Blogger and youth mentor Joseph Ola joins CMS Pioneer team
New lecturer strengthens African Diaspora MA route
Renowned blogger, author and youth mentor Joseph Ola is to join the teaching team for the African Christian Diaspora route of Church Mission Society’s MA in pioneer leadership training.
Ola recognises that we live in a diverse multi-cultural society and will lean on experiences from his childhood in Nigeria, his time as a theology student and the highs and lows of being Liverpool FC fan, in his new role.
Dr Harvey Kwiyani, programme lead for the African MA course, says: “As a young African theologian, Joseph Ola bridges the gap between generations in many ways. His research, focusing on Africa’s youthful Christianity, brings an energetic and hopeful perspective to the classroom and speaks both to African and European Christians alike. Working with Joseph in this new role at Church Mission Society fills me with hope for the future of African Christianity and its missiology. Our students are lucky to have him.”
Since beginning in church leadership in 2012, Ola has served in churches and ministries in Nigeria, the United States and the UK. In 2015 he founded Alive Mentorship Group, an online mentoring platform for teenagers and young adults that now reaches young people in over 60 countries. He is also a Pastor of The Apostolic Church in Liverpool.
As an integral part of the MA in theology, ministry and mission that CMS offers Christian pioneer leaders, this course has proved popular and is now entering its second year. Led by African scholars, the students study African church history and African Pentecostalism alongside modules on mission, pioneer leadership, anthropology and ecclesiology, to help them understand how the continent’s religious traditions and culture have shaped people’s identity.
The course is the first of its kind in the UK and aims to help Christian colleges and teaching institutions incorporate an African world view into current mission education and theological thinking, as well as helping African churches to effectively engage in mission. The programme is taught over three years and is fully online.
More information on the newly designed MA in Theology, Ministry and Mission is available at pioneer.churchmissionsociety.org/ma
