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The J Christy Wilson, Jr. Center for World Missions exists to assist the local
church in fulfilling its global mission by...
(1) engaging the Seminary community in the missionary enterprise of the church via mentored cross-cultural internships for students and strategic cross-cultural teaching opportunities for faculty members.
(2) establishing a missions and prayer resource center for Gordon-Conwell alumni and the churches they serve. This initiative includes a major web based initiative to provide missions resources to the global church.
(3) equipping leaders in the global church through creative, non-degree, extended educational initiatives which would help to bring church and mission leaders to the Gordon-Conwell campus for missions training as well as study and reflection.
(4) providing a platform for seasoned missionaries and leaders in the global Christian movement to come to Gordon-Conwell as guest lecturers and/or missionaries in residence to help foster a greater sensitivity to the global context of Christian ministry. Approved missionaries-in-residence are able to live in the Wilson House on campus and lecture to missions classes at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
The J Christy Wilson, Jr. Center for World Missions was inaugurated on October 5, 2000 to assist the church in fulfilling Christ's Great Commission. The center was established in honor of the late Dr. J Christy Wilson Jr., known throughout the world for his passion for missions and his desire to see new churches planted in each of the remaining unreached people groups of the world.
During
his 17 years of full-time service at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Dr. J Christy
Wilson, Jr. was professor of Missions and Evangelism, Dean of the Chapel, and senior
program associate for the Adoniram Judson Gordon Center for World Missions through
the Ockenga Institute, the seminary's distance learning and continuing education
ministry.
Born and raised in Tabriz, Iran, Dr. Wilson served for 22 years as a teacher and missionary in Afghanistan, where he became acting principal of a government high school, taught private English lessons to the Crown Prince, and conducted an English course for Afghan diplomats in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also served for 11 years as pastor of the Community Christian Church in Kabul, was full-time chaplain to the international community in Afghanistan, and with his wife, Betty, founded the School for the Blind in Kabul.
Also serving for four years on the staff of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Dr. Wilson was instrumental in developing the first major IVCF Missions Conference, the forerunner of the triennial Urbana Convention, now the largest student mission conference in the world.
Dr. Wilson received a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Seminary and a Doctor of Philosophy in Oriental Studies at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He also studied at Cambridge University in England and pursued post-doctoral studies in linguistics at Columbia Teachers College and Biblical Seminary in New York City.
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Doug Birdsall is director of the Wilson Center. A graduate of Gordon-Conwell, he returned to the school in 1999 to help establish the Wilson Center. He is seconded to the seminary for 20 percent of his time by Asian Access/Life Ministries, an organization that focuses on evangelism and church multiplication, of which he is president. In addition, he is International Chairman of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. Rev. Birdsall is a graduate of Wheaton College, Gordon-Conwell, and Harvard University. He and his wife, Jeanie, have three children, Stacia, Judd and Jessamin, who were all born and reared in Japan. |
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Kristin Gelinas serves as the Global Programs Administrator at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. She works directly with Doug Birdsall, Director of the Wilson Center, to help integrate the missions programs and events at the Seminary. Kristin graduated from Gordon-Conwell in 2003 with an M.A. in religion. She earned a B.A. in psychology with a minor in missions at Gordon College where she later worked as a Residence Hall Director. She has participated in several missions trips and is passionate about equipping and mobilizing the Church for outreach both locally and abroad. |
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The Wilson Center is located on the main floor of the Academic Center at the South Hamilton campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. |
Make a difference in global Christianity! To give tax-deductable gifts to the work and ministry of the J Christy Wilson, Jr. Center for Wolrd Missions, please make checks out to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, designated for the Wilson Center, and send to the address below.
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