Grant for Global Christianity course awarded to OC’s Ben Langford and Peter Cariaga

The grant helped Langford and Cariaga revise Global Christianity as an online Bible course; Cariaga also presented scholarship and secured a grant for church service.

Oklahoma Christian University’s Director of the Center for Global Missions Ben Langford and adjunct Bible professor Peter Cariaga secured a grant to develop “Global Christianity” as an online course, which they recently co-taught in January and summer 2021. The course, originally offered online every two years during summer and winter sessions, will now be offered in regular semester sessions, providing more opportunities for students to take the course. Surveying Christianity as it is practiced on five continents (Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, and North America), the course pays special attention to how regional history and sociocultural contexts have shaped Christian faith and theology in specific places.

Over the past 10 years, Langford and his team have taught missions from the perspective of the Missio Dei, or the Mission of God. 

“That is the belief that it is God's mission and not ours,” he said. “Our work then is to discern what God is doing through His Spirit and join him as he takes the lead.

“As we train students for cross-cultural mission work from the perspective that it's God's mission and that He is the primary actor in the world by his Spirit, it became apparent to us that educating students about what God is already doing around the world in the Global Church is crucial. If we are to prepare students to participate in God's mission throughout the world, then we need to help students discern and understand what God is doing throughout the world.”

The grant helped fund the development of an online version of the course, which was originally developed as an in-person class. The value of the online version is that it will allow Global Christianity to be offered more often than every two years. 

In addition to helping Langford with the grant, Cariaga was also accepted to co-present a conference paper with Dr. Anne Carter Walker. The paper was for the Religious Education Association’s 2021 virtual meeting, which he then also submitted to the REA’s journal, “Religious Education.” Cariaga also completed Duke University’s Divinity School training program, “Foundations of Christian Leadership.” Finally, he received a grant from Duke this year for a traditioned innovation project with the Serve Midtown Church in Oklahoma City.