INFEMIT Networking Team

Who are We?

As a fellowship, INFEMIT is led by a Networking Team, a group of theologian-practicioners from various regions that determines our strategies, coordinates activities, and connects INFEMIT to individuals, organizations, and networks in each region. As a network, we also seek to provide resources and connections that strengthen the global Church and encourage the reflection and practice done at a local level. Click on the map to discover people and resources

EUROPE

ASIA

NORTH AMERICA

MIDDLE EAST

CARIBBEAN

GLOBAL CONNECTIONS

AFRICA

LATIN AMERICA

SOUTH PACIFIC

Global connections

Here are some resources and friends from around the world that we commonly share from. Click on the different logos to discover people and resources

Latin America

Connections

Team Members

Partners

Latin America

Networking Team Members

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Carlós Martínez-García currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Latin American Theological Fellowship (FTL). In his research and writing, he focuses on the Church history and Protestantism in Latin America. He is the Pastor of an Anabaptist-Mennonite community in Mexico City and Director of the Center for Anabaptist Studies. Carlos is married to Barbara Lou Byer, and they have three daughters and a son, all young adults.

CARLOS MARTÍNEZ-GARCÍA

RUTH PADILLA DEBORST

Ruth is a well-known Latin American theologian who has been involved in leadership development and theological education for several decades. She passionately pursues ecological justice, authentic community, and participative, contextual forms of theological education. Ruth currently serves with Western Theological Seminary and CETI (Comunidad de Estudios Teológicos Interdisciplinarios). She and her husband, Jim, have more children and grandchildren than they can count! They live in the intentional community of Casa Adobe in Costa Rica.

Mexico

Costa Rica

RuthPadilla DeBorst

Curriculum Vitae

A wife of one and mother of many, theologian, missiologist, educator, and story-teller, Ruth Padilla DeBorst has been involved in theological formation for integral mission in her native Latin America and beyond for several decades. She is the Richard C. Oudersluys Associate Professor of World Christianity at Western Theological Seminary, and she also serves in leadership of the Comunidad de Estudios Teológicos Interdisciplinarios (CETI) and the International Fellowship for Mission as Transformation. Along with her husband, James, she lives in Costa Rica as a member of Casa Adobe, an intentional Christian Community with deep concern for right living in relation to the whole of creation. Her studies include a Bachelors in Education (Argentina), an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies (Wheaton College), and a PhD in Theology (Boston University).

CarlosMartínez-García

Carlos joined the Latin American Theological Fellowship in 1990 in Quito, Ecuador, at the invitation of Dr. C. René Padilla. Since then, he has participated in the activities of the nucleus in Mexico and in different consultations of the FTL at a continental level. He has published several articles in FTL sponsored books and magazines. He now serves in the FTL Steering Committee (2020-2024) and has been entrusted to represent the FTL within INFEMIT. He is also responsible for the Publications Commission of the fellowship. He prefers to be presented only as a reader who writes.

Fraternidad Teológica Latinoamericana (FTL)

The Fraternidad Teológica Latinoamericana (FTL) is a Christian movement intent on creating spaces for contextual theological reflection. Groups called “núcleos” meet in almost every country within Latin America and even extend to North America and Europe; and “Grupos Temáticos” meet virtually. Both of these groups are marked by their ecumenical nature, communal dialogue and commitment to the Kingdom of God and its expression in the life and mission of the Latin American church. We encourage you to visit the FTL's website to see how you can get connected. You can also follow the FTL on Facebook.

Latin America

Connections

CETI CONTINENTAL

MEMORIA INDÍGENA

Caribbean

Team Members

Caribbean

Networking Team Members

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Las Newman is the Associate Director for Lausanne Regions based in Kingston, Jamaica.

LasNewman

Jamaica

Las Newman

Curriculum Vitae

Dr. LASCELLES GEORGE NEWMAN, PhD, DD, JP. is the Global Associate Director for Regions in the Lausanne Movement for World Evangelization and a member of the INFEMIT Board, Inc and the INFEMIT Networking Team. He served as President of the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology (CGST) located in Kingston, Jamaica, from 2008-2015. A graduate of Tyndale University College, Toronto, and the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, he holds a PhD in Mission Studies from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies/University of Wales. His teaching and research interests are in Christianity and Social Change, Theology and Environment, and African and Caribbean Histories. He and his wife Margaret live in Kingston, Jamaica and have three adult children.

North America

Connections

Team Members

North America

Networking Team Members

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Al Tizon

Al Tizon is Lead Pastor of Grace Fellowship Community Church in San Francisco and Affiliate Professor of Missional and Global Leadership at North Park Theological Seminary both located in Chicago, Illinois (United States).

United States

Al Tizon

Curriculum Vitae

Al is a Filipino-American missiologist, activist, pastor, and professor who has been engaged in both the United States and the Philippines. Common threads that unify the roles he has occupied include integral mission, spirituality of mission, peacemaking, and how God’s people, the church, embody these things. Al currently serves as Lead Pastor of Grace Fellowship Community Church in San Francisco. He is also affiliate professor of missional and global leadership at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. He and his wife Janice live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where they enjoy living close to their four grown children and five grandchildren live.

North America

Connections

MISSIO ALLIANCE

American Society of Missiology

FREEDOM ROAD

Africa

Connections

Team Members

Partners

Africa

Networking Team Members

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Abeneazer Urga

Abeneazer G. Urga is an Ethiopian New Testament scholar and theologian who is contributing actively in the areas of New Testament, contextual theology, and missiology through theological education, publishing, and in various theological associations on the continent of Africa, particularly in East Africa. He strives to bring the disciplines of biblical studies and missiology together. He currently lectures in biblical studies at the Evangelical Theological College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and is adjunct professor at Columbia International University and the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology. He is married with two children.

Ethiopia

Abeneazer G. Urga

Curriculum Vitae

Abeneazer G. Urga (PhD, Columbia International University) has served as the department head for the MA in biblical studies, lectures in biblical studies at the Evangelical Theological College in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and is an adjunct professor at Columbia International University and Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology. He is a member of Equip International, SIL Ethiopia/International, and an associate member of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (SNTS). He is the author of Intercession of Jesus in Hebrews (Mohr Siebeck, 2023). He coedited Reading Hebrews Missiologically (William Carey Publishing, 2023), Reading 1 Peter Missiologically (William Carey Publishing, 2024), Reading James Missiologically (William Carey Publishing, 2025), and Reading Hebrews and 1 Peter from Majority World Perspectives (T&T Clark, 2024).

The African Theological Fellowship (ATF)

The African Theological Fellowship (ATF)/Fraternité Théologique Africaine (FTA) links members across the continent in a network of spiritual encouragement, theological reflection, Christian social action and service, and engagement with the religious, social and cultural forces shaping African societies. It comprises African Christians of evangelical persuasion, often in mainline denominations, committed to serving the Church in the African context.

Africa

Connections

THE WAREHOUSE TRUST

Europe

Team Members

Partners

Europe

Networking Team Members

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PAUL BENDOR-SAMUEL

Prof. Marcel Măcelaru is a Romanian theologian, whose interest in theological reflection that leads to transformative Christian praxis is fuelled by the understanding that genuine Christian living is about participation in the Missio Dei. Marcel teaches Biblical and Public Theology within “Aurel Vlaicu” University of Arad, Romania, and in various other international contexts. Marcel’s current research focuses on Biblical and theological depictions of identity, and the implications thereof for faith imaginaries active in contemporary public contexts.

Paul Bendor-Samuel is also the Director of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. He lives in the UK, and has a background working cross-culturally in the medical field.

MARCEL MACELARU

Romania

United Kingdom

Marcel Macelaru

Curriculum Vitae

Prof. Marcel Măcelaru, DPhil (Oxon), Dr.Habil., is a Romanian theologian, whose interest in theological reflection that leads to transformative Christian praxis is fuelled by the understanding that genuine Christian living is about participation in the Missio Dei. Marcel teaches Biblical and Public Theology within “Aurel Vlaicu” University of Arad, Romania, and in various other international contexts. Marcel’s current research focuses on Biblical and theological depictions of identity, and the implications thereof for faith imaginaries active in contemporary public contexts. Marcel has published 17 books and over 100 articles. His most recent publications include: For the Common Good (University of Arad, 2019), Theology and the Public Square (University of Arad, 2020), Studies in Biblical Theology (University of Arad, 2021) and Studies in Public Theology (University of Arad, 2021). As a member of INFEMIT, Marcel has edited the Transformation issue on “Christianity and the Refugee Crisis” (vol. 35, no. 2, April 2018), which includes studies presented at the Stott-Bediako Forum gatherings of 2016 and 2017.

Paul Bendor-Samuel

Curriculum Vitae

Paul’s greatest desire is to know God more intimately and to live in obedience to Him. He grew up in Brazil and West Africa and much of his working life has been spent in North Africa and Malaysia. Trained as a physician, Paul has served in mission leadership roles for the past 25 years. He is strongly motivated to build open relationships, manage well and influence strategically. Being a generalist, he has a wide range of mission theology interests, including organisational spirituality, rethinking mission and the realignment of cross-cultural mission. Paul is married to Liz and they have four sons, two daughters-in-law and two grandchildren.

Oxford Centre for Mission Studies

OCMS is an independent Christian charity, based in the beautiful and ancient city of learning in Oxford, England. Truly international in its leadership, fully interdenominational in its reach, and deeply evangelical from its roots to its mission, OCMS brings together members of the worldwide church under one roof to research, reflect and respond to challenges faced across cultures and in the varying economic, social and political contexts in which Christians worship and witness. For more than thirty years church leaders, mission and development professionals, and global Christian scholars have sought to better understand how to bring the transforming nature of their faith to effect change in the lives of those they serve. Whether through PhD level research, writing and publishing, cutting-edge mission consultations or individual guided research, the goal is to build reflective practitioners equipped to serve the church as it participates in God’s whole-life mission.

Middle East

Connections

Team Members

Middle East

Networking Team Members

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AntonDeik

Anton Deik is Associate Director of the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice at Bethlehem Bible College. Originally from Palestine, he now lives in Cochabamba, Bolivia with his wife and daughter. He holds a Ph.D. in New Testament studies from the University of Aberdeen and Trinity College, Bristol.

Bethlehem

AntonDeik

Curriculum Vitae

Tony Deik is the Associate Director of the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice at Bethlehem Bible College. He serves as Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the International Fellowship for Mission as Transformation and is a Research Associate at the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence (Bristol, UK). He holds a Ph.D. in New Testament studies from the University of Aberdeen and Trinity College, Bristol. A Palestinian Christian from Bethlehem, Tony was forced to leave his hometown in 2017 due to Israel’s apartheid policies. He currently lives with his family in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Tony is married to Sara Améstegui Deik, and they have a seven-year-old daughter, Nour Sofia.

Middle East

Connections

BETHLEHEM BIBLE COLLEGE

CHRIST AT THE CHECKPOINT

Asia

Connections

Team Members

Asia

Networking Team Members

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Varughese John

Varughese John is an Indian theologian who has been involved in Theological education for over two decades. He is a pastor-theologian balancing theological education with pastoral ministry. Varughese is currently the Dean of Faculty and the Dean of Doctoral Studies at the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS) in Bangalore, India. Varughese and his wife Mary have three children and they live in Bangalore.

India

Varughese John

Curriculum Vitae

Varughese John is the Dean of Faculty and the Dean of Doctoral Studies at the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS), Bangalore. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy in 2006 in the area of Kierkegaard studies as a Junior Research Fellow of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research, New Delhi. He was a postdoctoral Fellow with Langham International from 2016–20. Earlier he was a postdoc Kierkegaard House Foundation Fellow at the Howard & Edna Hong Kierkegaard Library (2010–11). Varughese is an associate with Oxford House Research, Oxford, and also serves on the International Advisory Board of the Hong Kierkegaard Library in Minnesota. In addition to the book, Truth and Subjectivity, Faith and History, he has authored several articles in academic journals and edited volumes. Varughese is an ordained minister of the St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India and is married to Mary, a psychotherapist, and they have 3 children. He enjoys jogging, Table Tennis, and volleyball.

Asia

Connections

SOUTH ASIA INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED CHRISTIAN STUDIES (SAIACS)

INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES IN ASIAN CHURCH AND CULTURE

South Pacific

Connections

Team Members

South Pacific

Connections

COMMON GRACE