ABOUT CHRIS HOWLES
A bit of info here for anyone wanting to know more about who's behind this website...
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My name is Chris Howles, and I currently serve as 'Director of Cross-Cultural Training' at Oak Hill College in London (UK). I've been in this role since the start of 2024 after spending 12 years prior to that in Uganda.
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But let's begin a little further back from that even...
My relationship with Jesus began aged 16 through the ministry of a local church youth group in Birmingham, UK. The Lord then used an eight-month stay in Kenya, and several subsequent short trips to East Africa, to nurture in me a love for life and learning in those contexts. After a few years teaching geography to teenagers in a London school, I spent four years studying ‘Theology and Mission’ (where I now work). These years were transformative for me, opening my eyes to the compelling, sometimes confusing, but always crucial discipline of missiology (the study of God's mission, and the church's role in it).
Three months after graduation in 2011, my wife Ros (a medical doctor) and I moved to Uganda with our 1-year old baby Josh to live and work as Crosslinks mission partners at Uganda Martyrs Seminary Namugongo. In the following years Danny then Chloe were born there in the never-dull city of Kampala. For 12 years until 2023 we served Jesus alongside Ugandan Christians to help train women and men from across East Africa for church-leadership in the Anglican Church of Uganda (and equivalents in Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, and Sudan).
My primary role at the seminary as 'Head of Theology' was to guide the training programme such that our 200+ adult students at any one time were nurtured in their calling to prayerful, faithful, contextual, Spirit-led, Christ-proclaiming, God-exalting missional church leadership. I loved (almost) every minute, primarily spending time teaching theology modules, leading Bible studies, mentoring students, running programmes such as the college book shop, and (less fun) doing lots of inevitable academic admin. Ros and I also helped lead a large Sunday school of about 500 children at our local church which was an exhausting but awesome privilege.
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In 2022 I graduated with a Doctorate in Inter-Cultural Studies through Fuller Theological Seminary, focusing on how theological education institutions in Africa can form church leaders who are knowledgeable about, equipped in, and passionate for cross-cultural mission to less-reached African nations and tribes. We left Uganda to return to the UK in August 2023, handing over the roles to Ugandans ministry leaders. We miss Uganda everyday, but are grateful for the Lord's good timing and sovereign purposes in all things.
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In my spare time I’m mainly trying to resurrect my marathon-running abilities of my youth, reading about world Christianity and world mission, buying too many books about British military history, following West Bromwich Albion football club, listening to and reading about The Beatles, tweeting, and teaching my kids to play football.
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Check out some of the mission-related resources I've been involved with below...
Links to selections of my online articles
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'Namugongo Life' blog (2013-2015)
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How National Christians Can Bless and Teach Western Churches
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10 tips for healthy links between missionaries and their sending church
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What's it like to be a missionary kid?
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Life at the coalface in North Karamoja
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Links to videos
Acts 14:22 and Ugandan Christianity
Preaching in Uganda
The book ministry of Langham Literature
Uganda missions history
Supporting overseas missions workers
Links to academic publishing
A Giant on Clay Legs? African Theological Education and the Formation of Missiocentric, Missionary-sending Church Leaders
(Global Missiology vol. 20.2, April 2023)
Encouraging and equipping church leaders in Uganda for cross-cultural mission engagement across East Africa
(Fuller Theological Seminary, Doctoral Dissertation in Intercultural Studies, June 2022)
Links to my guest podcast appearances
Global Mission in the 21st Century?
Building Strong Relationships with Partner Churches
Mission and Mutuality
Christmas Overseas
Top Ten Missiology books
Links to selections of my book reviews
The Missionary Theologian (Missions Round Table vol. 15.3, Sep 2020)
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Learning to Lead: The Making of a Christian Leader for Africa (Themelios Journal April 2023)
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The Five Phases of Leadership (The Global Anglican Journal, vol. 136.2, Summer 2022 - Not online)
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Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa (The Global Anglican Journal, vol. 133.4, Winter 2019 - Not online)
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Christian Theology and AFrican Traditions (The Global Anglican Journal, vol. 128.3, Autumn 2014 - Not online)
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