Who Are We?
GNSES Launch in Amsterdam
The Global Network of Spirit-Empowered Scholars was launched under the leadership of Dr. Billy Wilson on June 19th, 2023 in Amsterdam as part of Empowered21’s annual Scholars Consultation. Dr. Wilson outlined the four pillars of Spirit-Empowered scholarship as follows:
- Scholarship to build the Spirit-Empowered Movement.
- Scholarship to help the world understand who we are.
- Scholarship that connects the generations and helps us reach EveryONE on earth.
- Scholarship that flows from service and love.
The program was concluded with fraternal greetings from the Asian Pentecostal Society (Jun Kim), the World Alliance for Pentecostal Theological Education (Barry Saylor), the European Pentecostal-Charismatic Research Association (Jean-Daniel Pluss), and the Church of Salvation and Healing, East Africa (Julia Owiti–online).
GNSES Global Co-Chairs
Wonsuk Ma (Ph.D., Fuller), a Korean Pentecostal scholar, serves as Co-Chair of the Global Network of Spirit-Empowered Scholars (GNSES) of Empowered21. He hosted the 2021 Scholars Conference (led by Dr. Harold Hunter) in his Oxford school. His first participation in Scholars Consultation was the 2016 London meeting (led by Dr. Vinson Synan). From the 2017 Singapore Consultation, he, with his co-chair, has organized the annual Consultations and co-edited and published the Consultation books. He formerly served as a missionary in the Philippines, Executive Director of the Oxford Center for Mission Studies, and now Distinguished Professor of Global Christianity at Oral Roberts University. His publication includes Until the Spirit Comes: The Spirit of God in the Book of Isaiah (T & T Clark, 1999), (with Julie C. Ma) Mission in the Spirit: Towards a Pentecostal/Charismatic Missiology (Regnum Books, 2010), and Mission in the Spirit: Formation, Theology, and Praxis (Regnum, 2023).
Opoku Onyinah serves as Co-Chair of the Global Network of Spirit-Empowered Scholars (GNSES) of Empowered21. He is the immediate past president of Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council and the immediate past chairman of the Church of Pentecost, Ghana, with branches in 135 countries. He was also the first international mission direction of the Church of Pentecost and the founding rector of Pentecost University. Currently, he lectures at Pentecostal University, Accra, Ghana, and is the president of the Bible Society of Ghana. He is also a co-chair of Africa Pentecostal Mission and a Global Council member of the Lausanne Movement. His publications include Pentecostal Exorcism: Witchcraft and Demonstration in Ghana (Deo, 2012), Spiritual Warfare: A Center of Pentecostal Theology Short Introduction (CPT, 2012), and Apostles and Prophets: The Ministry of Apostles and Prophets Throughout the Generations (Wipf & Stock).
