We are presently in the third year of Covid-19 pandemic crisis (with 638 million infected, and 6.62 million dead, as of November 19, 2022). This is unprecedented since the Spanish Flu in the early 20th c. (with a third of the world population infected, and 40-50 million dead). The current pandemic, of course, is simply an addition to many other critical issues, such as global warming, global terrorism, and nuclear war alert, which pose mega-level threat to the very existence of human society, as well as the entire earthly habitat.
However, any such global crises can lead to the providential opportunity for Christian evangelism and mission, as the whole humanity is humbled—in light of great uncertainty and unpredictability regarding future events—and compelled to ask those critical questions about God and human existence. Such global crises, particularly the pandemic, should prompt us to seriously reflect and evaluate on the ways we have done mission in the past and to open ourselves to new and innovative paradigms for strategic mission in the near future.
It is the purpose of the upcoming ASM forum (to be held via ZOOM-online, November 24-26, 2022) to address such necessity for a major paradigm shift in mission strategy in light of our global pandemic experiences. In this online conference, then, we aim to focus on a very important theme of Christian spirituality in the context of missional engagement in the post-pandemic era.
The title of this forum is: “Missional Spirituality in Asia in the Post-Pandemic Era.” The forum will address diverse topics related to mission, such as supernatural worldview, spiritual experience, spiritual call, spiritual gifts, healing/restoration, spiritual warfare, spiritual discernment, and spiritual life in general. Moreover, the theme of Christian spirituality will be address in the contemporary global contexts, such as religious pluralism, technological advances, indigenous cultural renaissance, secular work profession, and the present-day global crises. Basically, the forum hopes to present the incarnational-missional model as the premier solution for the contemporary spiritual issues and problems the church faces in its missional endeavors in the post-pandemic era.
Professor of Spiritual Theology & Mission Theology @ ACTS University (aka Asian Center for Theological Studies and Mission)
Theme: Missional-Incarnational Spirituality
Director @ International Ministries of Hope International Mission
Theme: Suffering Spirituality
Executive Director @ Hope for Families, International
Theme: Art Spirituality
President @ Asian School for Development and Cross-cultural Studies
Theme: Secular Spirituality
Former Professor and Head of the Department of Missiology @ Union Biblical Seminary
Theme: Urban Spirituality
Former President @ Asian Society of Missiology
Theme: Asian Christian Spirituality