News and Views from the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology


Archive for the ‘Faculty Focus’ Category

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Faculty Focus: Patrice Penney and her passion for children at risk

September 1st, 2010

Patrice Penney graduated from Wheaton College in liberal arts and music, and then trained as a clinical social worker at the masters level. The degree in the US provides training similar to a psychologist, except that the focus is more on systematic cultural and social issues, such as families and children, poverty, ethnic and race relations, and related social justice issues. She has been practicing as a child, marriage and family counselor, or psychotherapist, for 27-years, and directed a Christian community mental health clinic in a low income diverse community outside Chicago for 17-years, before coming to Kenya. Patrice also lectured at Wheaton College for several years in their graduate psychology programme.

Patrice, what is your teaching philosophy?

Having been raised by a philosopher/educator father and a teacher mother, I think teaching is in my blood. While I think a strong curriculum is important, I am likely to teach it through interaction with Read the full story »

Faculty Focus: Dr. James Nkansah: imparting skills for ministry

August 9th, 2010

Dr. James Nkansah is the head of the theological studies department. He has a Bachelor of Theology from Pan Africa Christian College, a Masters of Divinity and a Masters of Theology from NEGST, and a PhD from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Dr. Nkansah, what is your teaching philosophy?

I seek to impart not only knowledge but also the skills to equip students for ministry. I teach by example and develop model leaders for the African Church. I teach to transform lives and  build  positive attitudes in students to be transformational leaders in society.

Tell us why you chose this statement as your teaching philosophy?

I chose the above statement as my teaching philosophy because that’s what Jesus Read the full story »

Faculty Focus: Dr. Stephen Sesi: a man with a big heart

July 8th, 2010

Dr. Stephen Sesi is the head of missions department. He has a Bachelor of Theology from Scott Theological College, a Master of Divinity from NEGST, a Masters in Theology and a PhD from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Other than teaching, what else do you do?

My wife and I run a children’s home in Kwale District, Makobe in Shimba Hills.  Currently the home has 45 children, orphans who are affected by HIV/AIDS. The age of the children ranges from 11 to 23 years. We have a number of young girls in college and high school.

What are some of the challenges that you encounter in running a children’s home?

The most challenging thing is making the home succeed and keeping the interest of the donors, and to do so we are forced to push the children to succeed. The other challenge Read the full story »

Faculty Focus: Dr. John Jusu and his passion for empowering people

May 26th, 2010

Dr. John Jusu is a lecturer in the NEGST educational studies department. His interests lie in educational research, especially curriculum development and delivery initiatives across Africa.

Tell us more about curriculum development.

I have developed a curriculum that is in use in eight different countries in Africa. These countries are Kenya, Burundi, South Africa, Mozambique, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Sudan, and Zimbabwe. I also do curriculum consultancy.

What is your teaching philosophy?

My teaching philosophy is more on the dialogical, experimental learner-driven methods. Students have experiences, and I need to provide to provide a context where they reflect on those experiences in a systematic and informed manner. This enhances Read the full story »

Faculty Focus: Dr. Peter Nyende and his passion for the Kingdom of God

April 26th, 2010

Dr Peter NyendeDr. Peter Nyende is the head of department of Biblical Studies and a lecturer in New Testament. He is passionate about a more reflective African Christianity. Dr. Nyende finds that in Africa, there can too much energy with too little reflection, which is the main reason why Dr. Nyende is involved in teaching and ministry work.

Dr. Nyende what is your teaching philosophy?
I believe that teaching is not just about passing information to students. Teaching is more about broadening knowledge and deepening insight. In addition to providing information, teaching is about inculcating proper attitudes towards a subject and about facilitating skills relevant to a particular discipline. In other words, the product of teaching should be subject-matter learning, healthy attitudes towards the subject, and growth of skills relevant to the discipline of the subject matter.

What are your current areas of research?
Academically, my area of research is Read the full story »

Faculty Focus: Dr. Caleb Kim preparing new doctoral program in intercultural studies

March 22nd, 2010

CALEB KIMDr. Caleb Chul-Soo Kim is an associate professor in the missions department.  Passionate about his work, which includes both teaching and research, he views his students as the primary reason for him to be here at NEGST. NEGST has offered doctoral programmes in biblical studies and translation. In 2006, Dr. Kim was appointed to prepare an additional doctoral program, a PhD in intercultural studies.

Dr. Kim, what is your teaching philosophy?
My teaching philosophy is primarily based on the virtue of sincerity and passion in Christian scholarship. I believe that students will learn best when a teacher continues quality research. My fundamental pedagogic goals are to help my students think critically in terms of Christian anthropological perspectives and to acquire missiological skills so that they can practice the incarnational lifestyle in various contexts. My goal for them is that they creatively build up their missionary methodology to be both faithful to the Bible and appropriate for their context.

My teaching philosophy is based on Read the full story »

Faculty Focus: Dr. Titus Kivunzi: Education for Measurable Results

March 3rd, 2010

 Dr. Titus KivunziDr. Titus Kivunzi, currently head of the pastoral studies department at NEGST, has been a lecturer here since 2003. Prior to that, he was a member of the board of governors of NEGST. Dr. Kivunzi was recently honored by Columbia University as alumni of the year.

Dr. Kivunzi, what is your teaching philosophy?

Teaching involves providing relevant information to students, making sure that they understand it to the extent that they can use it. Teaching must be geared toward measurable results, which is demonstrated when the students deliver their learning to the community they serve.

The reason I chose the above statement as my teaching philosophy is that it is God’s responsibility is to provide information; it is man’s
responsibility is to provide volition.


What do you do when you are not teaching?

I am involved in premarital and marital Read the full story »

Faculty Focus: Dr. John Evans: lighting fires for God’s Word in students’ hearts

January 28th, 2010

Dr. John EvansDr. John Evans is one of the newest members of the NEGST faculty. He began lecturing in Old Testament last month in the biblical studies department. His research interests are in Old Testament prophets, hermeneutics, Old Testament theology, and theological bibliography for the Old and New Testaments.

What is your teaching philosophy?
Long ago, I ran across a quote from the poet, Yeats. He wrote, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the igniting of a fire.”
I later discovered that Socrates had said much the same thing around 400BC. Though I seek to give to give my students the best content and as much content as I can, I am more concerned to ignite in students a passion for learning-especially God’s Word-which they will carry with them for a lifetime.

Tell us about your writing.

Along with several articles and reviews, I have written Read the full story »

Faculty Focus: Mrs Florence Mungathia: Guiding people to make progress in their lives

November 25th, 2009

Florence MungathiaMrs Florence Mungathia is a lecturer in Christian education studies department at NEGST. She is passionate about interacting with people and helping them to make progress in their lives through counseling sessions but more so in facilitating various kinds of training.

Mrs Mungathia’s teaching philosophy is to facilitate holistic transformation in the lives of her students, who will in turn be in a position to impact their families, churches and communities. 2 Timothy 2:2 “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others”. She believes that teaching is a calling from God. She is motivated to press onward because of the fulfillment that she gets when she has impacted a person’s life.

Florence first joined NEGST in 2002 as a student but also Read the full story »

Faculty Focus: Dr Henry Mutua: Students’ role in the learning process

October 28th, 2009

hmutuaDr Henry Mutua, a lecturer in NEGST missions department, says that faith is what impacts him to be what he is. That as a child of the living God, he is honored and privileged to participate in what God is doing to accomplish his Immanuel agenda.

“Participatory” best describes Dr Mutua’s teaching philosophy, which has been influenced by the writing of Latin-American scholar Paul Freire. Each student has a part to play in the learning process and, for that reason, students are key participants.

Dr Mutua has written several articles, including Complexity of migrant African Urbanites Read the full story »

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