God on the Move

There are more people on the move around the world today than at any other point in history. 

Most communities in the UK today are multicultural, bringing new questions for churches that previous generations may not have considered. How might diverse Christians worship, fellowship, and witness alongside people from different contexts and cultures who may naturally have different perspectives on Scripture, God’s character, and the nature of ministry and mission?

Join us for a day exploring big questions around migration and ministry in the UK today with leading theological experts speaking into the issue and a chance to attend seminars focussing on ministry to specific diaspora groups in the UK.

The day will involve three plenary addresses with Q+A and seminars. Lunch and refreshments are included in the price.

Plenary talks

Plenary 1: Dr. Sam George - Motus Dei: A Theology and Missiology for a Moving World
Plenary 2: Rev Dr. Israel Olofinjana - Migrating Witnesses: African Mission Movement Today
Plenary 3: Dr Chris Howles - Beyond Uniformity Toward Unity: Embracing Interculturality within Contemporary Christian Community

Dr Sam George is the Director of the Global Diaspora Institute at the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton College USA, and serves as a catalyst of the Lausanne Movement. He was born in the Andaman Islands (India) to Christian parents with the heritage of the St. Thomas Christians of Kerala and had a life-changing personal encounter with Jesus at the age of 15. Sam holds degrees in Engineering, Management, and Theology, studying at Fuller and Princeton Seminaries (US) and completing his doctoral research at Liverpool Hope University (UK) researching family, church, and diaspora. He now teaches on global migration, diaspora missions, and world Christianity across the world, and has authored or edited a dozen books including three-volume series on Asian Diaspora Christianity (Fortress Press 2021).

Rev Dr Israel Oluwole Olofinjana is an ordained and accredited Baptist minister and has led two multi-ethnic Baptist churches and an independent charismatic church. He is the founding director of Centre for Missionaries from the Majority World, a mission network initiative that provides cross-cultural training to reverse missionaries in Britain. Israel is an honorary research fellow at The Queen's Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education in Birmingham and is on the advisory group on Race and Theology at the Society for the Study of Theology (SST). He is a consultant to the executive team of Lausanne Europe, advising them on matters related to diaspora ministries in Europe, and is on the Christian Aid working group of black majority church leaders exploring the intersection of climate justice and racial justice.

Dr Chris Howles served as a Crosslinks mission partner as Head of Theology at Uganda Martyrs Seminary Namugongo between 2011 and 2023. He has now returned to the U.K. with his wife, Ros, and three children where he now serves as Director of Cross-Cultural Training at Oak Hill College (London) since Jan 2024. He has a doctorate in intercultural studies researching the place of missiology in global theological education from Fuller seminary (US) and is founder of the mission resources website FromEveryNation.net and its monthly mission resources email 'Mission Hits'. His most recent publication is 'What Has Quito to Do with Jerusalem? C. René Padilla’s Integral Missiology in the Context of James 2:1–17' in Reading James Missiologically: The Missionary Motive, Message, and Methods of James (William Carey Publishing, 2025).

Afternoon seminars (delegates must choose one)

1. God on the Move through Iranian migration
2. God on the Move through East Asian migration
3. God on the Move through sub-Saharan African migration co-led by Rev Dr Anderson Moyo and Rev Dr Eben Adu.

Note that speakers for these seminars are yet to be confirmed, but each seminar would be led by at least one Christian leader from within that diaspora community itself.

Timetable