The 2011-2012 academic year is a time of
transition away from the Overseas Ministries Study Center
for the DACB. As a result, the Project Luke fellowship
program has been suspended temporarily. In August of 2011,
Project Manager Michèle Sigg moved to Nairobi with her
family (husband Sam, son Johan, daughters Annie and Catherine)
for a year. During this time, she is working to install
a regional office at AIU (formerly Nairobi Evangelical
Graduate School of Theology) and to create a network of
institutions actively engaged in oral history research
on African church figures. She is also using this time
to do field research and write the thesis for her M.Th
in World Christianity. Sam is translating for the DACB
on a volunteer basis, doing some commercial translation,
and building furniture for a children’s home. Johan, who
graduated from high school in June 2011, has undertaken
several independent film projects and is volunteering
at AIU as a video intern and at Nyumbani, an AIDS/HIV
orphanage. Annie (11th grade) and Catherine (3rd grade)
are attending West Nairobi School.
At AIU, the DACB is under the umbrella of the
newly inaugurated Centre for World Christianity (CWC)
directed by Dr. Mark Shaw. The CWC recently installed
Dr. Andrew Walls as research professor in their new Ph.D
in Intercultural Studies program that includes three tracks:
World Christianity, Islamic Studies, and Missions. In
the list of goals included in the CWC’s five year strategic
plan, the eighth goal is “to help take the Dictionary
of African Christian Biography to the next level by facilitating
a network of partner institutions in Africa (at least
ten), establishing an annual conference on the DACB, initiating
a student prize for best biography of the year, formalizing
the partnership between AIU/CWC and DACB, and
generating 100 articles per year.” (worldchristianityaiu.wordpress.com)
Two chapel services highlighting the DACB are planned
for the last week in January 2012. In addition, in April,
a joint DACB/AIU sponsored history conference will take
place at AIU. |
