Gordon-Conwell Appoints Acclaimed Fuller Missiologist as Next President

By amazon Wednesday, October 17, 2018 Comment Edit

Scott Sunquist will be the third global missions expert leading a top seminary.

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary has appointed Scott W. Sunquist—dean of Fuller Theological Seminary’s School of Intercultural Studies—as its next president, making it the third major evangelical seminary to put a missiologist at its helm.

With an interdisciplinary background studying evangelism, church history, and the global church, Sunquist reflects the missional focus at Gordon-Conwell and the growing presence of missions experts in seminary leadership. He will succeed current president Dennis Hollinger, who will retire at the end of this school year.

“The appointment of Scott Sunquist signals to me the commitment of the trustees to affirm the strong theological heritage of Gordon-Conwell, as well as the need for a leading seminary like it to engage in the major cultural and ecclesial challenges we face in our day,” said Timothy Tennent, president of Asbury Theological Seminary and a Gordon-Conwell alumnus, in a statement to CT.

Sunquist will join Tennent and Denver Seminary’s Mark Young as missiologists appointed to lead major seminaries accredited by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS).

“Scott Sunquist’s disciplinary specialties suit Gordon-Conwell’s mission and current direction quite well,” said ATS executive director Frank Yamada.

“While Sundquist is an ordained minister in the PCUSA, presidents of ATS schools come from many diverse contexts,” he said. “The most common candidates come from the church—denominational executives or executive pastors of larger congregations—but many come from theological schools, quite commonly as former academic deans and faculty with administrative experience.”

A multidenominational ...