Alumna Anneke Stasson Presents at Missio Nexus North American Mission Leaders Conference
Anneke Stasson, a 2013 graduate of the Division of Religious and Theological Studies at Boston University, presented at the North American Mission Leaders Conference hosted by Missio Nexus in Dallas on September 19. She was invited as a representative of the Evangelical Missiological Society, a co-host of the conference, and her presentation was entitled, “Walter and Ingrid Trobisch and a Missiology of ‘Couple Power.’” Through her presentation, Stasson explored the way in which the Trobisches exemplified what Dana Robert has called “the missiology of the Christian home.” She unpacked the historical features of the missiology of the Christian home and examined the way in which the Trobisches departed from their missiological predecessors. Although the Christian home has traditionally been the domain of women missionaries, the Trobisches’ missiology of “couple power” blurred the boundaries between men’s work and women’s work. Both spouses spoke in public, wrote books, and, at least initially, both took care of the children. By talking about the Trobisches’ division of labor on the mission field and their work-family balance, Stasson aimed to get a conversation started about these issues in current evangelical mission. Her presentation was followed by a vigorous discussion about the gendered expectations of missionaries and mission agencies and the need to think creatively about our division of labor on the mission field.