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This lecture explores biblical foundations, historical development in mission collaboration, and key statements on collaboration, contrasting them with sociological collaboration models. Attendees will gain theological, missiological, sociological and practical insights into fostering trust, unity, and mutual accountability in collaborative efforts serving God’s mission.

Kirk J. Franklin (PhD, University of Pretoria, South Africa) is a researcher, author, educator, and speaker about global missions based in Melbourne, Australia. He is also an adjunct lecturer at the Melbourne School of Theology, associate faculty at OCMS, and a missiologist with the Wycliffe Global Alliance.

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In the first quarter of the twenty-first century, the churches of the Middle East have faced crisis upon crisis. Wars and terrorism have displaced and weakened Christian and other communities in Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Lebanon. Economic downturn, climate change, and political instability have rendered them vulnerable. How have the churches responded? What opportunities and obstacles for cooperation have they encountered? Might hospitality be a rallying point for an ecumenical missionary ecclesiology in the Middle East? 

This lecture will address the understanding of church and mission in the main ecclesial families of the Middle East (Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant). It will also look at the embodiment of mission on the parish level in times of crisis and war.

Wilbert van Saane is Chaplain and Lecturer in Religion at Haigazian University, Beirut. He also serves as Assistant Professor of Theology and Mission at the Near East School of Theology. He is an ordained minister in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands and has served in Lebanon for 16 years.

If you are interested in attending these lectures, sign up here.