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        <title>Christian Daily International | Bible & Theology</title>
        <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/bible-and-theology</link>
        <description><![CDATA[Discover insights on Bible and theology, from scripture study to Christian doctrine and global theological debates. Explore how believers interpret God’s Word and apply biblical truth in the life of the church today.]]></description>
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        <copyright>Christian Daily International © 2026</copyright>
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                <title><![CDATA[Lausanne releases free discipleship video series to connect everyday faith with global mission]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/lausanne-releases-free-discipleship-video-series-to-connect-everyday-faith-with-global-mission</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/lausanne-releases-free-discipleship-video-series-to-connect-everyday-faith-with-global-mission</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Michael Oh, global executive director and CEO of the Lausanne Movement, appears in a trailer for Becoming a Global Disciple, a free five-part video series connecting personal faith with global mission.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Lausanne Movement ]]>
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                                                                                        <media:description type="plain">
                                    <![CDATA[ Michael Oh, global executive director and CEO of the Lausanne Movement, appears in a trailer for "Becoming a Global Disciple," a free five-part video series connecting personal faith with global mission. ]]>
                                </media:description>
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                                                                                                                        <pubDate>Tue, 23 Jun 2026 04:02:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[The Lausanne Movement has released a free five-part video series designed to help Christians connect personal faith with global mission, according to the organization.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
The Lausanne Movement has released a free five-part video series designed to help Christians connect personal faith with global mission, according to the organization.
Becoming a Global Disciple, which launched June 22, offers short video episodes, discussion guides and devotional plans for use by churches, small groups, student ministries and individual believers. The resource is available in English and Portuguese at lausanne.org/globaldisciple, with French and Spanish translations expected within weeks.
The series grew out of a global listening process conducted in the lead-up to the Fourth Lausanne Congress, which identified deeper discipleship as one of the most significant gaps facing the church in fulfilling the Great Commission, the movement said.
"Following Jesus has always been deeply personal, but never merely private," said Michael Oh, global executive director and CEO of the Lausanne Movement. "The God who meets us in our daily lives is also the God who loves the world, gathers a global church, sends his people in mission, and calls us to live as one body in Christ."
The five episodes cover themes including the global church and its unfinished mission, prayer and cross-cultural learning, friendship and partnership across cultures, and the relationship between global and local discipleship. Each episode is paired with discussion questions, Scripture passages and practical next steps.
Contributors include voices from across the global church: Pearl Ganta, Desmond Henry, Janet Sewell, Joe Handley, Nana-Yaw Offei Awuku, Jurie Kriel and Jason Watson, alongside Oh.

Watson, Lausanne's director of content, said the series was built for ordinary church contexts. "Many church and ministry leaders care deeply about global mission, but they are asking how to help ordinary believers take meaningful next steps," he said. "Becoming a Global Disciple is a practical, accessible resource they can use without having to build a series from scratch."
Rather than framing global mission as the domain of missionaries or frequent travelers, the series is intended to help every believer see their daily life within the wider mission of God, according to the Lausanne Movement.
The resource can be accessed at lausanne.org/globaldisciple.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Pastoral burnout, AI, and micro-credentials among top agenda for ICETE's Mombasa gathering in 2027]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/pastoral-burnout-ai-and-micro-credentials-among-top-agenda-for-icete-s-mombasa-gathering-in-2027</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/pastoral-burnout-ai-and-micro-credentials-among-top-agenda-for-icete-s-mombasa-gathering-in-2027</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[At a house church in Durán, Ecuador, house church leaders study a theological education curriculum — an example of the grassroots, non-formal training ICETE aims to represent at its C27 global consultation in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2027.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ IMB ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ At a house church in Durán, Ecuador, house church leaders study a theological education curriculum — an example of the grassroots, non-formal training ICETE aims to represent at its C27 global consultation in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2027. ]]>
                                </media:description>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:37:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Pastoral burnout, artificial intelligence, micro-credentials and the recognition of prior learning are set to dominate the agenda when the world's leading evangelical theological education body convenes in Mombasa, Kenya, in April 2027 — signaling a field grappling with pressures that traditional seminary models were never designed to address.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Pastoral burnout, artificial intelligence, micro-credentials and the recognition of prior learning are set to dominate the agenda when the world's leading evangelical theological education body convenes in Mombasa, Kenya, in April 2027 — signaling a field grappling with pressures that traditional seminary models were never designed to address.
The International Council for Evangelical Theological Education announced the gathering, dubbed C27, during a June preparatory call, setting an April 5–9, 2027 date at the Kenyan coastal city.
For the first time in the organization's 46-year history, prospective attendees must be nominated rather than simply registered. Executive Director Dr. Michael A. Ortiz said the event will be capped at 600 delegates, with nominations already exceeding available places.
Julie Shoemaker, ICETE's Director of Communications and Connections, said the change reflects a deliberate effort to shape the room rather than simply fill it. The goal, she said, is to ensure adequate representation from the majority world, women, next-generation leaders, students and all sectors of theological education — formal, non-formal and informal — alongside voices from the church.
There will be no public registration link on the ICETE website. All prospective attendees must submit a nomination form, and invitations to register will be sent by approximately August.
The theme for C27 — "Understanding the times and knowing what to do" — comes directly from 1 Chronicles 12:32, a passage describing the sons of Issachar, who are commended for grasping the moment and acting accordingly. Dr. Marvin Oxenham, ICETE's Quality Assurance Director and Director of the ICETE Academy, said the verse captures what the organization wants the gathering to accomplish.
"There's the understanding of times component, and then there's the knowing what to do component," he said.
Oxenham said the understanding-the-times dimension of the consultation is intended to be driven by hard data and research rather than anecdote. Presentations will be expected to bring evidence that helps participants "become reflective practitioners," with that understanding then feeding into the second dimension: discernment and action.
Collaboration, he added, is a consistent goal of ICETE gatherings, and C27 will be no different.
Among the substantive topics already on the agenda is pastoral training, which Ortiz described as a pressing need — particularly in majority world contexts. Oxenham added another dimension to that concern, citing a recent Lausanne movement article reporting that more than half of pastors have at some point considered leaving ministry due to burnout. He said the data raises direct questions for theological educators: "Are we addressing the issues that lead to burnout, that lead to wanting to leave the pastoral ministry, and how are we addressing those in our training?"
Artificial intelligence will also feature prominently. Oxenham said it would be impossible to hold a consultation under the theme of understanding the times without a serious engagement with AI — a topic that has already generated significant debate across evangelical institutions. Christian Daily International has previously reported on warnings from theological educators that seminaries must balance AI's potential against the risk of bypassing genuine spiritual formation.
Additional topics will include quality standards across all three sectors, mega-trends in higher education — including the growing significance of mental health — micro-credentials, and, for the first time at an ICETE global gathering, the formal recognition of prior learning. Oxenham described recognition of prior learning as a key mechanism bridging formal and non-formal training, and said a separate consultation on the topic may follow C27.
On micro-credentials, Oxenham said a first cohort of providers — mostly from the non-formal sector — will have completed the certification process by the time the Mombasa gathering convenes and will be able to report on whether it is working for them.
ICETE has previously expanded its micro-credentialing offering to include a vocational track aimed at non-formal training providers, a development Christian Daily International has previously reported on as potentially reshaping the field.
Two major research initiatives will feed into C27's agenda. The first is a global student survey of approximately 60 questions, to be launched within weeks of the pre-call and distributed across formal and non-formal programs in multiple languages. The aim is to gather data from thousands of theology students across all regions.
The second is what ICETE is calling the Landscape Project — a mapping exercise covering the organization's roughly 70 member bodies, which together serve an estimated 500,000 people preparing for ministry globally.
Shoemaker described three components: mapping where members are working and whom they are serving, mining that data to identify duplications and gaps, and then convening members to act on what is found.
C27 is the third in a sequence that began with the C22 consultation in Izmir, Turkey, which focused on integrating formal and non-formal theological education, and continued with C25 in Albania, where the organization gathered data and published a document charting directions for the field. Ortiz described the series as a continuous body of work rather than a set of independent events, with impact teams, micro-credentialing and the landscape project all forming part of the same trajectory.
ICETE Virtual gatherings in July, August and September will address related topics before a second C27-focused preparatory session in October. Those interested in attending C27 or submitting relevant research data for consideration may contact ICETE at info@icete.info.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA['We are stronger together': WCC General Secretary Jerry Pillay on unity, persecution, Russia and the future of ecumenism]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/we-are-stronger-together-wcc-general-secretary-jerry-pillay-on-unity-persecution-russia-and-the-future-of-ecumenism</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/we-are-stronger-together-wcc-general-secretary-jerry-pillay-on-unity-persecution-russia-and-the-future-of-ecumenism</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Timothy Goropevsek]]></dc:creator>
                                                                                                                            <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/48/4823.jpg">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[WCC General Secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay during his exclusive interview with Christian Daily International at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ Christian Daily International ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ WCC General Secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay during his exclusive interview with Christian Daily International at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva. ]]>
                                </media:description>
                                                    </media:content>
                                                                            <pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 02:58:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[At the Ecumenical Centre on the Chemin du Pommier in Geneva — home to the World Council of Churches (WCC) since 1966 — Christian Daily International sat down with Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay for an exclusive and wide-ranging conversation.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
At the Ecumenical Centre on the Chemin du Pommier in Geneva — home to the World Council of Churches (WCC) since 1966 — Christian Daily International sat down with Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay for an exclusive and wide-ranging conversation. As General Secretary of the WCC, Pillay leads a fellowship of 356 member churches representing more than 600 million Christians across over 120 countries. It stands as one of the three primary world church bodies next to the Vatican and the World Evangelical Alliance.
Pillay, who began his tenure on Jan. 1, 2023, is the ninth person to hold that office since the body was founded in 1948. A South African theologian, ordained minister in the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa, and former dean of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Pretoria, Pillay has been formally involved with the WCC since 2006.
The topics covered in the conversation ranged from the historic demographic shift of Christianity toward the Global South, the deepening relationship between the WCC and the evangelical movement, the delicate management of theological tensions over sexuality and human dignity, the challenge of religious persecution, and the question of the Russian Orthodox Church's continued membership in the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine.
Christianity's Center of Gravity Has Moved South
The interview began with a focus on the fundamental shift that has reshaped global Christianity over the past few decades: the remarkable southward move of the faith's demographic center of gravity. When the WCC was founded in the aftermath of the Second World War, it was overwhelmingly an institution of the Global North — European state churches, North American mainline denominations, and their theological assumptions shaped its agenda, its language, and its self-understanding. That world, Pillay observed, has fundamentally changed.
"We are very mindful of the shift of Christianity to the Global South," he said, "and the WCC is very proactive in ensuring that we take a lot more of our epistemologies, our learnings, our theological insights and understandings and information from churches and church life from the context of the global south."
In his view, this is not merely a matter of demographics or representation. It reflects a substantive theological reorientation. At the WCC's 2022 General Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany, the body adopted a deliberate focus on decolonization. The goal, as Pillay described it, is to move beyond the inherited assumption that northern European theological frameworks are normative for global Christianity, and to ask instead what the global south's theologians and communities can contribute.
Part of what the south brings, he suggested, is a more holistic understanding of faith — one in which religion is not detached from economics, politics, or culture. "In the context of the global south, religion is not something that is separated from the way of living," he explained. "Culture, religion, politics, economics — everything in a sense is intertwined. And so, for a person believing in that context, faith speaks to everything."
He also noted that the southern voice brings a particular intensity around questions of justice. "Justice and unity have been big, but the focus on justice is a big issue for the global south because of historical experiences and the way life has been within that context itself."
Evangelicals Increasingly Open to Cooperation
Closely connected to the southward shift is another development Pillay took note of: an increasing openness to the WCC from evangelical and Pentecostal movements that for decades regarded the ecumenical movement with deep suspicion.
Historically, many evangelical churches kept their distance from the WCC, associating it with a perceived embrace of the "social gospel," progressive politics, and theological relativism. Pillay acknowledged that history. "In the past," he said, "there's been a lot of criticisms of the WCC because there was this view of the social gospel and politics and so forth."
But he argued that global crises — climate, conflict, inequality, and pandemic — have compelled a pragmatic rethinking. "The way the world has changed, and the big global issues has made many people realize that you cannot separate faith from life and politics and economics." The result, he said, is that the WCC is now receiving many of its membership applications from evangelical and even Pentecostal backgrounds.
They are drawn toward ecumenical cooperation as they discover common ground on shared concerns around social issues. "Many of them," he said, speaking of evangelicals who engage the WCC, "say, 'But we've been saying that too. Why can't we talk together?'"
Pillay himself maintains active relationships across traditional divides. He participates in the roundtable convened by the Pentecostal World Fellowship, recently received World Evangelical Alliance Secretary General Butros Mansour at the Ecumenical Centre, and deliberately seeks out spaces where conversations across traditions can occur.
"I believe that real ecumenism is on the ground," he said. "That's where people really live their ecumenical spirit at its best."
Managing Theological Tension Through a Consensus Model
A great diversity of member churches within the WCC's orbit, however, brings with it challenges — particularly around questions of human sexuality and the ordination of women. The fractures within some of the WCC's own member churches have made the challenge acutely visible.
The United Methodist Church recently experienced a formal split, with the theologically conservative Global Methodist Church departing over the denomination's evolving stance on same-sex marriage. The Anglican Communion is navigating its own rupture, with the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) having drawn a significant number of Global South Anglican churches away from the Canterbury axis over similar issues.
Asked directly how the WCC navigates such fault lines, Pillay acknowledged the tensions that the theological diversity of its constituency brings with it.
"Virtually every church has liberals and conservative people," he said. "It's not like we can just label one group being conservative and the other liberal." He pointed to churches within the fellowship as holding deeply conservative positions on sexuality and the ordination of women. "The WCC has a mixture of all of that."
The WCC's approach, as Pillay described it, is not to adjudicate between competing theological positions but to reorient the conversation toward shared commitments: the love of God, the dignity of every human person, and the example of Jesus. "When we talk from the perspective of justice, when we talk from the perspective of human dignity and rights and when we talk about the love that Jesus speaks about and the desire and the need to love people no matter what — those are the kind of things that we try to teach."
The WCC has also institutionalized a decision-making process designed to prevent theological disagreement from rupturing fellowship: the consensus model. Rather than majority voting, the WCC uses a card system — blue for disagreement, orange for agreement — that keeps disputed items in deliberation until sufficient consensus emerges. "We don't make a decision by majority vote. We make a decision by consensus," Pillay explained. "And of course there are people who disagree, but in the end, they may give consent for us to move on."
This approach, he argued, has allowed the WCC to hold together its 356 member churches across centuries of Christian tradition without experiencing institutional schism. "The mystery and the joy of coming together as God's people is really profound and overwhelming," he said. "Even in the midst of disagreements, we need to talk about what is our unity meaning in Christ, who brings us together and makes us one through the work of the Holy Spirit."
Political Polarization as a Key Challenge for Today’s Church 
When asked whether the WCC has noticed a movement within its membership toward either more conservative or more liberal theological positions in recent years, Pillay sought to avoid such labels.
He declined to characterize the overall movement as straightforwardly more conservative or more liberal, preferring to describe a trend toward "more engaged theological thinking" and a more open-minded approach to certain questions. However, he identified a complicating factor: the instrumentalization of religion by political actors.
"Politicians have entered into the fray and they are instrumentalizing religion for their own benefits," he said. "This kind of sense of exclusionary nationalism and politicization of religion has taken some steps backward because they have made the churches become more conservative in their thinking."
He pointed to the influence of both far-left and far-right political movements as destabilizing forces within church communities, producing a "big polarization" in which religious allegiances and political allegiances become deeply entangled. The WCC's response, in his view, is to insist on returning to the gospel itself as the orienting question: "The task of the church is to say, what does Jesus say? Let's not get influenced by any particular background or persuasion, but let's be true to the gospel message."
He acknowledged that this call is not always easy to receive, particularly in contexts where churches are closely bound to states or to political support structures.
Religious Persecution: What Lies at Its Roots?
Beyond the fractures within the church itself, the conversation then turned to another kind of pressure coming from outside. Pillay was asked how the WCC engages with the growing problem of religious persecution, particularly in countries like India and Nigeria where violence against Christian communities has intensified markedly in recent years.
Many evangelical advocates for the persecuted church — particularly organizations working in the religious freedom space — tend to view persecution primarily as an ideological or religious phenomenon: the systematic targeting of Christians because of their faith, driven by hostile religious or political ideologies.
Pillay, by contrast, emphasized the economic and political roots of what presents itself as religious violence. "Most of these violences and these persecutions are religiously inspired because they're motivated by the instrumentalization of religion," he said, "and politicians and governments use them wisely and wildly for their own advantage. Often these things are not religious issues. They are politics and economics under the disguise of religion — and that's the sad thing."
In Nigeria, where the WCC maintains an office in Kaduna specifically focused on Christian-Muslim relations, Pillay described what he sees as a pattern of mutual violence. "Christians are equally attacking Muslims in Nigeria," he said, while adding that "the other way around is worse where Muslims are attacking Christians." The WCC's approach there has been to create visible public partnerships between Christian and Muslim leaders — modeling at the institutional level the coexistence they hope to encourage at the community level.
On India, Pillay pointed to the political dimension of Hindu nationalist pressure on Christian communities. "You have a government leader, a prime minister who openly says he favors Hinduism at the expense of other religions," he said. "What happens in a context like that? People feel supported that they could do whatever they want to do and Christians are under attack. So, it becomes a politically based thing where people take advantage and resort to violence because political leaders do not proclaim a sense of harmony and working together."
When pressed specifically on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — the Hindu nationalist organization widely understood as the ideological parent of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and frequently cited by religious freedom advocates as a key driver of anti-Christian violence in India — Pillay acknowledged this reality: "Absolutely. Absolutely." He conceded that ideological movements of this kind are real and present. However, he maintained that even in such cases, a deeper structural analysis is essential. "If you go deeper, you will see most of these things are driven by other factors," including political power and economic competition.
His broader theological argument was that authentic religion, in any tradition, points toward peace rather than violence. "If we are inspired by true religion, then no matter what your religion, you should be talking peace," he said, adding that "Islam says it's a religion of peace. Judaism says it's a religion of Shalom. Christianity says it's a religion of peace. Hindus are among the most harmonizing, accepting religious people."
For Pillay, violence carried out in the name of religion thus reflects a distortion of faith, not its true character.
The Russian Orthodox Church: Dialogue or Exclusion?
Pillay was then asked about the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and its continued membership in the WCC since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 — and particularly since Patriarch Kirill's repeated invocations of the conflict as a "holy war."
Pillay described his personal visit to Moscow, where he met with Patriarch Kirill face-to-face and delivered the WCC's position in unambiguous terms. "I spoke to Patriarch Kirill and very clearly outlined the WCC view and policy on holy war," he said. "We simply laid out that we do not accept that. There is no justification for that whatsoever as far as we understand it. I said that to Kirill."
The WCC's 2022 General Assembly took the deliberate decision not to suspend or expel the ROC — a decision that has attracted considerable criticism, particularly from European churches, Ukrainian church bodies, and others who argue that continued membership amounts to complicity. Pillay defended that decision on strategic grounds: "At that time it was the right decision because no other people or bodies were able to speak with them apart from ourselves."
He acknowledged that the situation has not fundamentally changed. Patriarch Kirill no longer uses the phrase "holy war" explicitly, but "he uses other words to give the same kind of implications." The WCC, Pillay said, has "systematically" called Russia's war on Ukraine "immoral and illegal" and has stood firmly by the Ukrainian people. The ROC continues to participate in WCC governance — including representation on its executive and central committee — while remaining in theological and political tension with the Council's stated positions.
The criticism from European churches and civil society, Pillay said, while understandable, reflects an incomplete picture. "They don't understand the dynamics of relationships. They are one-sided and biased in their own position and we accept that, we understand that, but I do think you need to step aside and have the whole picture." He called for critics to engage the WCC in direct dialogue rather than public pressure campaigns, suggesting that those who have done so have sometimes moderated their public positions once they understand the complexity of maintaining prophetic engagement from within rather than exclusion from without.
He emphasized, however, that continued membership is not unconditional: "We will not prolong our view on any matter because we are quite strong about membership must be indicating that you follow what the WCC proclaims together."
Looking Ahead: Cautious Optimism with the Right Leaders
In closing, Pillay was asked where he sees the relationship between the ecumenical movement and evangelicalism heading over the next five to ten years.
"I think it will get stronger. I can see the spirit of ecumenism is a lot wider and broader and recognized and accepted," he said. He pointed to the urgency created by global crises, including environmental, geopolitical, and social, as a powerful driver of cooperation across traditional divides. "We cannot do it alone. We need to do it together. We are stronger and better together and the unity of Christians and believers in Christ will make a difference."
He acknowledged that doctrinal and cultural tensions will not disappear, and that the polarizing political, ideological, and theological forces that currently fragment the Christian world will continue to exert pressure. But he described a growing sector of evangelical Christians who, once they come to understand what the ecumenical movement actually stands for, are willing to identify with it. "Not all evangelicals, but a growing sector of evangelicals when they understand what being ecumenical is all about will also subscribe to say, 'Yeah, that describes me too.'"
The quality of leadership, he suggested, remains decisive. "When church leaders are in good understanding and good relationship, it does well to move it to a different level. You get the wrong leaders; they do more harm than good. Our task is to bring glory to God."]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Asian seminary journal calls for 'integrative approach' to forming whole-person Christian leaders]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/asian-seminary-journal-calls-for-integrative-approach-to-forming-whole-person-christian-leaders</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/asian-seminary-journal-calls-for-integrative-approach-to-forming-whole-person-christian-leaders</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[ATA Journal]]></media:title>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2026 06:14:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[A peer-reviewed journal published by the Asia Theological Association has released a volume focused entirely on how theological institutions across Asia are working to form students not just academically but spiritually, relationally, and personally — a challenge that leaders in the region say is growing more urgent.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
A peer-reviewed journal published by the Asia Theological Association has released a volume focused entirely on how theological institutions across Asia are working to form students not just academically but spiritually, relationally, and personally — a challenge that leaders in the region say is growing more urgent.
The Journal of Asian Theological Education and Spiritual Formation (JATES), published by the ATA and now indexed in the ATLA Religion Database, dedicated its 2026 volume to what the editors call "institutional approaches to holistic formation." The issue features six research contributions from seminaries in Taiwan, India, South Korea, and the Philippines, drawing on case studies, student surveys, and qualitative research.
The volume's editorial introduction, written by editors Dr. Justin Peter and Dr. Sooi-Ling Tan, identifies a central gap in how the region's seminaries operate: institutions widely desire to form whole persons but lack clarity about how to do it.
Drawing on an ATA-wide study led by researcher Allan Harkness, Peter and Tan write that the findings reveal both "a strong desire among member institutions to foster holistic formation and a corresponding lack of clarity in implementation." Harkness surveyed 47 ATA institutions across 14 countries and conducted focus groups with participants from 45 additional schools across 11 countries.
The editors describe holistic formation as the integration of three dimensions: cognitive or intellectual growth, ministry skills, and what they term "spiritual, relational, and personal formation." The last category — the least systematically addressed, according to their findings — encompasses a student's inner life, character, sense of calling, and capacity for healthy relationships.
Relational and spatial formation
Across the six institutions represented in the journal, several common patterns emerged. Each school had embedded formation within structured curriculum rather than treating it as an add-on to academic work. China Evangelical Seminary used family systems theory and counseling-based coursework to help students develop self-awareness and relational maturity. South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies used practicum placements paired with mentoring and reflective journaling. Torch Trinity Graduate University in South Korea built mentoring into its Master of Divinity program as a sustained relational context for personal and spiritual growth.
The editors also draw attention to what they call the "hidden curriculum" of space and environment — the formative role of shared meals, hospitality, prayer rooms, and retreats. These physical and communal contexts, they argue, shape students in ways that formal coursework alone cannot.
"Holistic formation is woven through curriculum, relationships, spaces, and practices," Peter and Tan write in the journal's editorial introduction.
The JATES findings align with broader concerns Dr. Theresa Lua, general secretary of the ATA, has raised in other settings about the direction of theological education in Asia. Speaking to Christian Daily International in March 2025, Lua said that while Asian institutions have increasingly taken ownership of training their own leaders, online learning has made it harder to provide the kind of in-person formation that discipleship requires. She argued that seminaries need intentional partnership with local churches to fill that gap. "When there is an intentionality in terms of the partnership and the mentoring, then churches are very much involved in that formation aspect," she said.
The 'academization' concern
At the Asia Conference on Church and Mission held in Manila earlier this month, Lua pressed the issue further. She warned that seminaries across the region have drifted toward what she called the "academization" of theological education — prioritizing intellectual credentialing in ways that widen the distance between institutions and ordinary congregations.
"There has been a call for decades to provide theological education for all those people in order to empower them to serve in a wide spectrum of ministries in the church and beyond," Lua told the Manila gathering, referring to lay believers. She argued the church's mission requires equipping the full people of God — lawyers, doctors, artists, and business professionals — to live as disciples in every domain of life, not only those who enter professional ministry.
The JATES special issue is partly a response to that gap. The project originated through a partnership between the ATA and the Global Spiritual Formation Project, funded by the Templeton Religion Trust. Thirty-three research abstracts were submitted by ATA member institutions; fourteen were selected for development; eleven completed the full process of peer review, external review, and professional editing. The first batch of papers appears in this volume, with a second installment to follow.
Lifelong discipleship as the frame
Harkness, summarizing the ATA study in the journal's lead article, draws four implications for institutions seeking to improve their formation programs. Formation should be oriented toward lifelong discipleship and service, not just preparation for first ministry roles. It needs to account for both globalization and contextualization — recognizing that Asian students live in complex, rapidly shifting environments. The impact of formation extends beyond individual students to their families, congregations, and communities. And effective formation, he argues, depends on community support and partnerships, both within institutions and with outside stakeholders.
Those conclusions echo what Lua told Christian Daily International last year, when she described her concern that seminaries can easily lose touch with what is actually happening in local churches. "We remind schools that their mission is not just for the seminary itself, but for the church and God's broader mission," she said.
The volume is available online as free download.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Family crisis in the church traced to a 'theological failure,' ACCM panel warns]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/family-crisis-in-the-church-traced-to-a-theological-failure-accm-panel-warns</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/family-crisis-in-the-church-traced-to-a-theological-failure-accm-panel-warns</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[From left to right: Dr. P.C. Mathew, Emmaloisa Malibiran-Salumbides, Ps. Grace Hee and moderator Mark McClendon during the family and childrens discipleship panel at ACCM 2026 in Alabang, Metro Manila, Philippines, June 11, 2026.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Christian Daily International ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ From left to right: Dr. P.C. Mathew, Emmaloisa Malibiran-Salumbides, Ps. Grace Hee and moderator Mark McClendon during the family and children's discipleship panel at ACCM 2026 in Alabang, Metro Manila, Philippines, June 11, 2026. ]]>
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                                                                                                <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/47/4767.jpg">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[Mathew warned that a church where leaders can abuse their families while holding positions of authority has created a damaging divide between the two institutions God ordained to work together: the family and the church.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Christian Daily International ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Mathew warned that a church where leaders can abuse their families while holding positions of authority has created a damaging divide between the two institutions God ordained to work together: the family and the church. ]]>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Drawing on her churchs experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hee said the lockdowns exposed what congregations had long overlooked: that fathers are the missing link in family discipleship, uniquely positioned to impart security, identity and a sense ]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Christian Daily International ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Drawing on her church's experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hee said the lockdowns exposed what congregations had long overlooked: that fathers are the missing link in family discipleship, uniquely positioned to impart security, identity and a sense of purpose to their children. ]]>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Malibiran-Salumbides called on churches to measure childrens ministry not by attendance but by whether parents are growing as disciple makers in their own homes.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Christian Daily International ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Malibiran-Salumbides called on churches to measure children's ministry not by attendance but by whether parents are growing as disciple makers in their own homes. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Sat, 13 Jun 2026 06:48:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Closing out the Asia Conference on Church & Mission on Thursday, a panel of evangelical leaders warned that one of the most serious failures in the global church is hiding in plain sight: the systematic displacement of parents as the primary disciplers of their own children.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Closing out the Asia Conference on Church & Mission on Thursday, June 11, a panel of evangelical leaders warned that one of the most serious failures in the global Church is hiding in plain sight: the systematic displacement of parents as the primary disciplers of their own children.
The panel was the final session of ACCM 2026, a gathering of 210 delegates from 25 nations held June 9–12 at GCF South Metro in Alabang, Metro Manila. Organized by the Asia Evangelical Alliance in partnership with the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, the conference carried the theme "Disciple or Die 3.0" — the third in a series of regional gatherings focused on building a measurable movement of disciple-making churches across Asia by 2033.
Three panelists — Dr. P.C. Mathew, Ps. Grace Hee and Emmaloisa Malibiran-Salumbides — each addressed the same underlying concern from different angles: that churches have, largely without intending to, relieved parents of their responsibility to form their children in the faith, and that the consequences are visible across denominations and cultures.
'The family crisis is first of all a theological crisis'

Mathew, who serves as global director of the World Evangelical Alliance's Family Challenge initiative and founder of UIM Family Research and Training Institute in South Asia, framed the problem in stark terms. Citing research from his home state of Kerala, India — where Christians make up 20 percent of the population but account for 50 percent of divorce filings in family courts — he said the data pointed to something deeper than a social problem.
"The church must face the truth that the family crisis is first of all a theological crisis," Mathew said, quoting theologian Albert Mohler. He argued that discipleship has long been measured by public performance — preaching, prayer, platform presence — while the home has been treated as a private matter beyond the church's concern. "He can abuse his wife but be an elder in the church," Mathew said. "He can be a very wrong parent, but he can talk about sharing the love of Jesus Christ."
Mathew outlined four reasons he believes family discipleship is essential to the church's mission. Family, he argued, was God's original mechanism for expanding the kingdom — citing Genesis 18, where God's covenant with Abraham is explicitly linked to Abraham teaching his household to walk in his ways. In the New Testament, he noted, Paul's criteria for church leadership were not theological credentials or gifts, but a man's faithfulness within his own home. "He was not assigning to any youth pastors and leaders," Mathew said. "The discipling of the next generation was entrusted first and foremost to parents."
He also connected family discipleship to both the Great Commission and the return of Christ, pointing to the closing verses of Malachi, where the forerunner's task is described as turning the hearts of parents to their children and children to their parents. "When Christ returns in glory, he's not merely looking for isolated individuals," Mathew said. "He desires to see households walking together in faith."
He closed with an image of an eagle: "One wing of this eagle is the church and the other wing is the home. If your one wing is flapping well, but your other wing is not flapping, the eagle will not fly high."
'Church is not about attendance. Church is about living life.'

Ps. Grace Hee, executive director of the Asia Evangelical Alliance Women Commission, offered a ground-level account of how one Malaysian congregation began rethinking its approach to families — and how slowly that change came.
The process started during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, when lockdowns forced families back together and made plain that church life had been built around programs rather than people. "I believe there was a major reset to the kingdom of God," Hee said. "It was there that we realized that church is not about attendance. Church is about living life."
Her church identified three convictions that reoriented its ministry. The first was that family units function like organs in the body of Christ — when they are unhealthy, the whole church suffers. The second was the particular importance of fathers. "For the longest time, physical development of our children, emotional development, education, spiritual formation — all standard to land on mother," Hee said, noting that fathers have been the missing link in many households. Research, she said, shows that fathers uniquely impart security, identity, morality and a sense of potential to their children. The third conviction was that the church and the home must function as one team, not competitors. "From a child's perspective, church has stolen my father, church has stolen my mother, and I've been left alone in my own home," she said. "It's not supposed to be that way."
The congregation's response involved four practical steps: building accountability within its pastoral leadership team, intensifying corporate prayer, making Sunday gatherings a place where scripture on family life was taught systematically, and developing what Hee called a "family lifecycle" map — a chart tracking major life transitions from birth to old age, with the church deliberately preparing families for each one.
That last element, she said, was designed to address a pattern the church had seen repeatedly: people drifting from faith not because of rejection but because no one had prepared them for the crossing. "When young working adults go into the working world without preparation, they fall into a hole," Hee said. "When our children's church age hits puberty, they are asked to go into youth. It's a big cliff. There's no one to help them transition."
'Our task is to build stronger little churches'

Emmaloisa Malibiran-Salumbides, who leads the Family Commission of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, addressed the practical implications for church leaders and cited a Barna Research finding that 42 percent of pastors wish they had spent more time with their own children while they were growing up. The statistic, she said, was not a condemnation of pastoral ministry but a warning. "If shepherds can become so consumed with caring for God's household that they neglect their own households, then the church must revisit the theology of ministry and leadership."
Drawing on 1 Timothy 3:4–5, she argued that Paul's linking of household management to church leadership was not incidental — it was the preparation. "Paul does not separate household leadership from church leadership," she said. "He sees the former as preparation for the latter."
She proposed four shifts in how churches view the home. The first was recognizing the family as the primary discipleship community rather than a recipient of ministry. The second was reorienting church resources toward equipping parents — pointing to a survey of gathered delegates that showed family discipleship scored just 2.7 out of five as a church priority, with correspondingly low budget allocations. "The measure of successful children's ministry is not attendance," she said. "The measure is whether parents are becoming more effective disciple makers to their own children."
The third shift was integrity between public ministry and private life, and the fourth was building a multigenerational vision, drawing on Psalm 78's image of one generation declaring God's works to the next.
Malibiran-Salumbides also addressed the question of broken homes, which had been raised during an earlier conference workshop. "It is difficult, it is far from ideal, but it is possible," she said, as long as at least one member of a family remains committed to moving it toward its God-given design. She illustrated the point with the story of a Filipino single mother who, after coming to faith and being discipled within a local church, raised children who became a pastor, a sports coach and a public servant — one of them an advocate for anti-corruption reform.
"If Jonathan Edwards was correct that every Christian family should be a little church," Malibiran-Salumbides concluded, "then our task as church leaders is not simply to build bigger churches. Our task is to build stronger little churches."
ACCM 2026 was the third gathering in a series convened by the Asia Evangelical Alliance under the "Disciple or Die" banner, following assemblies in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 2024 and near Seoul, South Korea in 2025.
Click here for the complete reporting on ACCM 2026.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[At ACCM2026, panel warns Asia's churches risk raising consumers, not disciples]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/at-accm2026-panel-warns-asia-s-churches-risk-raising-consumers-not-disciples</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/at-accm2026-panel-warns-asia-s-churches-risk-raising-consumers-not-disciples</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
                                                                                                                            <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/47/4744.jpg">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[The panels central argument, shared across all three speakers despite their different institutional vantage points, was that the Asian church has drifted into measuring success by the wrong indicators — attendance, budgets, events, academic credentials, ]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Christian Daily International ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ The panel's central argument, shared across all three panelists with their different institutional vantage points, was that the Asian church has drifted into measuring success by the wrong indicators — attendance, budgets, events, academic credentials, institutional reach — while the one thing Jesus actually commanded, making disciples, has quietly been sidelined. ]]>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Dr. Theresa Lua, General Secretary of the Asia Theological Association, called on seminaries to move beyond training professional clergy, arguing that theological education must equip the whole people of God — lawyers, doctors, artists and business people]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Christian Daily International ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Dr. Theresa Lua, General Secretary of the Asia Theological Association, called on seminaries to move beyond training professional clergy, arguing that theological education must equip the whole people of God — lawyers, doctors, artists and business people — to live as disciples in every sector of society. ]]>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Dr. Gustavo Crocker, General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene, warned that success in one generation can produce spiritual amnesia in the next when intentional discipleship is neglected — a pattern he called the Joshua syndrome.]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ Christian Daily International ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Dr. Gustavo Crocker, General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene, warned that success in one generation can produce spiritual amnesia in the next when intentional discipleship is neglected — a pattern he called the "Joshua syndrome." ]]>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Sharon Croos, Vice President of Asia Region of Compassion International, told conference delegates that externally thriving ministries can mask a deeper failure when leaders prioritize platform over spiritual formation.]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ Christian Daily International ]]>
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                                                                                        <media:description type="plain">
                                    <![CDATA[ Sharon Croos, Vice President of Asia Region of Compassion International, told conference delegates that externally thriving ministries can mask a deeper failure when leaders prioritize platform over spiritual formation. ]]>
                                </media:description>
                                                    </media:content>
                                                                            <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jun 2026 08:01:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Theological institutions are producing graduates ill-equipped for real-world ministry, denominational structures risk fossilizing into gatekeeping institutions, and Christian leaders across Asia are growing more exhausted than fruitful — these were among the pointed assessments delivered during the second-day morning panel of the Asia Conference on Church and Mission (ACCM), held in Manila.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Theological institutions are producing graduates ill-equipped for real-world ministry, denominational structures risk fossilizing into gatekeeping institutions, and Christian leaders across Asia are growing more exhausted than fruitful — these were among the pointed assessments delivered during the second-day morning panel of the Asia Conference on Church and Mission (ACCM), held in Manila.
The panel, moderated as an interactive session rather than a traditional forum, brought together three voices from distinct streams of Christian life and work: Dr. Theresa Lua, General Secretary of the Asia Theological Association; Dr. Gustavo Crocker, General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene; and Sharon Croos, Vice President of Asia Region for Compassion International. Each panelist addressed the conference theme of leadership as discipleship, and after each presentation, delegates broke into table discussions to process and respond to what they had heard.
Seminaries serving academics rather than mission
Lua opened with a challenge directed at theological institutions, including the one she leads. The core problem, she said, is that seminaries have narrowed their focus to training professional clergy — pastors, missionaries, and church workers — while largely neglecting the broader people of God.
"There has been a call for decades to provide theological education for all those people in order to empower them to serve in a wide spectrum of ministries in the church and beyond," Lua said. She described this narrowing as the "academization" of theological education — a drift toward intellectual credentialing that widens the gap between academic institutions and grassroots Christian communities.

Lua argued that the strongest seminaries worldwide are those closely connected to local congregations, designing curriculum around the actual questions and pressures people in those churches face. She cited what she called "whole life discipleship" as the necessary corrective: equipping believers to follow Christ not only in church activities but in every area of their working and public lives — as lawyers, doctors, government servants, artists and business people.
"The call is to see the whole of the people of God live out the whole of their lives under the lordship of Christ for the sake of the wholeness of God's mission for the whole world," Lua said. She added that theological education must become missiological in its orientation, with curriculum shaped by the real challenges churches face in their specific cultural contexts rather than inherited Western frameworks.
Following her presentation, delegates discussed at their tables what practical changes their seminaries or church contexts could implement within the week.
The Joshua syndrome and generational succession
Crocker, speaking from his experience leading what he described as the world's largest Wesleyan denomination, present in 166 nations, reached back to the book of Judges to diagnose what he called the "Joshua syndrome."
He drew from Judges 2:10, where a generation arose that neither knew the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. Joshua and the elders had witnessed God's acts firsthand, Crocker said, but they failed to ensure the next generation knew the Lord personally. The result was idolatry, compromise, and cycles of oppression.

"Success in one generation can lead to spiritual amnesia in the next if we neglect intentional discipleship," Crocker said. He argued this pattern threatens every denomination, movement, and local church today — and is not a relic of ancient history.
He contrasted the Joshua model with Paul's approach in 2 Timothy 2:2, where the apostle charged Timothy to entrust what he had received to reliable people who would in turn teach others. Crocker called this a "seven-generation chain" — from Jesus through the apostles to Paul, Timothy, faithful men, and beyond — and described it as the antidote to the syndrome. He pointed to the ruins of the seven early churches in Turkey as a cautionary illustration: physical structures did not survive, but the principle of generational transmission meant the church of Jesus Christ continued to flourish.
Crocker pressed the assembled leaders on their own accountability, noting that many in the room had been in leadership for more than 30 years. He estimated that the average age of Jesus' disciples was 26 — the same demographic as participants in the Arab Spring and various revolutionary movements — yet many current leaders withhold trust from younger generations until they are middle-aged.
"We went from being groundskeepers to gatekeepers," Crocker said. He drew a distinction between the two: a groundskeeper understands that Jesus builds the church and that the leader's role is to care for it, while a gatekeeper acts as though the church belongs to them. "If I am building the church, it's my church," he warned, "and hell is going to break loose."
Following his remarks, delegates returned to their tables to discuss what would need to change — within their denomination, local church, or sphere of influence — to move from the current state toward genuine generational discipleship.
Activity without intimacy
Croos, the final panelist, challenged leaders to examine not the metrics of their ministries but the spiritual condition of the people those ministries produce. Drawing on his years working across Asia with Compassion International, he identified a pattern he described as movements that remain externally successful while quietly losing their soul.
"The moment can become successful while slowly losing its soul," Croos said. "Performers may attract crowds, but only disciples can transform communities or nations."

He described a scenario familiar to many in the room: growing churches, rising budgets, packed events and strong social media engagement — alongside leaders who are physically active but spiritually depleted. The problem, he argued, is that modern leadership training has taught people how to build platforms without attending to their inner life in Christ.
Croos outlined five dimensions he considers essential to leadership understood as discipleship. The first is abiding — remaining in Christ as the foundation of everything else. "If leaders are not abiding in Christ, leadership eventually becomes performance," he said. The second is character, which he placed above competency as the primary leadership challenge. "The world celebrates gifting, but God develops character," he said, noting that many ministry collapses occur not because of lacking skill but because character failed to grow alongside influence.
The remaining three dimensions he named were multiplication — producing disciple-makers rather than followers; vulnerability — leading from honesty about weakness rather than protecting an image; and sacrifice — choosing others above self as the servant ethic of kingdom leadership. He acknowledged the particular pressure Asian cultural norms place on leaders to project strength and hide struggle, including a conversation he had heard about a senior denominational leader who felt unable to be transparent even with his wife.
Croos closed with a direct question to the room: "Who are people becoming because of your leadership? More dependent on Christ or more dependent on you? More like Jesus or more like the culture around them?"
After his presentation, delegates engaged in a final round of table discussion, identifying one concrete change they would carry back to their national, denominational, or church context.
The Asia Conference on Church & Mission 2026 runs June 9–12 at GCF South Metro in Alabang, Metro Manila, organized by the Asia Evangelical Alliance in partnership with the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches. The conference carries the theme "Disciple or Die 3.0" and is oriented toward a concrete goal: that by 2033, 20 percent of evangelical churches represented by AEA member alliances across Asia will become disciple-making churches.
Click here for the complete reporting on ACCM 2026.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Seminaries must balance AI's potential with the risk of bypassing genuine formation, theological educators warn]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/seminaries-must-balance-ai-s-potential-with-the-risk-of-bypassing-genuine-formation-theological-educators-warn</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/seminaries-must-balance-ai-s-potential-with-the-risk-of-bypassing-genuine-formation-theological-educators-warn</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Swiss Evangelical Alliances publishes working paper on the benefits and challenges of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for churches and Christian organizations, warning that ‘Pandora’s Box’ cannot be closed]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ SEA ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Unlike human learners, AI has no relationship with God, no capacity for faith or repentance, and no lived experience of the faith it can fluently describe — a distinction that lies at the heart of debates over its role in theological education. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Sat, 06 Jun 2026 07:50:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Two leading voices at the intersection of evangelical theological education and technology are calling on seminary faculty globally to grapple seriously with artificial intelligence as a force already reshaping how students learn, write and reason — while insisting that the spiritual formation at the heart of theological education is something no machine can replicate. At an international webinar titled "AI Disruption and the Future of Theological Education,” they examined both the practical and]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Two leading voices at the intersection of evangelical theological education and technology are calling on seminary faculty globally to grapple seriously with artificial intelligence as a force already reshaping how students learn, write and reason — while insisting that the spiritual formation at the heart of theological education is something no machine can replicate.
At an international webinar titled "AI Disruption and the Future of Theological Education,” they examined both the practical and theological dimensions of AI in seminary training.
The International Council for Evangelical Theological Education (ICETE) hosted the online session through its Technology and Innovation in Learning Impact Team, gathering more than 70 educators from different regions to hear from Dr. Walker Tzeng, executive director of the World Evangelical Theological Institute Association (WETIA) and vice president of Olivet University, and Dr. John Dyer, professor and dean of educational technology at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS).
Tzeng offered a technical overview of how generative AI actually functions, while Dyer worked from biblical narrative outward, tracing a theological framework for evaluating the technology. A structured conversation followed, covering five themes: practical teaching advice, student AI literacy, ethical concerns, beneficial and harmful uses, and implications for curriculum.
What AI is — and what it cannot be
Tzeng, who has worked in the field of theology and technology for nearly two decades and previously discussed AI's educational implications in an interview with Christian Daily International, opened by demystifying how large language models operate. Rather than thinking or reasoning in any human sense, he explained, these systems work by statistically predicting which word is most likely to follow the last — an iterative process that produces coherent-sounding text without genuine understanding behind it.
"It's taking relative mathematics and saying, this word is close to this word, and so I'm going to produce that word," Tzeng said. He illustrated the point with a simple example: if a model encounters the word "king," it calculates that "queen" is a statistically proximate token. "They're different but closer to one another," he said. "This is how AI really understands the nuances of your prompt."
That mechanical process, he argued, has a ceiling that has significant implications for theological educators. AI can synthesize large volumes of existing material rapidly and produce fluent, well-structured prose. It can also process ideas and correlate them across sources at speed. But it cannot originate thought, draw on lived faith, or produce the kind of writing that emerges from a person's relationship with God, their church community, and Scripture.
"When we do write something, we draw from Scripture, or personal experience, we have our spiritual life or church community or peer review," Tzeng said. "We are also people that repent. We have faith and we have love and we draw from that as we do our theology." AI, operating as a statistical engine, has no access to any of that.
Because AI cannot have a relationship with Jesus Christ, the content it generates will always be an imitation of human theological writing rather than an expression of it. "AI knowledge is always going to be a reconstruction, an imitation," he said. "When students create writing, they're not just reconstituting other people's work — they're also living out the embodied human life in their faith, and AI can't do that."
That, Tzeng argued, is not a reason to dismiss the technology but to understand it accurately. He described AI as a capable research assistant for someone who already knows their subject — useful for processing and synthesizing existing material, less useful for generating genuine insight. "It's great as a research assistant," he said. "If I really know my area and I'm putting something in and processing it, giving it instructions to process it, it really helps put all of that language together for us."
Interpreting the use of AI through the lens of the biblical narrative
Dyer approached the same questions from the opposite direction, starting with Scripture and tracing its implications toward the technological present.
He walked through five “chapters” in the overarching biblical story — creation, the image of God, the fall, the life of Jesus, and the new creation — drawing out what each contributes to a Christian account of technology and its risks.
In Genesis, Dyer pointed to the dual mandate God gives humanity: to fill the earth and to cultivate and tend it. He described these as two poles — innovation and preservation — that together define what responsible making looks like. Tool use and creativity are not responses to the fall, he argued; they are part of the original vocation. "When my kids were little, I would give them a box of Legos and ask them to make things, and I delight in the things that they make," Dyer said. "I think God in some ways delights in the things that we make as well."
On the image of God, Dyer outlined three categories that theologians have used: the substantive (the capacity to reason), the functional (the call to exercise dominion over creation), and the relational (the unique bond between humanity, one another, and God). AI, he noted, can appear to encroach on the first two — it can process information faster than humans and, in some cases, manage tasks more efficiently. That can feel threatening. But the third category, he said, remains untouched. "Our unique relationship with God is unique — AIs don't have that," he said. "As good as they are at mimicking a lot of what humans do, they aren't really a 'they' in that sense."
Dyer named a related pastoral concern: the risk of people forming what feels like a deep relationship with an AI system while their relationships with other people and with God quietly fall away. "We want to be able to work on that with folks and help them to move toward relationships with humans and with God," he said.
The fall introduces a recurring temptation: to use the things we make as substitutes for God rather than as expressions of faithful service. Dyer connected this directly to AI. "The temptation we face in some sense with AI right now is to have powers beyond our own ability — to be something more than human, and not to be God's image bearers, but to go beyond that." The same serpent who promised in Genesis that humans would become like God, he suggested, speaks in the aspirations of those who see AI as a route to transcending human limitation.
He also drew on Deuteronomy 22's instruction that builders place a parapet, a low guardrail, along the edge of flat-roofed houses, where people slept. The provision addressed potential accidental harm: those who build are responsible for thinking through how what they build might hurt someone. "In the age of AI, we want to be building guardrails as well," Dyer said.
He then pointed to Luke 2, where a young Jesus grows in wisdom through questioning and being questioned. Even the eternal Son of God, by taking on humanity, submitted to the ordinary process of human development. "What the temptation for us is in the age of AI is that some of the usage of technology can skip that growth and we get right to results, we get right to answers, but we don't become wise in that," Dyer said. "All we have is information."
He also noted that the Greek word for carpenter — tektōn, used of Jesus' earthly trade — is the root of the English word "technology." The maker of all things was, in his earthly life, also a craftsman: someone who learned from his heavenly Father and his earthly father, and who made things by hand.
Looking ahead to the final chapter of the biblical story, Dyer pointed to the new creation as further evidence that human making matters to God. The vision in Revelation of a holy city with its roads, gates, and the accumulated work of human hands suggests that what people create is not simply discarded at the end of history but redeemed and reformed within it.
"Human making is still a big part of us in the garden, in the era of sin, through redemption, and even in the future," Dyer said. "The things that we make and create are important to God so much that he wants to save our souls, resurrect our bodies, but also redeem and reform the things that we make." For theological educators, he argued, that vision gives human creativity, including the responsible use of technology, a weight and dignity that extends all the way to eternity.
Practical advice for classrooms and institutions
On the question of practical teaching, Dyer argued that the most important intervention theological educators can make is to keep the purpose of seminary formation consistently in front of students, before any conversation about AI policy begins.
He described a practice at DTS of telling prospective students that if they are coming primarily to acquire information, they can likely find it elsewhere for free. The real reason to come to seminary, he said, is to be transformed. "The goal is not to make the best chart of Leviticus possible," he said, describing a typical assignment. "The goal is to become the kind of person who's made a chart of Leviticus — who's really had that become part of who they are. So in that moment when you are with somebody who is hurting, you sort of just bleed out Bible and bleed out theology."
Dyer recommended that educators also distinguish between different types of AI use rather than addressing the technology in broad strokes. Generating ideas, producing an outline, drafting text, and editing text are meaningfully different activities. He suggested faculty specify which of these are permitted in their classrooms and why, and communicate the consequences clearly. At DTS, he said, the faculty has worked to give professors email templates they can use to open a dialogue with students whose work seems inconsistent — asking questions before making accusations.
Tzeng added a structural suggestion: reduce assignment word counts. Because AI excels at generating long, fluent essays, he argued, shorter prompts — 150 or 500 words rather than several thousand — force students to develop and compress their own thinking rather than delegating volume to a machine. "If you shorten it up, it actually forces the student to really dig in deep and form what they thought," he said. He also recommended that educators raise their grading standards on the assumption that students have AI available. If AI can produce text that reads at a doctoral level, grading students at their previous standard may no longer reflect what genuine mastery looks like.
He further suggested helping students understand how AI works at a basic level, arguing that students who grasp the statistical nature of these systems are less likely to over-trust them. Related to this, he called for practical training in recognizing AI-generated errors, or "hallucinations": "I think we probably need training sessions, a class or a seminar, in this area of just ways to pump out false information on it and then show the students, and then get them trained in a way that helps them recognize when it comes out false or not."
The ethics of presenting oneself as able
On ethical questions, Dyer reframed the issue beyond the historic issue of plagiarism, which he described as primarily a concern about theft of another's ideas, toward a different kind of dishonesty: misrepresenting one's own capabilities.
"In the age of AI, probably what we're talking about more is presenting yourself as able to do something that you really can't do," he said. "If you're saying, 'I'm able to synthesize this idea' or 'I'm able to write this paper' when you really can't, that's where I think we're crossing an ethical boundary."
He applied the same logic to the professors. Using AI to grade student work without disclosing it means educators are presenting themselves as doing something they are not.
DTS has also been working through a case that illustrates the complexity: the seminary offers courses in English, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic. For some language communities it uses subtitles on English-language recordings. When Dyer's team began experimenting with AI voice generation as a substitute for subtitles, it created a situation where a professor appeared to be speaking fluently in a language they do not know.
"If we're asking our students not to present themselves as able to do something they can't, but then we're having a professor being translated into another voice and literally presenting themselves as doing something they cannot do, that has some real conflict there," Dyer said. He added a further concern: relying on AI-translated English-language professors could slow the development of theologians who are native speakers of those languages — a cost the wider church would eventually bear.
Tzeng named AI-generated citations as the most widespread integrity problem he has observed. Because of how large language models work, he explained, they cannot reliably produce accurate references. When asked to generate a literature survey with citations, an AI will often fabricate sources, misattribute quotations, or cite real works incorrectly. "It'll even take a quotation and make it so that it's not exactly what the author said," he said. "And so in that sense, you're not properly quoting that."
Where AI helps, and where it distorts
Both speakers identified areas of genuine benefit. Dyer described the shift from search-engine-based research to conversational AI as a significant change in how students and scholars access information — one that can be productive, provided the tools being used link to verifiable sources. He described practical automation uses at DTS: extracting data from PDFs into usable formats, and drafting initial replies to high volumes of student emails during registration periods. In the second case, a human reviews the AI-drafted response before it is sent, reducing administrative load while preserving human judgment at the point of contact with students.
"We're able to serve our students better," he said. "Paying a little bit of money for an AI subscription versus an entire person in those really high moments — we're actually reducing the cost of education as a whole."
Tzeng noted that AI has been particularly useful for international students writing in English as a second language, helping them produce cleaner prose than they might otherwise manage. He was quick, however, to identify a corresponding harm: many of those same students now spend more time, not less, working on their writing as they end up focusing on refining AI-generated text rather than developing their own voice. The result can become visible when those students preach. "If you are giving a sermon, you should really have your own voice in it," he said. "But someone's delivering a sermon and it just sounds like AI as they're delivering it — it's not very good."
Dyer framed the beneficial and harmful uses of AI in terms of a spectrum running from full automation on one end to full preservation on the other. Tasks that are purely administrative or mechanical can appropriately be automated; tasks that form the person doing them should be protected.
He argued that theological education, as a discipline, belongs largely on the preservation side of that spectrum, particularly while students are still developing foundational skills. "When we move over into automation, that's where we start to lose a skill because we're giving that over to a machine to do," he said. The hard work of theological formation, in his view, is exactly the kind of labor that should not be made easier.
Curriculum and the decade ahead
On longer-term curriculum implications, Dyer maintained that the core disciplines of theological training, such as biblical literacy, synthesis, discernment, pastoral judgment, are the ones that matter most and are least amenable to automation.
"When you're facing someone in a hospital and they're asking you a difficult question, you can't turn to GPT in that moment," he said. "The goal of our instruction is love," he added, citing Paul's statement in 1 Timothy. "It is not papers."
The challenge is keeping the main purpose of formation in front of students even while acknowledging that once they are in ministry, AI tools may genuinely help them work more efficiently. The distinction he drew is between the developmental period, where the discipline of doing hard things matters, and vocational practice, where appropriate automation of secondary tasks frees time for direct ministry.
Tzeng suggested that emerging "agentic AI" (systems capable of completing multi-step tasks autonomously) could eventually assist with the burden of grading, which he described as one of the most time-consuming aspects of faculty work. An agentic system could potentially evaluate a student paper multiple times using different parameters and average the results, giving faculty a richer picture of the work.
He also offered a measure of reassurance for theological educators who may feel overwhelmed by the pace of change: his research suggests that theology, along with philosophy, is among the disciplines much less exposed to AI disruption compared to fields like mathematics or computer programming. The reason, he argued, connects to the nature of theological knowledge itself. "We gain our knowledge from God," he said. "We don't gain knowledge just from reiterating what everyone else is doing."
A tool, not a replacement
The webinar is part of the ongoing work of the Technology and Innovation in Learning Impact Team within ICETE. Tzeng, who serves on the group's steering committee alongside David Turnbull, who moderated the session, and others, described its aim in his earlier interview with Christian Daily International as equipping theological educators for a post-digital world. They seek to do that by providing practical tools as well as fostering the theological reflection needed to use those tools wisely.
Following the presentations, participants moved into smaller breakout groups to discuss how the issues raised applied in their own institutional contexts. The session's recording will been made available for educators who were unable to attend.
For Tzeng, the essential starting point has not changed from what he said in the previous interview with Christian Daily International: clarity about what AI actually is must come before any decision about how to use it.
"A lot of people interact with AI as if it's a human," he said at that time. "But it's not — it's a tool. And we, as people made in God's image, have the responsibility to use it well."]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[OCMS taps first director for Regnum Books to widen Global South scholarship]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/ocms-taps-first-director-for-regnum-books-to-widen-global-south-scholarship</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/ocms-taps-first-director-for-regnum-books-to-widen-global-south-scholarship</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Angus Crichton, newly appointed director of Regnum Books, the publishing arm of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ OCMS ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Angus Crichton, newly appointed director of Regnum Books, the publishing arm of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:39:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Regnum Books, the publishing arm of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, has appointed Angus Crichton as its first dedicated director, a move the organization says marks a new stage in its development as a platform for theological scholarship from the Global South.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Regnum Books, the publishing arm of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, has appointed Angus Crichton as its first dedicated director, a move the organization says marks a new stage in its development as a platform for theological scholarship from the Global South.
The appointment ends an arrangement in which OCMS Executive Director Paul Bendor-Samuel oversaw Regnum alongside his broader responsibilities at the center. Bendor-Samuel will remain in his OCMS role while Crichton takes on day-to-day leadership of the publishing operation on a part-time basis, according to an announcement from the organization.
Crichton brings more than two decades of experience in Christian publishing, with a particular focus on Christianity in Africa. Most recently, he served as Global Advocacy Manager at SPCK and has been involved in publishing projects in Uganda and across Anglophone Africa. He also held a research associate post at the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide, where he studied the early history of Christianity in Uganda and worked to make archival materials more accessible to researchers in the country.
His background spans research, teaching, and publishing partnerships with theological colleges and scholars across the African continent.
Bendor-Samuel said Crichton's appointment comes at a significant point for the imprint. "He brings extensive publishing expertise, deep relationships across the global Church, and a shared commitment to ensuring that voices from the Majority World are heard, valued, and strengthened," Bendor-Samuel said in the OCMS announcement.
Founded as an academic imprint connected to OCMS, Regnum publishes monographs, edited volumes, and shorter works aimed at making contextually grounded theological research available to a wider readership. The press has sought to give a platform to writers from regions where Christianity is expanding rapidly but where access to mainstream academic publishing remains limited.
Crichton said he sees the role as an opportunity to extend that work. "I look forward to building on that foundation through partnership, widening access, and helping bring important voices and research to readers across cultures and contexts," he said, according to the announcement.
The OCMS, based in Oxford, describes its mission as equipping individuals and institutions for theological research while fostering dialogue between academics and practitioners in the global church.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[OneHope president responds to papal AI encyclical, calls on churches to engage next generation]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/onehope-president-responds-to-papal-ai-encyclical-calls-on-churches-to-engage-next-generation</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/onehope-president-responds-to-papal-ai-encyclical-calls-on-churches-to-engage-next-generation</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Imaginary Friend]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Pheniti/Adobe Stock ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Children's use of AI tools is reshaping how they learn, form their identity and understand what it means to be human, according to OneHope president Rob Hoskins. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 04 Jun 2026 08:52:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[The head of a global children's ministry is urging Christian leaders worldwide to take an active role in shaping how artificial intelligence influences the formation of young people, responding to a major Vatican document on the topic.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
The head of a global children's ministry is urging Christian leaders worldwide to take an active role in shaping how artificial intelligence influences the formation of young people, responding to a major Vatican document on the topic.
Rob Hoskins, president of OneHope — a ministry that says it has reached more than 2 billion children with the Gospel since 1987 — released a statement this week welcoming Pope Leo XIV's encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, which addresses the theological and ethical dimensions of artificial intelligence. Hoskins said the document names what he described as a crisis that is "not technological, but anthropological and spiritual."
"The deepest questions emerging from the AI age are not ultimately technical questions, but theological questions," Hoskins wrote. "They are questions of dignity, purpose, truth, formation, and the story we believe our lives are part of."
Hoskins said he was invited by AI company Anthropic to attend a meeting with researchers, ethicists and technology developers, where he said he was struck less by the sophistication of the technology than by its moral implications.
In his statement, Hoskins argued that artificial intelligence will inevitably reflect the values of those who build and deploy it, and that the church has a responsibility to contribute to that conversation. He described the encyclical's warning against technology that seeks to transcend or redefine human identity as something he affirms.
"Human beings are not problems to be optimized away," he wrote. "We are image bearers of God, created for relationship with Him and with one another through Jesus Christ."
A formation crisis already underway
The core of Hoskins' concern is that AI systems are already shaping children — with or without the church's involvement. He warned that the values being embedded in those systems today will determine how billions of young people learn, think and understand their own humanity for generations to come.
Hoskins called on church leaders not to wait until they feel fully equipped to respond. Formation, he wrote, "is happening right now" in the absence of pastoral and parental voices, and it will not pause for the church's readiness.
He argued that what children need is not primarily guidance on screen time limits, but a theological framework — a "robust, Scripture-rooted understanding" of their identity as image-bearers of God, their purpose as people called to love and serve, and the resilience to hold onto truth when competing voices multiply.
To pastors and ministry leaders
Hoskins called on pastors and youth ministers to treat the question of AI and human identity as a discipleship issue, not a technology issue. He urged them to address it from pulpits, incorporate it into classroom teaching and weave it into existing discipleship structures.
His concern is that children are being formed by AI systems in ways that go beyond screen exposure — systems that, he argued, carry embedded assumptions about identity, truth and what it means to be human. Without a corresponding theological grounding, he wrote, young people lack the tools to evaluate those assumptions critically.
Hoskins framed digital discernment as inseparable from deeper theological formation. Teaching children to navigate AI, in his view, is not a supplementary topic but "a foundational part of discipleship" in the current era — one that requires helping young people understand concepts such as embodiment, community and human dignity through a scriptural lens.
To parents
Hoskins emphasized that parents are more influential in a child's formation than any platform, model or algorithm. No technology company, he wrote, however sophisticated, can replicate what God has entrusted to a parent.
He urged parents to be present and to ask substantive questions about what their children are encountering — not only in social media but in AI tools and digital environments that are actively shaping how children see themselves. He called for space within family life for conversations about faith, identity, truth and human flourishing that only a parent can initiate.
"The greatest gift you can give your child in the age of AI is a parent who is fully, unhurriedly, irreplaceably there," he wrote.
To technology developers
Hoskins also directed specific recommendations to the technology industry. He called on developers to design AI systems for human flourishing rather than dependency, to be transparent about the values embedded in their products, and to actively invite faith communities into dialogue — not as a courtesy, but as a substantive contribution to how AI is built.
He acknowledged that many in the technology sector already recognize the ethical weight of what they are building, and said he had been encouraged by technology leaders who have expressed genuine openness to engaging faith perspectives. But he said the standard must be grounded in human dignity rather than metrics or market share, and that children in particular must be protected by design.
Church's role
Finally, Hoskins argued that the global Church is uniquely positioned to contribute to the AI conversation, carrying two thousand years of accumulated wisdom on questions of virtue, formation, community and the meaning of human life — questions he said are now at the center of public debate about artificial intelligence.
The current moment is an opportunity for the Church to serve, he said, adding that he is personally committed to helping bridge the conversation between faith communities and the technology sector.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Evangelicals 'distant and remote' to Pope Leo XIV, evangelical theologian writes]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/evangelicals-distant-and-remote-to-pope-leo-xiv-evangelical-theologian-writes</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/evangelicals-distant-and-remote-to-pope-leo-xiv-evangelical-theologian-writes</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[The newly elected Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV is seen for the first time from the Vatican balcony on May 8, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Christopher Furlong/Getty Images ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ The then-newly elected Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV is seen for the first time from the Vatican balcony on May 8, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Fri, 22 May 2026 06:22:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[An Italian evangelical pastor and theologian has offered a wide-ranging assessment of Pope Leo XIV's first year in office, describing a pontiff who has emerged as a combative global voice on peace while carefully managing divisions within the Roman Catholic Church.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
An Italian evangelical pastor and theologian has offered a wide-ranging assessment of Pope Leo XIV's first year in office, describing a pontiff who has emerged as a combative global voice on peace while carefully managing divisions within the Roman Catholic Church.
Writing for Vatican Files, Leonardo De Chirico — pastor of Breccia di Roma church and director of the Reformanda Initiative, an organization that equips evangelical leaders to engage with Roman Catholicism — said it remains too early for a definitive verdict on Leo's papacy but that certain patterns are now clearly visible.
De Chirico, who holds a doctorate from King's College London and has written extensively on post-Vatican II Catholicism, said the most striking development of Leo's first year has been his willingness to engage in direct, unfiltered public confrontation — most notably with U.S. President Donald Trump.
According to De Chirico, Leo's criticism of the Trump administration's handling of undocumented migrant deportations set the stage for a broader clash over the war in Iran. The pope has responded to Trump's attacks directly rather than through traditional Vatican diplomatic channels, a choice De Chirico described as unexpected given Leo's otherwise reserved and controlled temperament.
"For months now, the Trump vs. Leo dynamic has dominated the global political narrative, casting the pope as Trump's ultimate opponent in the name of 'peace,'" De Chirico wrote. He noted that Leo's popularity has grown considerably among secular audiences as a result.
Leo's international travel — to Turkey, Lebanon and across Africa — has reinforced what De Chirico characterized as contemporary Catholicism's focus on the Global South, where the Catholic Church is navigating competition from both Islam and growing evangelical movements.
Internal balancing act
Within the Catholic Church itself, De Chirico said Leo has acted as a pragmatic bridge-builder rather than a reformer or a traditionalist defender. Francis, his predecessor, left behind unresolved tensions over "synodality" — a contested vision of shared church governance — and a church marked by significant internal conflict.
In response, De Chirico wrote, Leo has sought to lower the temperature: holding a firm line on questions such as same-sex unions without breaking with more progressive factions, and moderating enthusiasm for synodality without extinguishing it. No sweeping appointments to senior church positions have been made.
"On the domestic front, Leo has proven himself to be a seasoned and experienced political figure," De Chirico wrote, describing him as someone focused on preserving Catholic institutional integrity rather than driving change.
Distant from evangelicals
De Chirico's analysis in Vatican Files gives particular attention to Leo's ecumenical priorities — and what he sees as evangelicals' effective absence from them.
He wrote that Leo's ecumenical focus tilts toward Eastern Orthodoxy and the Oriental Churches, with a secondary interest in Islam, while liberal Protestant bodies have received a cooler reception. As evidence, he pointed to what he described as a bureaucratic welcome given to the Archbishop of Canterbury during a visit to Rome.
As for evangelicals, De Chirico said they barely register in Leo's thinking. Unlike Pope Francis, who maintained personal friendships with evangelical leaders in Argentina, Leo is said to have cultivated no such relationships — a pattern that reportedly predates his election and goes back to his time as bishop in Peru.
De Chirico described Leo's theological framework as a Catholic Augustinianism shaped by the post-Vatican II tradition, drawing on themes of peace, grace and Mariology.
Vatican Files is a project of the Reformanda Initiative, which is based in Rome and works to help evangelical churches understand and engage with Roman Catholic theology and practice.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[ACTEA restructures into three language-based councils to strengthen theological training across Africa]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/actea-restructures-into-three-language-based-councils-to-strengthen-theological-training-across-africa</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/actea-restructures-into-three-language-based-councils-to-strengthen-theological-training-across-africa</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[David Tarus, executive director of the Association for Christian Theological Education in Africa, addresses participants during the ACTEA General Assembly marking the organization’s 50th anniversary.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Courtesy of ACTEA ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ BISHOFTU, Ethiopia — David Tarus, executive director of the Association for Christian Theological Education in Africa, addresses participants during the ACTEA General Assembly marking the organization’s 50th anniversary. The gathering brought together theological educators from across Africa to discuss expanding leadership training as rapid church growth continues to outpace theological education capacity on the continent. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2026 12:50:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Africa's main evangelical theological accreditation body has voted to reorganize itself into three distinct language-based councils, a change its leaders say is designed to close a long-standing gap in service to French- and Portuguese-speaking institutions across the continent.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Africa's main evangelical theological accreditation body has voted to reorganize itself into three distinct language-based councils, a change its leaders say is designed to close a long-standing gap in service to French- and Portuguese-speaking institutions across the continent.
The Association for Christian Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA) announced the restructuring following its General Assembly and 50th Anniversary gathering in Addis Ababa, held March 4-12. Delegates voted to divide the organization into three arms: the Council for Anglophone Theological Institutions (CATI), the Conseil des Institutions Théologiques de l'Afrique Francophone (CITAF) and the Conselho das Instituições Teológicas Lusófonas (CITEL). Each council will operate under a shared continental secretariat, a single board and one General Assembly, all within the broader structure of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA).
The decision marks a significant shift for an organization that, despite a founding vision of trilingual, continental reach, had come to be seen primarily as an Anglophone body. ACTEA Executive Director Dr. David Tarus acknowledged in an announcement to the ACTEA community that Francophone and Lusophone institutions had not received consistent support over the decades.
"Despite this trilingual heritage and genuine efforts, ACTEA did not serve its Francophone and Lusophone constituencies as fully and consistently as it should have," Tarus wrote.
The restructuring carries particular weight given the scale of the training gap facing African churches. Church growth across Africa has far outpaced the capacity of theological institutions to train pastors and ministry leaders — a crisis that affects congregations in both urban and rural areas. Tarus had previously told CDI that many African churches are led by pastors with little or no formal theological training, and that seminaries and Bible colleges have struggled to expand fast enough to meet demand.
The new structure gives formal standing to CITAF, the Francophone council, which has operated for more than two decades and supports over 200 theological institutions and Christian universities in Francophone Africa. Tarus said CITAF's experience, networks and relationships will now be integrated directly into ACTEA's continental work. The Anglophone and Lusophone councils are still to be constituted.
Founded in March 1976 as a project of the AEA's theological education commission, ACTEA was established to provide accreditation and quality assurance for evangelical seminaries and Bible colleges at a time when formal accreditation systems were limited across much of Africa. As Christian Daily International reported, the organization's 50th anniversary assembly in Ethiopia drew representatives from theological institutions in 31 countries and included discussion of how to expand training without weakening academic or biblical standards.
Tarus framed the restructuring in ecclesiological terms, citing Ephesians 4:5-6 and invoking the unity Christ prayed for as the foundation for the new structure.
The Anglophone and Lusophone councils have yet to be formally established, leaving the full implementation of the new structure as a task for the coming period.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[United Bible Societies marks 80th anniversary with declaration for future generations: 'anchor of enduring values, source of unchanging hope']]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/united-bible-societies-marks-80th-anniversary-with-declaration-for-future-generations</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/united-bible-societies-marks-80th-anniversary-with-declaration-for-future-generations</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Dirk Gevers, Secretary General of United Bible Societies, addresses the fellowships 80th anniversary gathering in Jakarta, May 2026.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Photo courtesy of United Bible Societies ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Dirk Gevers, Secretary General of United Bible Societies, addresses the fellowship's 80th anniversary gathering in Jakarta, May 2026. UBS issued a global declaration at the event pledging renewed commitment to Scripture access for future generations. ]]>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Representatives of United Bible Societies global fellowship gather in Jakarta, May 2026, for the organizations 80th anniversary event]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Photo courtesy of United Bible Societies ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Representatives of United Bible Societies' global fellowship gather in Jakarta, May 2026, for the organization's 80th anniversary event, where 156 Bible Societies issued a landmark declaration pledging renewed commitment to Scripture access for future generations. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Wed, 20 May 2026 02:55:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[The United Bible Societies marked eight decades of global ministry this month with the release of a landmark declaration pledging renewed commitment to making Scripture accessible to younger generations worldwide.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
The United Bible Societies marked eight decades of global ministry this month with the release of a landmark declaration pledging renewed commitment to making Scripture accessible to younger generations worldwide.
The fellowship of 156 Bible Societies issued "The Bible for Tomorrow: A Global Commitment to Future Christian Generations" during its anniversary gathering in Jakarta, held May 6–11, alongside a parallel online event drawing representatives from Bible Societies across the globe.
The declaration reaffirms what UBS describes as its founding vision — "the Bible for everyone" — while responding to what the organization calls a period of heightened spiritual openness among young people, even as many report feeling overwhelmed by global instability and moral uncertainty.
Although UBS was formally established in May 1946 in the aftermath of World War II, it traces its roots to the early 19th century and a global Bible movement spanning more than 200 years. Today the fellowship operates in more than 240 countries and territories and, according to the organization, has contributed to over 70% of the world's Bible translations — enabling more than 6.2 billion people to access Scripture in their primary language.
Secretary General Dirk Gevers said the anniversary was an occasion for both gratitude and forward-looking commitment. "We give thanks for God's faithfulness and for the countless people who have made the Bible available across languages, cultures, and generations since the beginning of the 19th century, when our global Bible movement started," he said. "We believe the Bible continues to offer hope, truth, and direction for young people and for all who seek meaning in a complex world."
The declaration was presented to young leaders from within the fellowship, including Albert Barrero of the Colombian Bible Society and Sonia Irankunda of the Bible Society of Burundi, as well as youth representatives of the Indonesian Bible Society — a gesture the organization said was intended to symbolize its commitment to the generations ahead.

A generation searching for direction
The declaration's opening describes a world marked by "profound conflict, uncertainty, and moral confusion," with many young people feeling, in its words, "unanchored" and unsure where to turn. Yet UBS said its member societies have observed a corresponding rise in spiritual curiosity, with people in both religious and secular societies showing greater openness to engaging with the Bible and Christian communities.
"The Bible offers an anchor of enduring values, a source of unchanging hope, and a narrative that speaks into the deepest questions of the human search for truth, belonging, justice, and peace," the declaration states. "The Bible connects people to God through Jesus, the Word of God incarnate."
UBS said Bible Societies globally have seen increased engagement through youth-focused programs, finding that Scripture provides grounding for young people navigating questions of identity and purpose.
Six commitments
The declaration outlines six commitments the fellowship is making to future generations. The first is spiritual dependence — seeking God's guidance through Scripture, prayer and the Holy Spirit in all the organization undertakes.
The second commitment is universal access: making the Bible available to all, regardless of geography, literacy or economic circumstances. This includes expanding translation work and distribution in print, digital, audio, braille and sign language formats to reach those who have historically lacked access.
Third, UBS commits to fostering deep Bible engagement — encouraging reflection, discipleship and community practices that nurture what the declaration calls "lifelong encounters with God." Fourth, the fellowship pledges to honor cultural and contextual diversity, supporting translations and formats suited to local realities around the world.
The fifth commitment is to serve churches directly, equipping them for what the declaration describes as their "God-given mission" through interconfessional ministry. The sixth is holistic mission — integrating Bible engagement with acts of compassion, healing and justice, in what the declaration calls "the footsteps of Jesus."
A call to the global Church
UBS is calling on churches, ministries and Christian partners worldwide to join the effort, framing the declaration as an invitation to shared responsibility. The organization said it hopes future generations will engage with Scripture as a source of wisdom and hope, inherit a church that is "vibrant, diverse, and rooted in love," and participate in God's mission with what the declaration describes as "courage, compassion and joy."
"With humility and confidence in God's faithfulness," the declaration concludes, "we, a global Fellowship of 156 Bible Societies, dedicate ourselves anew to the vision entrusted to us: the Bible for everyone, now and for generations yet to come."]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Survey finds most American parents open to the Bible but rarely read it with children]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/survey-finds-most-american-parents-open-to-the-bible-but-rarely-read-it-with-children</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Family discipleship begins at home, where couples and parents pass on faith by reading and living out Scripture together.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Unsplash / Shelby Murphy Figueroa ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Most American parents pray with their children regularly, but Bible reading together remains far less common, according to the American Bible Society's 2026 State of the Bible report. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 19 May 2026 09:11:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Most American parents express openness to the Bible, yet fewer than one in seven reads Scripture with their children on a regular basis, according to a new report from the American Bible Society.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Most American parents express openness to the Bible, yet fewer than one in seven reads Scripture with their children on a regular basis, according to a new report from the American Bible Society.
The findings come from the second chapter of the organization's annual State of the Bible report, released May 14. The survey, fielded by NORC at the University of Chicago, drew on 2,649 online and phone interviews with American adults across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, conducted in January 2026.
Work-family balance topped the list of challenges facing parents, cited by 42% of respondents. Parenting fatigue and financial pressure each came in at 27%. The report found that Millennial parents were more likely than other generations to struggle with both work-family balance (49%) and exhaustion (35%), while Gen X parents were more likely to cite difficulty providing wise guidance to older children (29%).
The gap between mothers and fathers also appeared in the data. Mothers were more likely than fathers to report parenting fatigue, at 32% compared to 23%. Mothers more often named setting appropriate boundaries as a challenge (23% vs. 15%), while fathers more often cited discipline (22% vs. 16%).
Despite those pressures, the report found that parents scored higher than non-parents on measures of meaning, purpose, and life satisfaction — though they scored lower on financial and material stability.
More than one in four parents said they pray daily or often with their children. By contrast, only one in seven does the same with Bible reading, and more than half of caregivers rarely or never engage their children in either practice. The gap persists even among more committed believers: the American Bible Society report found that among Practicing Christians, 72% pray regularly with their children, but only 45% read the Bible with them at the same frequency.
"Most American parents are open to the Bible, but behavior hasn't kept pace with that openness," said Dr. John Farquhar Plake, the organization's chief innovation officer and editor of the State of the Bible series. "They're curious but not deeply engaged."
When parents do teach Scripture at home, children's story Bibles are the most widely used resource, cited by 48% of parents. Bible-based videos and Bible songs each came in at 26%, while Bible memorization tools were the least common approach, at 7%.
The report also found differences in religious identity between parents and non-parents among younger generations. Sixty-four percent of Millennial and Gen Z parents identify as Christians, compared to 47% of their non-parenting peers. Among non-parents in those same generations, 42% claim no religion — nearly double the 27% rate among young parents. The report noted no comparable gap between Gen X parents and non-parents on faith identity.
Parents also showed a notably lower rate of Bible disengagement than non-parents, at 46% versus 59%, though the American Bible Society said that greater openness had not translated into deeper engagement with Scripture.
For churchgoing families, the data offered a more encouraging picture. Nearly three-quarters of parents who attend church said they feel supported by their congregation, and 63% said their children enjoy going. The enjoyment, however, declined with age: according to their parents, 72% of children ages 2 to 5 like attending church, compared to 66% of those ages 6 to 12 and 61% of teenagers.
Plake called on church leaders to take the data seriously. "Church leaders and fellow Christians need to intentionally invest in parents during this demanding season of life," he said. "Parents are carrying a heavy load, and all of us in the Church can help them carry it."
The State of the Bible series publishes a new chapter monthly through November 2026. Upcoming installments will cover topics including artificial intelligence, calling and purpose, and the supernatural. The full second chapter is available at StateoftheBible.org.
The survey was designed by American Bible Society and conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago using their AmeriSpeak panel.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Nicaea accelerated Christianity's break from Jewish roots, German theologian argues in essay]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/nicaea-accelerated-christianity-s-break-from-jewish-roots-german-theologian-argues-in-essay</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/nicaea-accelerated-christianity-s-break-from-jewish-roots-german-theologian-argues-in-essay</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[The First Council of Nicaea, as depicted by Cretan painter Michael Damaskinos (1591). The work, originally from Vronitissiou monastery, is now housed in the Agia Collection, Heraklion.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Wikimedia Commons ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ The First Council of Nicaea, as depicted by Cretan painter Michael Damaskinos (1591). The work, originally from Vronitissiou monastery, is now housed in the Agia Collection, Heraklion. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Sat, 16 May 2026 04:27:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[A recently published scholarly essay contends that the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. was a turning point not only in Christian theology but in the institutional separation of the church from its Jewish origins — a separation shaped as much by politics as by Scripture.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
A recently published scholarly essay contends that the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. was a turning point not only in Christian theology but in the institutional separation of the church from its Jewish origins — a separation shaped as much by politics as by Scripture.
The essay, written by Dr. Thomas Paul Schirrmacher, German theologian and former Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), appears in "Their Lord and Ours: The Enduring Legacy of Nicaea," a collection of scholarly contributions marking the 1,700th anniversary of the council published as part of the World of Theology series by the WEA's Theological Commission. Schirrmacher's contribution titled "Nicaea and the Separation of the Christian Church From Its Jewish Roots" was highlighted in Bonn Profiles on May 15.
While affirming the theological weight of the Nicene Creed, Schirrmacher argues that decisions made at Nicaea — and the broader atmosphere of Emperor Constantine's reign — drove Christianity toward a distinct, non-Jewish identity in ways that were not primarily grounded in biblical reasoning.
A key example, according to the essay, was the council's decision to decouple the date of Easter from the Jewish Passover calendar. Schirrmacher characterizes this as emblematic of a wider effort to define Christian identity in opposition to Jewish practice, driven by anti-Jewish attitudes that were prevalent in the Roman world of the fourth century.
The essay also draws attention to the apparent absence of Jewish-Christian representatives at Nicaea, interpreting this as evidence that institutional leadership in the church had already moved away from its Jewish-origin communities. Schirrmacher points to historical records suggesting that Jewish followers of Jesus continued to exist for centuries after the council, even as the broader institutional church increasingly marginalized them.
Constantine's own policies and public rhetoric toward Jews receive critical attention in the essay. Schirrmacher describes the emperor's posture as openly hostile, and argues it left a lasting imprint on Christian attitudes and legislation in the centuries that followed.
Despite his critique of these historical dynamics, Schirrmacher maintains that the core Christological affirmations reached at Nicaea remain grounded in the biblical tradition. His essay calls for greater scholarly attention to early Jewish-Christian communities and encourages readers to reckon honestly with the historical relationship between Christianity and Judaism.
The volume in which the essay appears brings together multiple scholars examining the Nicene Creed's continuing theological and practical significance for the church.]]></content:encoded>
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