Marcia Bunge

I have a PhD in theology from the University of Chicago and currently work as Professor of Theology and Humanities at Christ College, Valparaiso University. I am also the Director of a new “Childhood Studies, Religion, and Ethics Project” which aims to strengthen theological and ethical reflection on children and childhood, and co-chair the “Childhood studies and Religion Consultation”, which is a new program unit of the American Academy of Religion. I recently edited a book called The Child in Christian Thought and am now writing a book on the Vocation of Parenting and editing a collection of essays on Biblical Perspectives on Children. I am blessed by God by having two children: Anja(3) and Isaac (10).

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Shiferaw Michael

I am married to Seble Gebru and we have 3 children and a grandson.  We expect to have our second grandchild in the third quarter of this year.  I have MA in Organizational Leadership from Eastern University in Pennsylvania and LLM degree from Columbia University in New York.  I was called into the ministry of Compassion International by the Lord and my engagement in this great ministry opened my eyes and heart for ministry to children.  It is a really joy for me to challenge, encourage and equip churches on how to let children go to Jesus. I am the founder and Director of a child focused organization called Child Development Training and Research Center that serves all the churches in Ethiopia.  The main focus of the Center is to train children Sunday school teachers, pastors, evangelists and church leaders on childhood and ministry to children.

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Bill Prevette

Country of Origin: USA

I am probably the most unlikely person to be working with children and youth. I was raised in a Methodist Children's home with 350 other boys and girls in North Carolina, USA. This was during the 1960s at the height of the civil rights era in the American South. Sadly, I wrongly perceived that the adults at the Home were hypocrites and not concerned for our well-being. As a university student, I rejected the Christian gospel as an answer for life's important questions. In University, I spent my time studying counter-culture politics and physical chemistry, a bad combination for a anarchist. However, my life changed drastically in 1981 when I had a existential encounter with Jesus Christ.

After that experience, my wife Ky and I began serving children and youth who were at-risk from abandonment, exploitation, poverty and neglect. This has led us to live and work for the past 28 years in Los Angeles, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Nepal, and Eastern Europe. We are global nomads (i.e. missionaries) with the Assemblies of God. In addition to my work as a practitioner and activist for children, I completed an MA in International Development and a PhD through the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. My doctoral research was a 5-year field-based investigation of faith-based organizations and local evangelical churches in Romania responding to the crisis for children after the fall of Communism. I have been married to Ky for 29 years and we have a wonderful 21 year old son, Daniel. Children and youth have been an important 'theological pointer' in our lives and we are honored to work with the Child Theology Movement.

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Wendy Strachan

Country of Origin: Australia

At the age of 15, I began teaching Scripture to a group of 23 three-and four year old Sunday School children  - and there began a lifetime commitment to children.  My educational qualifications are in Special Education: for 11 years,  I taught children with intellectual disabilities in urban and rural Australian schools.  In 1983-4, I taught in a secondary school Papua New Guinea.  Soon after that, I joined the Primary Schools Department of Scripture Union in Queensland Australia, and after 6 years, I volunteered to work with SU in Africa where I lived in both Mombasa and later Nairobi for 12 years, where I became the Children's Ministry Coordinator for SU Africa.   These were life-changing years as I was confronted with the circumstances in which children and families find themselves - and for which there are no easy answers.

For the past 5 years, I have lived back in Queensland working with SU International in the same role: helping those involved in children's ministry to be thoughtful practitioners.  The privilege of the role is to be involved with many passionate people around the world.  And to relax?  I'm involved as a volunteer with the L'Arche community in my home town of Brisbane and enjoy watching cricket.

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Sunny Tan

Country of Origin: Malaysia

I am a Malaysian of Chinese descent whose grandfather migrated from China to Malaya for economic reasons. As a young man, my father became a Christian. In the first few years of their married life, my parents rented a room within a Baptist Church compound; hence, I basically grew up in a church environment shaped by Southern Baptist missionaries from North America. As a young boy of 11years, I was taught by a missionary to pray “Yes, Lord! Yes and Always Yes!” Thus, since my teenage years, I knew I would end up in the “full-time” Christian vocation. In 1974, I enrolled at the Malaysia-Singapore Baptist Theological Seminary for studies. Upon graduation in 1979, I pastored a Baptist church. I was pastor of this church for 11 years. In between those years I earned my Master of Theology at Regent College, Vancouver. In 1994, I joined the faculty of the Malaysia Baptist Theological Seminary; and in 2003, I completed my doctoral studies at the Asia Graduate Baptist Theological Seminary, Philippines. I am married to Rosalind and we have a daughter, Sarah (23) and a son, Asher (17).

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Keith White

I am the husband of Ruth and we have four children. Our family home is called Mill Grove and 1,200 children and adults see it as their home. Mill Grove is my life. I also preach, lecture at Spurgeon’s college UK and teach on HCD courses at MBTS. I am a writer, currently finishing a new Bible for ordinary Hindus, Muslims and people everywhere. I am trained and experienced in: Literature, Theology, Sociology, Child Development, Theology, social work, and Community Development. My PhD was on Pandita Ramabai, a female Indian theologian. I love mountaineering, sailing, music and chess.

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Haddon Willmer

I have been married to Hilary for 38 years and we have three adopted children, and five grandchildren, the oldest of whom, Nathaniel, has lived with us for seven years. I am a retired Professor of Theology at University of Leeds, England, where I taught church history, theology and politics (Bonhoeffer, Barth, missiology, forgiveness and politics) for 32 years. I took sabbatical studies in Germany, India and USA.

Now, I am a Baptist preacher, militantly lay and sceptically ecumenical, work for the Coalition for the removal of pimping, supervise research at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies and teach occasionally in Osijek, Croatia. I am concerned about the de-Christianisation of Europe. I was glad to be recruited by Keith to give my retirement to Child Theology but all these things leave no time for painting!

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John Collier

I am a physician but I have worked for most of my life in research administration. I went into medicine in order to serve the Kingdom of God and in recent years I have had new opportunities to develop this aspect of my life, principally with children at risk in Brazil, Nepal and Uganda.

I have also recently completed an MTh at Spurgeon’s College, London which helps me understand what the theologians are saying in our meetings! All these things have come together in the Child Theology Movement, where I am the Company Secretary, arranging the various meetings and publications.