Harvey Kwiyani

Harvey is a Malawian mission theologian with twenty years of mission and theological education experience in Europe and the United States. His work is built around his two passions. The first is mission in the West. For over twenty years he has wrestled with numerous questions around the subject of re-evangelisation of Europe, especially through the work of world Christians currently living in European countries. He is, thus, engaged in missiological conversations in contemporary Europe and North America, having been part of the missional church conversation in Britain and the United States. At the same time, he has also been involved in a conversation around non-Western missionary movements, especially those working in Europe and North America. His two books, Sent Forth: African Missionary Work in the West (Orbis, 2014), and Multicultural Kingdom (SCM, 2020) are part of his contribution to this conversation.

The second is the story of African Christianity, both in the continent of Africa and in the African Diaspora. He is particularly interested in three conversations connected to African Christianity. First, its history. He is fascinated by the works of Tertullian and Augustine just as much as those of Desmond Tutu and John Mbiti. Second, its connection to African culture and philosophy. He finds questions like, “what does it mean to be an African and a Christian at the same time?” and “what does ubuntu have to say to the Christian gospel in Africa?” exciting. And third, its missiology. African Christians are now taking the gospel to the world, and thus, he wonders what is actually happening with African Christianity in the Diaspora (especially in the Western world) and how the African missionary movement will take shape in this century. He edited and published Africa Bears Witness (ATNP/SPCK, 2021) to push this discourse forward.

He obtained his PhD (2012, Luther Seminary, St Paul, Minnesota, USA) following a research project on the missiological (or theological) implications of the presence of African Christians in the United States. For his Masters (2007, University of Wales, United Kingdom), he wrote on congregational transformation for mission in Europe and North America. He got his Bachelor of Education (Mathematics) from the Chancellor College (of the University of Malawi) in 1997. He is currently working on research projects exploring (1) the gifts of African Christians in Britain, (2) the faith of young Christian migrants in Britain and (3) mission theology in African perspectives. He founded and continue to be the general editor of Missio Africanus: The Journal of African Missiology.” He has a teaching role at the Church Mission Society (CMS) in Oxford where he leads a masters’ program focused on African Christianity in Britain.