Keynote Speaker

Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu PhD, an ordained minister of the Methodist Church Ghana is Baëta-Grau Professor of Contemporary African Christianity and Pentecostal/Charismatic Theology at the Trinity Theological Seminary, Accra, Ghana. He is also the Seminary’s Director of Graduate Studies and chairs its Center for the Study of Christianity in Africa. Rev. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu studied at the Trinity Theological Seminary and the University of Ghana and in the year 2000, he obtained a PhD in Theology from the University of Birmingham, UK. He speaks frequently on contemporary Christian issues to evangelical groups and at academic conferences across the world. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu’s research interests include African Pentecostal/Charismatic and New Religious Movements, African immigrant Christianity and Religious and Media in Africa. He has served as visiting scholar to Harvard University (2004); Luther Seminary, Minnesota (2007); and the Overseas Ministries Study Center, an affiliate institution of the Yale Divinity School, New Haven (2012). Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu is a member of the Lausanne Theology Working Group and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Oxford Center for Mission Studies, UK. He has served as pastor of the Legon Interdenominational Church, the Atomic Hills United Church and now worships at the Tema Joint Church as Associate Minister.

Rev. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu is author of African Charismatics: Current Developments within Independent Indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2005); Christianity, Missions and Ecumenism in Ghana (Accra: Asempa Publishers, 2011); Contemporary Pentecostal Christianity: Interpretations from an African Context (Oxford: Regnum, 2013); and Jesus our Immanuel: An Exercise in Homiletic Christology (Accra: Africa, Europe and Asia Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2013) and co-editor of African Christian Presence in the West (Trenton, New Jersey: African World Press, 2011); His latest work, Sighs and Signs of the Spirit: Ghanaian Perspectives on Pentecostal and Renewal to be published simultaneously by Regnum African and Regnum International is already in print. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu is on the international editorial boards of several journals including journal of Religion in Africa, Material Religion and The Journal of Ecclesiastical History based in Cambridge. He has also just being appointed as Contributing Editor of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research. This year Rev. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu was the Main Speaker of Commencement on both campuses of the Asbury Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida and Lexington, Kentucky in the USA. At the second event that took place at the Lexington campus on John Wesley Day, 24 May 2014, Rev. Prof. Asamoah-Gyadu received a Doctor of Divinity Degree (Honoris Causa) from the Asbury Theological Seminary. He is married to Theodora and they have three children: Theophil, Griselda and Emmanuel.

Employment History

• Director of Graduate studies, Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Ghana (2009-Date).
• Full Professor, Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Ghana (2008-Date).
• Vice-President, Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Ghana (2007-2009).
• Academic Dean, Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Ghana (2005-2007).
• Associate professor, Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Ghana (2005-2008).
• Adjunct Lecturer, Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission & Culture, Akropong, Ghana (2004-Date).
• Senior Lecturer, Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Ghana (2003-2005).
• Adjunct Lecturer, Central University College, Accra, Ghana (2001-2007).
• Adjunct Lecturer, Methodist University College, Accra, Ghana (2001-Date).
• Lecturer, Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Ghana (1994-Date).
• Teaching Assistant, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana (1992-1994).
• Religious Studies Teacher, Presbyterian Secondary School, Agona Nsaba, Ghana (1988-1991).

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy in Theology, 2000, University of Birmingham, UK.
• Master of Philosophy in the Study of Religions, 1994, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.
• Bachelor of Arts (honours in the Study of Religions and Sociology, 1987, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.
• Certificate in Pastoral Ministry, 1986, Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Ghana.

Rev. Prof. J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu was elected to the Fellowship of the Academy in 2015