Biola University’s Cook School of Intercultural Studies was selected to host a regional meeting of the Evangelical Missiological Society (EMS) due to the school’s reputation and missions-based focus.

EMS holds an annual national conference and eight regional meetings throughout the course of the year, and Biola was chosen as the 2016 Southwest Regional host on March 12.

Biola has hosted the Southwest Regional meeting several times over the last 20 years, as the previous dean of Cook, Doug Pennoyer, was the former regional vice president for EMS. Currently, Kenneth Nehrbass, Biola professor of intercultural studies, serves as the Southwest Regional Vice President for EMS.

“The Evangelical Missiological Society brings together leading scholars of mission and missionaries, and since Biola’s mission is to equip men and women to impact the world for the Lord Jesus Christ, it is strategic, as well as an honor, for us to host this event — especially during Missions Conference week,” said Nehrbass.

On March 12, professors, graduate students, and missions leaders gathered on campus to present their research surrounding the theme of missions and the local church. This spring, the theme of EMS’s regional meetings was, “What is the role of the local church in responding to Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations?”  Morgan Jackson, Vice President of Faith by Hearing, and Bruce Camp, CEO of Dual Reach, along with several Biola professors and alumni presented on the topic.

EMS is a professional society of more than 350 members associated with missiology, comprised of missiologists, missions administrators, teachers, pastors, and students of missiology. Originally formed in 1967, their goal is to “advance the cause of world evangelization,” and to evaluate missions concepts and strategies in order to commend theory and practice to churches and agencies around the world.  

Six speakers from Biola presented at the conference including Leanne Dzubinski, professor of intercultural education and studies, Moussa Bongoyok, professor of intercultural studies, and graduate students Jacob Daniel, Stan Meyer, Francis Nwobu, and Christian Week.

Dzubinski presented her case study, “The House Church and World Missions,” which focuses on how the familial nature of house churches allows them to specifically send out missionaries that focus on relationships.

“When I learned of the topic, I approached the members of our house church to see if others were interested in presenting a study of our church, since we’ve had significant involvement in mission,” said Dzubinski. “There was a high level of interest, and the study became a collaborative project carried out by three of us in the church.”

Moussa Bongoyok conducted a presentation titled, “Reaching Our Muslim Neighbors: Rationale and Strategies,” where he demonstrated how the rise of Islam and decline of Christianity in Europe should move the church to missional action.  

Francis Nwobu, Ph.D student at Biola, presented his ethnography of contextual theology in Nigeria, while Christian Week, missions pastor and Ph.D student at Biola, spoke on the role that established Korean-American churches have to strengthen immigrant churches in Los Angeles.

Doctoral students Jacob Daniel and Stan Meyer also presented. Daniel spoke on dignity in orienting missions, and Meyer on the re-enchantment of modern Judaism.

Meyer spoke to New Age Jewish beliefs and non-traditional religious expression among Jews in North America in his paper, “The New Jewish Search for Personal Experience and Religious Expression.”

“My paper shed light on the resurgence of interest among Jews in personal, supernatural experience,” said Meyer. “My purpose was to help missiologists see how it is working out among North American Jews, and then generally consider new ways to engage people over the gospel.”  

Meyer spoke highly of his experience at the conference.

“I enjoy connecting with other missiologists in other fields and gaining larger insight in the field,” said Meyer. “It is solidly evangelical and theologically conservative.”

As a result of this conference, missions pastors, professors and missionaries were able to network and discuss ways the local church can be more involved in global missions. After seven regional meetings conclude, 10 of the best papers presented from around the country will be chosen to become part of an edited book on missions and the local church.

To learn more about the Evangelical Missiological Society, visit their website.

Written by Kathryn Toombs, Public Relations Intern. For more information, please contact Jenna Loumagne, Media Relations Specialist, at jenna.loumagne@biola.edu or via phone at (562) 777-4061.