and democratic civic engagement.

Dr Patrick Mitchel is Director of Learning at the Irish Bible Institute in Dublin where he teaches theology. He has been involved in theological education and church development in the Republic of Ireland for nearly thirty years. He blogs at Faith in Ireland and is author of a new volume in the Bible Speaks Today: Bible Themes series, The Message of Love. He is married to Ines and they have two grown-up daughters.

Sandra Maria Van Opstal, a second generation Latina, pastors at Grace and Peace Community on the West Side of Chicago. She is a preacher, liturgist, and activist who is reimagining the intersection of worship and justice. In her fifteen years with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Sandra has mobilized thousands of college students for God’s mission of reconciliation and justice in the world. Sandra served as Director of Worship for the Urbana Missions Conference, Chicago Urban Program Director, Latino National Leadership Team (LaFe), and Northwestern University Team leader (multi-ethnic fellowship). Sandra’s influence has also reached many others through her leadership and preaching on topics such as worship and formation, justice, racial identity and reconciliation, and global mission. Sandra Maria Van Opstal has been published in multiple journals and has authored God’s Graffiti Devotional, Still Evangelical, The Mission of Worship, and The Next Worship.

CB Samuel is an itinerant Bible teacher focusing on spiritual, missional, and leadership formation. CB and his wife Selina live in Delhi and minister among university students, young adults, and families. While CB has developed a global ministry, teaching frequently in Asia, the USA, and Australia, he and his wife Selina remain strongly engaged in integral mission in India. They have a particular passion for building and strengthening younger leaders in their spiritual formation and their mission engagement. CB serves as a Theological Adviser for both EFICOR and Micah Global.

Dr Florence Muindi is considered the industry leader in community development work. A native of Kenya, Dr Florence is the founder and president of Life In Abundance International, a non-profit organization committed to bringing health to the poor through the local church in Africa and the Caribbean. She is a trained medical doctor, specializing in public health interventions, and has a diploma in Urban Poor Theology. She regularly speaks and writes about empowerment of the vulnerable and sustainable transformation. After serving as a missionary in Ethiopia, she now lives with her family in Kenya.

While working as a priest in the inner city in Dublin, Fr Peter McVerry SJ encountered some homeless children and opened a hostel for them in 1979. The organization he started is now called Peter McVerry Trust. It has twenty-five hostels with a thousand homeless people staying every night, four hundred apartments where homeless people or families can have a home for life, four drug treatment centres, and a drop-in centre. He has written about his experience in the book The Meaning Is in the Shadows. Subsequent publications were Jesus: Social Revolutionary? and The God of Mercy, the God of the Gospels.

Norman Franklin C. Agustin is the current Executive Director of LingapPangkabataan, Incorporated (LPI) or “Care for Children,” a non-profit faithbasedsocial development organization established in the Philippines in 1981.Agustin has more than twenty years of experience in community developmentwork. He started as a youth volunteer of the National Council of Churches in thePhilippines (NCCP) during his college days where he facilitated the organizingof ecumenical student ministry groups in four colleges and universities inMetro Manila. He graduated with a BA in Political Science and completed hisMaster’s degree in Public Management at the Ateneo School of Government.

Martin Allaby is a British doctor and researcher who worked for ten yearsin South Asia and conducted field research in Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar,Vietnam, the Philippines, Kenya, Zambia, and Peru. In Nepal he worked for the UK Department for International Development on health sector reform.His experiences have convinced him that corruption is a potent cause ofpoverty, and that the church needs to do more about it. He currently chairsthe steering group of the Faith and Public Integrity Network and works asa consultant clinical adviser at the National Institute of Health and CareExcellence in London.

Becca Allchin is a population-focused occupational therapist with experience in mental health services and international development. She works locally supporting families where a parent has a mental illness (FaPMI service development coordinator) in the Eastern Region of Melbourne, regionally as a PhD candidate researching sustainability of family-focused practice in adult mental health services, and globally supporting mental health work in low- and middle-income countries. Becca has a long association with TEAR Australia as church representative, field worker in India, TEAR group coordinator, international programme allocation committee convenor, and occasional programme evaluator.

Clinton Bergsma manages a small development organization called Amos Australia and is a facilitator of the Masters of Transformation programme at Eastern College of Australia. He enjoys exploring the intersection between theology and practice for community development approaches.

Steph Cantrill is an occupational therapist by background. After completing a Master’s in Public Health, she spent four years in India, working with a community development team in Old Delhi. She has volunteered with two TEAR projects, both related to the inclusion of people with disability. Steph now works with Polio Australia, a small organization that supports people living with disability related to polio and its late effects.

RUTH PADILLA DEBORST (PhD, Boston University) is a wife of one and mother of many, a theologian, missiologist, educator, and a storyteller. She has been involved in leadership development and theological education for integral mission in her native Latin America for several decades. She works with the Comunidad de Estudios Teológicos Interdisciplinarios (CETI), a learning community with Master’s and Certificate level programs. She coordinates the Networking Team of INFEMIT (The International Fellowship for Mission as Transformation) and serves on the board of Arocha. She lives in Costa Rica with her husband, James, and fellow members of the Casa Adobe intentional Christian community. Her education includes a Bachelor’s in Education (Argentina), an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies (Wheaton College), and a PhD in Missiology and Social Ethics from Boston University.

Boureima Diallo is a Fulani from Burkina Faso. He grew up as a Muslim, like all Fulani in Africa. One of his father’s employees told him about the good news when he was in his teens, and with the permission of his Muslim father he decided to follow Jesus. In following in the footsteps of Jesus he has faced persecution, but by God’s grace he has clung on to him. Boureima Diallo is currently the lead facilitator of FULNET (Fulani Network), comprising several missions and ministries that are making disciples and planting churches among the Fulani in several countries in the Sahel in Africa.

Stanley Enock Hanya works with the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe as the Church and Community Mobilization Process Coordinator. He is committed to the engagement of church leaders as well as the empowerment of the local church and community to champion holistic transformation. Over the last few years he has overseen the integration of resilience, self-help groups, as well as social inclusion in church, and community mobilization work. He has a strong interest in the building up of local churches and communities with skills and knowledge to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters.

Naomi Foxwood works for Tearfund leading their support for movementbuilding in a number of different countries. She is particularly engaged in developing, learning from, and sharing their impactful movement-building work. Naomi has over fifteen years’ experience in NGOs and policy organizations, in advocacy and research roles, all of which have centred on her passion for seeing change to systems of injustice and poverty.

Helen Fernandes is an occupational therapist and a public health and development specialist with TEAR Australia. Helen has experience in health, community-based rehabilitation, and social inclusion projects in Africa (Niger, Nigeria), South Asia (Nepal and India), and South East Asia and the Pacific (Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea). Her current roles include working with TEAR’s partners on organizational development and heading up TEAR’s work and learning in mental health.

Richard Gower is a former UK government economist who escaped from the civil service (via Oxfam) and now leads some of Tearfund’s policy and advocacy work. He co-authored Tearfund’s seminal “Restorative Economy” vision paper in 2015 and is passionate about social movements for justice and restoration, having spent several years working at the grassroots in both inner-city Bradford and Zimbabwe. Alongside his work at Tearfund, he leads the Praxis Centre for Hope and Activism.

A lover of stories and adventure, baking and hiking, learning and culture; a spouse, daughter, and sister, Victoria (Tori) Greaves was raised in California (USA) and received her BA in Anthropology from Wheaton College with a certificate in Human Needs and Global Resources. She is now completing an MA in Interdisciplinary Theological Studies for Integral Mission through CETI (Comunidad de Estudios Teol gicos Interdisciplinarios). Tori lives in Peru with her husband, where she seeks to live out values of hospitality, justice, and simplicity locally. She works as the Director of Operations for INFEMIT (International Fellowship for Mission as Transformation) and as the Administrative Assistant for CETI.

Up until June 2019, Helen Heather worked at Tearfund leading an international campaign, working with many organizations across the world. She also helped to lead climate change campaigning for over a decade. She is now taking a break from paid work to spend time with her children.

Sara Kandiah has worked within the faith-based international development sector with organizations such as Tearfund, Coventry Cathedral, The Leprosy Mission International (TLMI), and A Rocha UK. Sara has recently focused on climate justice in recognition of the drastic impact climate change is having today on people and planet. As a keen champion of the church, Sara spends her time connecting with churches around the UK to address climate injustice and mobilizing them to share a message of hope in uncertain times.

As a result of regional conflict, the indigenous and migrant Christianpopulations of the Middle East are in need of support. A third of Jordan’spopulation are refugees from Syria, Iraq, and Palestine, and Jordan has becomea regional hub for the response to ongoing humanitarian crises. Fiona Kelling is hoping to use her experience in humanitarian response to support refugee and marginalized populations currently residing in Jordan. She is currently volunteering with the Urban Shalom Society in an administrative role.

As a result of regional conflict, the indigenous and migrant Christian populations of the Middle East are in need of support. A third of Jordan’s population are refugees from Syria, Iraq, and Palestine, and Jordan has become a regional hub for the response to ongoing humanitarian crises. Joel Kelling works with the Anglican Alliance and the Anglican Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, covering the dioceses of Cyprus and the Gulf, Egypt and North Africa, Iran, and Jerusalem. He is building the capacity of churches within the region and facilitating the educational, health, and youth development activities across the province. He is also strengthening relationships between the diverse Christian communities.

DAVID ZAC NIRINGIYE holds a PhD in Theology and Mission History from the University of Edinburgh, UK an MA in Theology from Wheaton College, USA as well as a Physics Honours degree and Teaching Diploma from Makerere University, Uganda. He is a leader with national and international acclaim and has experience as a church leader, theologian, peace and social justice activist and an organizational development consultant. Bishop Zac who previously served as Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Kampala, is now engaged in full-time civic-political activism in his native country of Uganda. He is married to Theodora and they have three children.

Jim Oehrig is Vice President of Integral Mission at American Leprosy Missions. He develops partnerships and collaborations with Christian organizations and churches in communities where American Leprosy Missions works, and ensures the organization implements programmes in ways that honour God and uphold people’s dignity. Enabling others’ success inspires and delights him. Jim’s expertise includes community health development, capacity cultivation, NGOs, member care, and inter organizational collaboration. He has lived in six different countries on three continents and has hands-on operational experience in seventy-five countries across Central and South America, sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia.

James Pender works with The Leprosy Mission England and Wales where he has had responsibility for supporting projects in Bangladesh, Nepal, Mozambique, India, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. He is also The Leprosy Mission Global Fellowship’s lead on integral mission and church engagement across the twenty-nine member countries in Europe, Oceania, Africa, and Asia. Previously he was a mission partner for ten years, working with the Church of Bangladesh Social Development Programme with foci on safe water provision, anti-human trafficking, and climate change adaptation. He also worked on Creation Care with A Rocha, including assisting in the foundation of A Rocha, Ghana.

JOHANNES REIMER was born and raised in the Soviet Union. As a young convert to Christianity, he spent two years in a labour camp in the east of modern day Russia. Today, Dr Reimer teaches Missiology and Intercultural Theology at the University of South Africa (UNISA), from where he gained his DTh, and the Ewersbach University of Applied Arts in Germany. He is the Global Director of the Peace and Reconciliation Network of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA).

Arshinta Soemarsono is the Director of YAKKUM Outreach Units (called Extramural) in Indonesia. She has twenty years of experience working on development and humanitarian issues. She has worked in organizations responding to small as well as major disasters across Indonesia. Arshinta has worked in various roles in the ACT Alliance, including on the governing board from 2010 to 2018, as a former member of the Rapid Support Team, and as a current member of the Membership and Nomination Committee. Holding a Master’s in Public Health from the Gadjah Mada University, Arshinta does research into community resilience during disasters (including the Merapi volcanic eruption and the Mentawai tsunami). She has also been involved in scoping studies for persons with psychosocial disability in Yogyakarta, and disability studies in Nias. Arshinta currently serves on the executive board of JAKOMKRIS, the Christian community network in Indonesia for disaster management.

Fennelien Stal is Impact and Learning Coordinator and country lead for Indonesia and the Philippines at Tear Netherlands. In this role, she manages church and community mobilization (CCM) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) in Indonesia and the Philippines as well as humanitarian response projects when disaster strikes. In 2016, Fennelien worked together with Yayasan Sion on the research initiative to analyse the context, possibilities, and relevance of starting a DRR network. This resulted in the foundation of JAKOMKRIS in 2017. Fennelien has a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from the VU University Amsterdam.

Debora Suparni is the Director of Yayasan Sion in Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia, for the period 2015–2020. She has a Master’s in International Diaconic Management from Protestant University in Wuppertal, Bethel, Germany. Formerly, she was the head of Community Development Division from 2010 to 2015, with the unit of Disaster Management Response as her responsibility. She has experience working in the area of disasters, such as the earthquake of Yogyakarta in May 2006, the Merapi eruption in 2010, and the tsunami in Mentawai on October 2011. She was appointed to the board of JAKOMKRIS (Christian community network in Indonesia for disaster management) from 2016 to 2019, then elected to the executive board for the period 2019–2022.

Mari Williams is a freelance researcher and writer. She has worked in international development for more than fifteen years and is passionate about producing resources that seek to equip communities and challenge decision-makers on issues related to climate change, environmental sustainability, poverty, and justice.

Sue Willsher is the Senior Policy Adviser at Tearfund, where she has worked for eleven years. She has done research and lobbying on a range of issues including clean energy and water and sanitation. She led on the publication of Tearfund’s “Restorative Economy” paper, which set out a vision for Tearfund’s global advocacy today.