Dr. Gregg Okesson, Dean of the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism, received Christianity Today’s 2021 book award in the Missions/Global Church category for his book A Public Missiology: How Local Churches Witness to a Complex World.

 “We are extremely proud of Dr. Okesson and honored to have such an esteemed professor on our faculty,” said Dr. Timothy C. Tennent, President of Asbury Theological Seminary.” Dr. Okesson’s scholarship and heart for global church and its mission is evident throughout his work.”

In his book, Dr. Okesson offers guidance to the complex challenges believers and local congregations face as they bring the gospel message to their communities. Using a variety of examples, Dr. Okesson shows ways that Christians can share the gospel message as they move between church, neighborhoods, workplaces, public spaces and home. Readers will find this book helpful as they see new ways to share their faith in all the realms in which they live and envision new approaches to public witness and social change.

“I am deeply honored by this award,” Dr. Okesson said. “I’ve dedicated this book to my villages in Tanzania and my students at my theological institution in Africa. They have taught me more than any others what it means for the church to be a hermeneutic of the gospel and to witness the Lordship of Christ within public spaces.”

Dr. Okesson served ten years at Scott Christian University in Kenya prior to coming to Asbury Seminary in 2011. He has also served as a pastor in upstate New York and a church-planter among a Muslim people-group in Tanzania. He is interested in the linkages between theology, mission and global realities, particularly those with poverty, development, power, institutions and social engagement.