Our People

David Baldwin

 
 

David Baldwin, BSc, PCGE, BD, TESOL, MA

 

Director of Global Mission

 
Oak Hill is about taking the Bible very seriously, training to a high standard, knocking off corners and serving local churches across the globe by providing well rounded gospel servants who stay the course."

David is convinced that God loves human diversity, delighted that the gospel is the answer to the longings of all peoples everywhere and passionate about the cross-cultural mission adventure.

After graduating from Belfast Bible College in the 90s, David, along with his wife Maura and their four kids, lived and worked in Ethiopia for 11 years. As members of Serving in Mission they were engaged in Bible teaching and using English Language Teaching in urban outreach. Since returning from Africa, they have served in two local independent churches in Reading, helping them engage with urban internationals, and are now getting involved in a cross-cultural church re-vitalization project in the West Midlands.

So many UK churches are seeking to connect with the many people from overseas living in their own back yards. This awareness has sparked a desire in David and Maura to broaden that ministry through 2:19. In a nutshell, 2:19 exists to help local churches engage with the nations living in their communities. For David, one of the most exciting things about the new look suite of Oak Hill modules is a course specifically designed to help people in local churches think through both theologically, and pragmatically, the amazing new opportunities that immigration brings.

Teaching cultural studies and missions at Oak Hill is a frustrating joy. It's frustrating when we often see the world ethnocentrically, myself included, and fail to calibrate our eyes to a global horizon. It's a joy when the lights go on in students' eyes; that our little world is only a small part of God's great and diverse world, and that we can't even study theology from a culturally-neutral starting point. All graduates, regardless of where they are heading, are encouraged to think globally about their own culture, the cultures of others and the power of the gospel to cross all cultural barriers.