Dr. Jonathan J. Bonk is the Executive Director of the Overseas Ministries Study Center in New Haven, Connecticut, and editor of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research. Before his relocation to the United States in 1997, he served as Professor of Global Christian Studies at Providence College and Seminary in Canada. He was raised in Ethiopia, where he and his wife also served as missionaries from 1974-1976. He is an ordained Mennonite minister, and has served as President of both the American Society of Missiology and the Association of Professors of Mission.

He is the author of numerous articles and reviews, and has published five books, the best known of which is Missions and Money: Affluence as a Western Missionary Problem (Orbis 1991), now in its eleventh printing. A second edition, Missions and Money: Affluence as a Missionary Problem . . . Revisited, was released by Orbis in 2006. He also is editor of the Encyclopedia of Missions and Missionaries, published in 2007 as Volume 9 in Routledge’s Religion and Society Series. He is a graduate of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (M.A.) and the University of Aberdeen (Ph.D).

The Bonks have two children. Susan is a self-employed business person in Winnipeg, and James is in the doctoral program at Princeton University.

Project Manager

Mrs. Michèle Sigg is the Project Manager for the Dictionary of African Christian Biography and has been working on the project since the New Haven office opened in October 2000. She moved to France with her missionary parents when she was eleven. She studied for two years in the trilingual translation program (I.S.I.T.) at the Institut Catholique in Paris, then completed a B.A. in French and Spanish at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a Master's in French Literature. She is also a potter and a writer of children's stories and plays. Her husband Sam, also from a missionary family, grew up in Zaïre and France. They have three children Johan, age 17, Annie, age 16, and Catherine, age seven.

She has worked as a translator and a French teacher at the university and high school levels. Her work with the DACB involves interfacing with Project Luke fellows and African scholars, editing and managing the database, developing materials, teaching, and generally coordinating the project. Her recent trips for the DACB have taken her to Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, and Madagascar. She is currently working on an M.Th in World Christianity at Africa International University/NEGST in Nairobi, Kenya.

Office Assistant

Since 2006, Miss Becka Sisti has been the office assistant for the Dictionary of African Christian Biography. She is responsible for HTML coding for the Dictionary's articles, updating the Web site, maintaining the databases, and sending out mailings.

She is a member of Simchat Yisrael (Joy of Israel) Messianic Synagogue in West Haven, CT, a community where her Jewish identity and her belief in the Messiah, Yeshua, are not only compatible but intricately woven together. This congregation is her family and where her heart remains. She loves learning about Judaism, and keeping the traditions and holidays of her people. Her favorite kind of music is 1960s rock, especially the Beatles, but she listens to a wide variety, including traditional and contemporary Jewish music and show tunes. She also loves New York City, chocolate ice cream cones, tea and scones, British accents, peace signs, the color magenta, John Lennon, strawberries, and daisies.