Read letters from John and Anne Wheeler-Waddell
March 1, 2009
January 3, 2009
November 29, 2008
June 27, 2008
March 1, 2008
December 1, 2007
John and Anne Wheeler-Waddell
Email: Anne and John Wheeler-Waddell
John and Anne ended their service with PC(USA) after many years on February 28, 2009. They are available to speak as schedule permits. See their contact information on the mission speakers page.
When they returned to Ethiopia in May 2004 John and Anne joined the teaching staff of the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST) in Addis Ababa. Started in 1997, EGST is the first graduate theological school in Ethiopia offering masters-level training in systematic theology, biblical studies and church history. John and Anne were charged with developing a program in missiology, as the churches in Ethiopia are experiencing tremendous growth among many different people groups across the country.
EGST is a collaborative effort of the various evangelical churches in Ethiopia and is owned by the Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church, the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus and the Ethiopian Evangelical Churches Fellowship. The director, Dr. Debela Birri, works with staff from the supporting churches and a student body of 60 who are currently pursuing studies.
John and Anne return to Ethiopia after an extended period in the United States which included further studies and serving a year and a half as missionaries in residence in the People in Mutual Mission Office of Worldwide Ministries Division in Louisville assisting in pastoral care with mission workers. Previously they had served for more than three years in Ethiopia helping to start the Charles Haspels Bible School with the South West Bethel Synod in Gatcheb.
Before moving to Ethiopia in 1997, John and Anne served in teaching and pastoral roles in Kikuyu, Kenya. Shortly after their marriage in 1991, they moved to Kenya where Anne was on staff of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa’s (PCEA) Pastoral Training Institute teaching New Testament. John was chaplain and taught Christian religious education and physics at Alliance High School (Boys), founded by the Alliance of Protestant Missions in 1926 as the first secondary school for Africans in Kenya.
Before her home assignment and study leave in 1989-1990, Anne had been assigned to Chogoria Presbytery for six years as pastor for high school students in three rural presbyteries north of Nairobi on the east side of Mt. Kenya. She also helped start and coordinate 10 adult study groups in the theological education by extension program established by the PCEA.
Having grown up in Menlo Park, California, Anne earned a B.A. from Occidental College in Los Angeles. For one year she taught English and Bible to Ethiopian girls in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as a volunteer for the former United Presbyterian Church. Following that experience she studied at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and earned a Master of Divinity degree.
Before her assignment to Kenya, she worked with the interdenominational African Enterprise in Pasadena, meeting and working with African evangelists and pastors who came to the United States. In 1991 she completed her Master of Theology in missiology from Fuller Theological Seminary’s School of World Mission. Her thesis was on “The Role of the Pastor as Teacher in the Presbyterian Church of East Africa.”
In June 2006, Anne was awarded a Doctor of Ministry from the School of Theology of Fuller Theological Seminary. Her final project was entitled “Cultivating Theological and Spiritual Reflection: Principles for Sustaining a Long-Term Ministry Among Cross-Cultural Mission Workers.”
A native Texan, John earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, and a master’s in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He was a U.S. Navy pilot for 11 years before earning his Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary. Ordained in February 1992 by Kikuyu Presbytery in Kenya, John is now a member of New Covenant Presbytery. Anne is a member of San Fernando Presbytery.
Birthdays:
Anne - November 3
John - August 27
