Carey Centre for Mission Research and Formation

God’s mission includes all that God wants for the world, and the participation of God’s people in bringing it about.

The contexts of mission are always changing, presenting new challenges and creating fresh opportunities.  That’s why at Carey we value research that tries to understand this changing world in the light of Christian faith in order to shape the practice of mission.

Students are doing this from their first semester, as in their courses, reflective practice and vocational tracks they connect what they are learning to how they live and serve. Our part-time Certificate and Diploma in Intercultural Practice (non-NZQA), commonly referred to as Mission Track, provide a unique opportunity for followers of Jesus to journey together for the purposes of mission participation, cultivating attentiveness to God, awareness of mission contexts and the ability to relate well interculturally.

At a more advanced academic level some students undertake research projects with a mission focus as undergraduate or postgraduate research essays, masters theses or doctoral dissertations.

Recent mission research topics include:

• • The participation of indigenous peoples in mission
  • The transmission of power in African Initiated Churches
  • Maintaining unity between first and second generations in Chinese churches in Auckland
  • Transformational community in Kolkata’s red-light district
  • Hearing the Bible with women trafficked into prostitution
  • Cross-cultural encounters of western missionaries in China, 1860-1920