What is Evangelicalism in Africa?

On May 28th, we hosted the webinar, ’What is Evangelicalism in Asia’ with Dr. Jayeel Cornelio, Dr. Simon Chan,
Dr. Jung-Sook Lee and Dr. Samuel Richmond, which was moderated by Dr. Peirong Lin and Dr. Theresa Lua. For those who
have missed it, watch the webinar here.

The webinar explored different things that we can celebrate about how evangelicalism has thrived in the region

of Asia: deep sacramental dimension to spirituality, pursuit of harmonious relationship among people and with the
rest of God’s creation, a strong sense of being a collective community, emphasis on radical discipleship and
holistic transformation, and an intentional focus on the younger generation.

What was also acknowledged were the tensions and challenges that demand continues and careful reflection.
Evangelicalism in Asia, while having a shared set of practices across countries, is a dynamic cultural movement that
embeds itself in a variety of contexts and is confronted with different issues. The need to maintain a certain
distance between the faith it has embraced and the context in which this faith is lived out is well noted and yet at
the same time also is the capacity to indigenize even the things Asian evangelicals have adopted and embraced.

Experiencing the vibrancy of evangelicalism in Asia rests on celebrating its persity in expression on the one
hand and on the other the fidelity to what it shares in common with Christians of older traditions in different
parts of the world.

We hope to see you again when the conversation continues with our brothers and sisters in Africa.

– Rei Lemuel Crizaldo
Coordinator, Theological Commission