HDR Candidate: Adelana, Segun (Michael)


Title of Project African-initiated Pentecostal Churches: Towards an African Diaspora Missiology in Australia
Course of Study Doctor of Ministry
Language of Instruction English
Abstract

The last twenty years have witnessed an increased number of African immigrants coming into Australia. There is a growing body of literature in Europe and North America on the importance of African-initiated Pentecostal Churches (APC) and diaspora missions, but little is known in Australia on this subject. Therefore, using insights from the African diaspora missiology literature and the “Four Voices” approach as a theological and interpretive framework, this project will explore how APC pastors and key members participate in missio Dei within the Australian context. Drawing on the Euro-American examples, this project will use an in-depth interview process to unpack the realities of APC mission in Australia. This study will address not only the challenges confronting African Pentecostals, but also the blind spots of African Pentecostalism, especially in terms of acculturation and impact of their mission outreaches on non-African residents. Ultimately, this study will demonstrate how African Pentecostals assimilate and negotiate notions of global Pentecostalism while maintaining their local identities. This study will contribute to scholarship on global Pentecostalism and to the topics of immigrant churches, reverse mission, missionaries from the Global South, by adding to the existing body of knowledge on diaspora missiology in the context of Australia.