Dear friends and colleagues,
I recently received a confirmation of my acceptance to an invitation to be a plenary speaker at the American Society of Missiology (ASM) 2023 annual conference at St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN, June 16-18, 2023. The theme is “Global Arts on Mission: Embedded, Embodied, and Empowered”
The reason I share this is because I feel humbled and privileged at how faithfully the Lord led me even when I didn’t have a clue as to where I was going, the sort of work I would one day be doing, and all the amazing people I’d have an opportunity to interact with especially as it relates to creativity, the arts, theology, and culture.
I read my first missiological journal article as an MDiv student when I served as assistant to the then Editor of Missiology at Asbury Seminary, Darrell Whiteman, in 2001. At the time I was merely looking for a job. Looking back, it’s hard to ignore the hand that brought us to Asbury and specifically, E. Stanley Jones School of Mission, and that job in particular under the leadership of “Darrell” who from the beginning encouraged me to call him by his first name, which in my tradition was extremely hard to do. I finally did manage to do so after a few years! I joined the ASM community by attending some of their conferences and each time felt that I had met “my tribe.” I recently (last week, June 17-19) returned from yet another Annual Meeting of ASM and once again had the opportunity to meet and learn from some amazing scholars, connect with old friends, and meet new ones.
It’s been a long and winding road since my role as an editorial assistant. But it is always such a privilege to be connected to this amazing community of global influencers, practitioners, and scholars. I am so grateful to the Lord to be able to serve in this small but significant way. My working title is “Mission As Participation in the Creativity of God: A Biblical Theology.” I sincerely appeal to you for your prayers for me, my family and supporters, and for each other as we together continue on this journey.
Thank you!! for your role in the journey and the privilege to share with you in the creativity of God for mission. If you’d like to learn more about ASM and explore ways to strengthen your ministry and/orparticipate, feel free to explore here: https://asmweb.org/.
Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ!
Dr. Uday Balasundaram
Catalyst for Lausanne Arts