Dear readers and friends of Center for Theology of Migration,
Greetings from the chilly, wet, and sometimes froggy Amsterdam! Despite the notorious weather here, we would like to share some great news about our center with you from our whole hearts.
New Group of Fellow Learners
This September, we gladly began a new academic year with seven new fellow learners. They come from different cultural backgrounds (Angola, Brazil, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, and Surinam) and belong to diverse denominations (Presbyterian, Pentecostal, PKN, Coptic Orthodox, etc.). Especially this year, we have two fellow learners joining us remotely from abroad (France and Finland) and a local Ph.D. student from the Faculty of Religion and Theology of the Vrije Universiteit as an auditor. It is a joy to learn together with this dynamic group.
Every class, we enjoy each other’s life stories, ministerial experiences (both successful and failed ones), practical wisdom, and many laughs. We are also grateful to the Zonnewelde foundation for sponsoring some of our fellow learners.
As a foretaste, you can find their specialized projects (internship) in progress below:
- Bridging between migrant and host churches
- Challenges and prospects of migrant churches
- Initiative for men’s ministry among migrant communities
- Praxis of social justice for underprivileged groups
- Challenges of second-generation migrants
- Wealth and poverty issues among migrants
- Support group for immigrants
More details are to come in due course.
New Publication
In the past few years, Dr. Phillips-Koning has researched pastoral care and mental health among migrant churches. After extensive hard work, the results now appeared in the latest volume of the journal Psyche & Faith, published in September this year. Together with Prof. Hanneke Schaap-Jonker and several alumni of CThM, they brought out a series of concentrated studies on mental well-being for Christian migrants. For more information, please see these links:
Ordination of Our Alumnus
On 3 December, our alumnus Rick Wan was ordained as the Reverend of Chinese CAMA Gemeente Amsterdam. Rick studied the postgraduate program with us between 2019 and 2020. Warm congratulations to Rick and his family, and best wishes for his ministry in Amsterdam!
Welcome New Colleague
We are happy to introduce our new colleague at CThM, An-Ting Yi. Originating from Taiwan, An-Ting is a Ph.D. candidate at VU and finishing his dissertation on New Testament textual criticism. He has experiences with migrant Christians in the Netherlands, both as a volunteer at Foundation Academy of Amsterdam and voluntarily serving in a Mandarin-speaking church in Amsterdam. With the inclusion of An-Ting as a lecturer at our center, the CThM team has become stronger. He will closely work with Dr. Lee and Dr. Phillips-Koning. We look forward to his contributions to research and teaching for our program and migrant communities.
We are grateful for the good start to this new academic year and all the fruitful discussions in the past few months. Now we are toward the end of the year break. We wish you all a joyful and restful Christmas season with your beloved ones. And we hope to see you or hear from you again soon in 2023!
An-Ting Yi, MA
Lecturer, Center for Theology of Migration
Dr. Danielle Phillips-Koning
Assistant Professor, Center for Theology of Migration
Dr. Samuel Lee
Director, Center for Theology of Migration
Comments