Presented (in a condensed version) by Dr. Joseph Bosco Bangura as the opening lecture at the official opening of the academic year at the Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, Leuven, 22 September 2025.
Even though the nascent sub-field of public missiology continues to attract scholarly attention, little research has explored what implications this emerging sub-discipline brings to the nexus of church life for minority Protestant-Evangelicalism in a secular and liberal (Flanders) Belgium. To respond to this impasse, this essay will be structured using a tri-cord analytical argumentation cluster: first, it will examine the background factors, definition and current trajectories of public missiology drawing on the most insightful sources shaping the field.
Second, it will discuss Belgium’s policy of liberal neutrality in tandem with the state’s recognition of religions in order to identify the challenges that affect the public missional relevance of the Protestant-Evangelical minority in Flemish Belgium.
Third, the essay will assess how, although Afro-Pentecostal Christianity is a recent missionary arrival, it can tap into the state’s recognition to contribute to Protestant-Evangelical minority’s public missiology suited for a secular, liberal and post-Catholic Belgium. The paper concludes by reflecting on how the phrase “for such a time as this,” invites western theological institutions to initiate mission practices with collaboration, anticipation and attractiveness.
Bangura, Joseph Bosco. “For Such a Time as This!”: Public Missiology in Anxious Times. Leuven: Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, 2025.