George W. Peters

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George W. Peters (born September 3, 1907 in Orloff , Saratov Oblast , Russia ; † December 24, 1988 in Fresno , California ) worked as a Bible school teacher in Saskatchewan ( Canada ) and as a professor of missiology in Dallas (USA) and Korntal-Münchingen (Baden-Württemberg). Through his publications, he significantly shaped the understanding of Protestant missiology.

life and work

Peters was born as the youngest son of a German Mennonite family in the Mennonite settlement Am Trakt on the Volga in Russia . On November 29, 1919, he lost his father and many relatives in the Orloff massacre . He finished college in 1924, left for Mexico and came to Canada in 1926, where he lived with his mother in Saskatchewan. After his conversion he attended the Winkler Bible School in Herbert at Swift Current and in 1932 worked as an evangelist and preacher with the Mennonites there. A gifted orator, he was in 1932 teacher of dogmatic theology , exegesis of the New Testament and missiology at the small Bethany Bible Institute in Hepburn in Saskatoon . During this time he and a colleague from Bethany founded the Western Children's Mission as the first organized missionary movement of the Mennonite Brethren. He received his BA through courses at the University of Saskatchewan and one year at Tabor College. In addition to his work as a teacher, he studied at the Northern Baptist Seminary in Elgin near Chicago and St. Andrews College in Saskatoon, which he earned a Bachelor of Divinity completed. After studying missiology, he received his doctorate in 1947 from the Kennedy School of Missions Hartford in Connecticut with a dissertation on the history of the Mennonite Brethren . From 1947 on he worked as administrator for the development of the study program until 1952, then until 1955 as academic dean and until 1960 as dean at the Pacific Bible Institute (now Fresno Pacific University ) in Fresno, California. From 1960 he was a pastor in Buhler , Kansas , for two years before teaching as professor of missiology at the Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas , Texas in 1962 . As a consultant to the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield , Illinois , he initiated the start of a doctoral program in missiology.

He has written numerous articles in magazines such as Christian Leader , Mennonite Brethren Herald and others, and has published many mission science books as an author.

After his retirement in 1979 he took over the management of the newly founded "Seminar for Missionary Training" of the Working Group on Evangelical Missions in Monbachtal ( Bad Liebenzell ), from which the Academy for World Mission in Korntal-Münchingen later emerged. In 1987 he gave up the reins and lived with his children in Fresno until his death. A special achievement was the impetus for the establishment of the Working Group for Evangelical Missiology (AfeM), which today awards the George W. Peters Prize for special scientific work in the field of missiology .

Peters married Susan Lepp from Dalmeny , Saskatchewan in 1936 . The couple have four children.

Publications (selection)

  • The growth of Foreign Missions in the Mennonite Brethren Church , Hillsboro, KS, 1947.
  • Saturation Evangelism , Zondervan, Grand Rapids 1970.
  • A Biblical Theology of Mission , Moody, Chicago 1975.
  • Missionary action and biblical mandate: A Theologie der Mission , Verlag der Liebenzeller Mission , Bad Liebenzell 1977, ISBN 978-3-88002-033-7 .
  • Evangelism: total - penetrating - comprehensive , VLM, Bad Liebenzell 1977, ISBN 978-3-88002-044-3 .
  • God is calling employees, including you !? , VLM, Bad Liebenzell 1981, ISBN 978-3-88002-137-2 .
  • Church growth : A theological plan , VLM, Bad Liebenzell 1982, ISBN 978-3-88002-166-2 .
as a co-author
  • Balance sheet and plan: Mission on the threshold of the third millennium , VLM, Bad Liebenzell 1988, ISBN 978-3-88002-337-6 .
  • Biblical Order - Missionary Action: A Biblical Theology of Mission , VLM, Bad Liebenzell 2005, ISBN 978-3-921113813 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See bethany.sk.ca
  2. ↑ See mention of the Kennedy School of Missions in the History of Hartford Seminary section ( Memento of August 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) on hartsem.edu
  3. ↑ See dts.edu
  4. ↑ Bibliography Peters in: Bilanz und Plan: Mission on the threshold to the third millennium , (p. 43 ff.) VLM, Bad Liebenzell 1988, ISBN 978-3-88002-337-6 .
personal data
SURNAME Peters, George W.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Peters, George William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American evangelical missionary scholar
DATE OF BIRTH September 3, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Orloff , Russia
DATE OF DEATH December 24, 1988
Place of death Fresno , California