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Commission of Theological Education

 

The Commission of Theological Education seeks to identify, develop, and propose subjects that define the identity and the Alliance mission, grounded in our history, thinking and theology. Proposes strategies for a systemic approach to theological education and the network between alliance institutions of education.

Peter Laughlin / Chairman

The AWF Executive Committee (ExCom) appointed Dr. Peter Laughlin (BEng, BTh(Hon), PhD), dean of Alliance Institute for Mission, a center for excellence in Intercultural Studies at the Australian College of Ministries, as the new chairman of the AWF International Commission on Theological Education (ICTE).

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Dr. Laughlin is an ordained pastor and chairman of the National Board of the Christian and Missionary Alliance of Australia. He received his doctorate in theology in 2009 and has published a number of works including Jesus and the Cross: Necessity, Meaning and Atonement which was published in the Princeton Theological Monograph series. He has been the curator of the AWF Repository and member of the ICTE for the past two years. Dr. Laughlin will start in this new role on July 1, 2019 and will complete the term initiated by Dr. Bernie Van de Walle, who submitted his resignation following his nomination as the next Superintendent of the Canadian Midwest District. We take this opportunity to express our deep appreciation to Dr. Bernie Van de Walle for his impactful ministry as chair of the ICTE. He will continue to contribute to the ICTE as representative from North America. Please pray for Dr. Peter Laughlin as he leads this important ministry of AWF.

Bernie Van de Walle

Bernie Van de Walle is the former chair of the ICTE. He has a PhD in Theological and Religious Studies from Drew University, and is ordained with the C&MA in Canada. Bernie has worked for 20 years as Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at the Canadian Bible College/Ambrose University.

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He is the author of Rethinking Holiness, The Heart of the Gospel, and numerous other published articles of Alliance themes. Currently, he is the District Superintendent of the Canadian Midwest District of the C&MA in Canada. Bernie is married to Colleen with two sons, David (married to Hannah) and Ken.

Daniel Ronda

Dr. Daniel Ronda was born in Denpasar, Indonesia, on April 12, 1966. He is married to Elisabeth Selfina Ronda and they have two grown children: Kharissa Bunga Ronda and Bagus William Ronda. Currently, Daniel holds the position of lecturer at Jaffray Theological Seminary both in Makassar and Jakarta; he is also the President of Gereja Kemah Injil Indonesia (Alliance Church of Indonesia).

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Daniel has a Bachelor Degree (S.Th.) from Jaffray Theological Seminary Makassar; a M.Div. in Pastoral Studies from Alliance Biblical Seminary (now Alliance Graduate School) in Manila, Philippines; a Th.M. in Systematic Theology from Asia Graduate School of Theology, Manila, Philippines; a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) in Church Leadership from Asbury Theological Seminary, USA; and a D.Th. in Practical Theology from Jaffray Theological Seminary, Jakarta, Indonesia.

He has been involved in different ministries, such as pastoring a church at Alliance Church in Ubud Bali (1990-1994); Secretary for District Bali-NTB Alliance Church (1991-1994); lecturer at Jaffray Theological Seminary (1994-to present); President of Jaffray Theological Seminary Makassar (2006-2016); Assessor for National Accreditation Board of The Ministry of Higher Education and Research of Technology of Republic Indonesia (2012 to present). 

Issiaka Coulibaly

Originally from Côte D’Ivoire, Issiaka Coulibaly is a consecrated pastor of the C&MA Evangelical Protestant Church of Côte D’Ivoire. After studying higher theology at the Free Faculty of Evangelical Theology of Vaux-sur-Seine, in France, he joined the Faculty of Evangelical Theology of the Christian Alliance (FATEAC), in Abidjan, as a professor in 1996.

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A few years later, and in parallel with theological education, he served four years as senior pastor of the Christian Alliance Church in the Riviera, Abidjan. When this community was created, its vision was to reach out through the gospel to senior administrators and international civil servants based in Abidjan.

From 2003 to 2018, Issiaka served as chairman of the board of directors of the three Bible and theological training institutions of the Christian Alliance in Côte D’Ivoire. They are:

  • The Bible School of the Christian Alliance of Toumodi (EBAC)
  • The Bible Institute of the Christian Alliance of Yamoussoukro (IBACY)
  • The Higher Institute of Theology of the Christian Alliance (ISTHAC)

In 2012, he was appointed dean of FATEAC. He combines this administrative responsibility with research and theological teaching.

His publications cover various subjects, including contextual theology; biblical theology; the gospel and development; identity, ethnicity, and reconciliation; political theology, etc.

In 2018, when the FATEAC board of directors decided to create the University of the Christian Alliance of Abidjan (UACA), they asked Issiaka to be its president. Since that date, he is both the president of UACA and the dean of FATEAC.

Issiaka lives in Abidjan, in the south of Côte D’Ivoire, with his wife Elizabeth and their two children, Nitsana Amélie (2005) and Thierry William (2011).

Jack Sara

Dr. Jack Sara is the President of Bethlehem Bible College. Born and raised in the Old City of Jerusalem, Jack studied at Bethlehem Bible College after committing his life to Christ and His teachings. He soon became a member and leader in the ministry of the Jerusalem Alliance Church who in turn recognized his gifts and calling and encouraged him to go and study further for the work of the Gospel.

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Acting upon this directive, Jack went to the Philippines to study at the Alliance Biblical Seminary where he earned his MDiv degree.

He then returned to Jerusalem and began ministering in full time capacity with his church and teaching part time at BBC. After serving and leading the church for 13 years as a senior pastor, he and other likeminded leaders, saw the Alliance church become a church planting movement and a catalyst church in reaching out to the Palestinian people and Arabs with the love of Christ through a variety of means. Jack holds a doctorate degree from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary in Missions and Cross-cultural Studies. He travels around the globe, teaching about Missions and cross-cultural work in the Middle East.

Jack is an ordained minister with Evangelical Alliance Church in the Holy Land where he still maintains an overseeing role with the leadership of the churches. He has also worked extensively in the areas of peace & reconciliation.

Marco Wittenberg

Dr. Marco Wittenberg (1973) is married to Patricia and together they have three children: two daughters (1998, 2002) and one son (2006). Born and raised as a Christian he sensed a calling to fulltime ministry while in his late teens. After earning a B.A. in theology, he served as a pastor and as OCC operation manager with Samaritan’s Purse.

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Since 2004 he serves as senior pastor of the Alliance Church in Amstelveen, the Netherlands, and pursued a PhD in Lukan Pneumatology at VU University Amsterdam. His passion is sound theology, rooted in the Word of God and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Besides being a pastor Marco teaches New Testament Theology and Alliance History & Theology at the Dutch Baptist Seminary in Amsterdam.

Miguel Palomino

Dr. Miguel A. Palomino is an ordained minister of the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church. After attending Bible college in Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Lima (Peru), he became part of the first pastoral team of the Alliance Lince Church in Lima—his home church—, where the “Lima to an Encounter with God” movement got started.

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In 1985, he and his wife Rose Mary moved to Philadelphia (PA, USA), where he got his MDiv from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary while planting a Spanish church in “North Philly”, the most neglected area of the city. They pastored Ebenezer Church until 1994 when they returned to their native land to join the pastoral team of the Alliance Church of Miraflores in Lima. In 1997 he was elected rector of Facultad Teológica Latinoamericana (FATELA), a newly formed Alliance graduate theological school for Latin America that led him to work on his PhD, which he attained in 2002 from Edinburgh University, Scotland.

From the beginning of his career/ministry Miguel has been involved with pastoral ministry, missions, and theological education in several countries. He has authored four books and a number of articles for journals and other publications.

Miguel lives in Miami (FL, USA) with his wife and Ana-­‐Claudia, their only daughter. They serve in a local Alliance congregation that works with immigrants and second generation of Latinos. He enjoys playing instruments, walking, traveling and photography.

Ron Walborn

Dr. Ron Walborn is the Vice President and Dean of Alliance Theological Seminary and the College of Bible and Christian Ministry at Nyack College in Nyack NY. He has taught at Nyack ATS since the fall of 1999. Ron serves on the Board of Directors for the Christian and Missionary Alliance and has served on the Theological Issues Committee for the denomination.

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He has pastored C&MA churches in Connecticut and California. He planted Risen King Community Church with Dr. Terry Wardle in Redding, CA in 1989. While living in Redding for 10 years, he taught part time at Simpson University.

Ron has spoken at numerous Christian and secular colleges across America, and at churches and conferences throughout the US and internationally. He has written a book on stewardship, Stewardship & the Kingdom of God, published by the Christian & Missionary Alliance and chaired the committee that wrote the C&MA position on Spiritual Gifts, Expectation Without Agenda.
Ron holds a B.A. in History from Nyack College, a MDiv from Alliance Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary. 

Tona Khonde

Dr. Tona Khonde is the President of the Complexe de Formation Théologique de Bethel, a theological institution of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church of Gabon, located in Libreville, Gabon. He was born on December 13, 1966 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He met the Lord at the tender age of 12.

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But it was eight years later, when he was 20 years old, that he sensed and responded to the Lord’s call. So, he decided to serve full-time as God’s minister. Tona then began his theological studies at the Theological Seminary of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) of the DRC, from 1986 to 1989, and for a second degree, from 1992 to 1994. With a desire to further advance his theological training, he went on to doctoral studies in Aix-en-Provence, France, from 2003 to 2011. He obtained his PhD in Systematic Theology in 2011.

He performed pastoral duties in several local CMA churches as an assistant pastor and advisor. He is involved in various areas of pastoral ministry in several local CMA churches. But his true calling is teaching. This is a task that he greatly enjoys, doing it with much passion and dedication. So, for the last 28 years, he has been involved in the training of pastors in several different theological institutions of the CMA, both in the DRC (1989 to 1994; 2006 to 2010 as visitor professor) and in Gabon (1994 to present). He has been entrusted with the task of training spiritually and scripturally young aspiring pastors as well as pastors who are already in service. Now he works as the president and as a professor in this institution. Tona is married to wife Abigail, and they were blessed with four children. Together, they have been serving the Lord as missionaries in Gabon for the last twenty-three years (1994 to present) and will continue to work as passionate servants of the Lord until God opens the next door. 

Walter Pérez

Dr. Walter Pérez Doglio is a graduate from the Canadian Theological Seminary, where he obtained a Masters of Divinity (M. Div.) and a Masters of Missions (M. Miss.) in 1983. He also has a Doctor of Ministry (D. Min.) and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in theological studies from the Graduate Theological Foundation, Indiana, USA (2000).

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He worked as a pastor within the “Lima to an Encounter with God” movement in Peru and as an evangelist throughout Latin America. He was part of the church planting team of the Vicente López Alliance Church in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1985, and has served as its senior pastor ever since. He has taught at various Latin American theological seminaries, including FATELA (Facultad Teológica Latinoamericana). Since 2009, he has served as Rector of the Buenos Aires Bible Seminary (Instituto Bíblico Buenos Aires).

Walter is married to Estela and they have three grown children. In addition to his teaching and pastoral duties, he is an Attorney-at-Law and Notary (degree from Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina, 1978; and postgraduate studies in Law from the Universidad de Buenos Aires). 

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