Deepening faith for the church in Asia.
About Us
The Center for Theological Inquiry in Asia (CTIA) exists to establish a community of scholars and practitioners who support and strengthen the growing Asian church through sustained reflection on Scripture and Christian faith in the Asian context.
Who We Serve
The Church in Asia
Over 300 million Christians live in Asia, and thousands of new believers are added to this number daily. Yet very few theological resources are designed to meet the needs of these hundreds of millions. Asia’s cultural, social, and religious environments create distinctive challenges and opportunities for understanding and living out the good news of Jesus. At CTIA, we are working to create a new generation of resources designed to sustain and nourish this vibrant discipleship movement.
Our Neighbors
As we seek to strengthen and deepen the faith of Asian Christians, we aim to equip the church in its mission to the world. Asia is home to two-thirds of the world’s population, and Christians remain a small minority in almost every Asian nation. Although Christianity was born in Asia and includes many thriving indigenous church movements, it is still often viewed as a Western faith in conflict with local cultures. At CTIA, we are equipping Christians for faithful witness in Asian contexts, casting a vision for faith that is unswervingly devoted to the gospel and authentically at home in Asian contexts.
The Global Body of Christ
CTIA is primarily for the church in Asia as Christians in this region faithfully carry out their discipleship imperative. But we also recognize that the growing Asian church has critical contributions to offer to the global body of Christ. God’s design has always been to create a community from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation; only such a community can grasp the full depth of the gospel, because the church in every context has theological blind spots as well as unique insights into the good news. So at CTIA, we build resources for the church in Asia; but we also hope to speak from the church in Asia to the wider household of God.
How We Do It
Practical, Accessible Resources. We create and curate resources designed with the Asian church in mind. We hope that over time, this site will become a helpful repository of resources that aid the church’s mission in Asia.
Articles
Short, accessible pieces addressing questions that Asian Christians have to answer on a daily basis, such as “How should I respond to a government official’s request for a bribe in exchange for the permit I need to run my business?” Or “How can I best honor my non-believing parents when the usual ways of doing so involve practices associated with the majority religion in my place?”
Deep Dives
We also seek to help Christians think deeply about the big theological questions they face in many Asian contexts. In the Deep Dives section, you’ll find reflections on questions like: “How do Asian dynamics related to honor and shame help us understand the gospel more clearly?”
Other Media
Alongside our efforts on the site, we’re also working on other innovative resources designed to meet specific discipleship needs of Christians around the region.
Academic Resources. Alongside tools and resources written for everyday Christians, we are also committed to shaping and contributing to academic reflection on Scripture and Christian faith in the Asian context. We do this by coming alongside Asian evangelical scholars who are writing new textbooks, monographs, and academic articles related to our areas of focus. For approved projects, we offer advice, research support, and access to online and physical library resources.
Events. Beginning in late 2024, we will be hosting a mixture of online and in-person events designed to bring Christians together to consider the pressing questions facing the church in Asia.
Who We Are
CTIA is a research center hosted by the International Graduate School of Leadership (IGSL) in Manila. We operate in partnership with the Asia Graduate School of Theology (AGST) ThM/PhD in Theological Studies and the Asia Theological Association (ATA). As an ATA-affiliate research center, we seek to advance the mission of ATA and highlight the growing contributions of ATA scholars and publications.
Beatrice Victoria Ang (PhD, University of Edinburgh)
Director
Beatrice teaches courses in Church History and Historical Theology at the Biblical Seminary of the Philippines and the Asia Graduate School of Theology (ThM/PhD in Theological Studies and Church History). The title of her dissertation, for which she earned her doctoral degree in Systematic Theology, was “Ministering Between Heaven and Earth: John Chrysostom’s Theology and Practice of Church Leadership”. She has published two articles on Chrysostom and continues to pursue research and writing in the field of Patristics. She is also a co-editor of the Journal of Asian Evangelical Theology.
Stephen T. Pardue (PhD, Wheaton College)
CTIA Ambassador
Stephen serves as Program Director for the ThM/PhD in Theological Studies offered by AGST in collaboration with IGSL. He also serves as Associate Publications Secretary for ATA Publications. He is an American who grew up in the southern Philippines and he lives in Manila with his wife, Teri, and four children. His most recent book is Why Evangelical Theology Needs the Global Church (Baker Academic, 2023). Prior to this work, he co-edited Asian Christian Theology (ATA/Langham, 2019), Majority World Theology (IVP Academic, 2020), and the 6-volume Majority World Theology series (Eerdmans/Langham).
Dr. Timoteo Gener (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary)
2024-2025 Senior Fellow
Tim serves as president and professor of theology at FEBIAS College of Bible, Metro Manila. He was formerly chancellor and professor of theology at the Asian Theological Seminary. He is married to Caroline, and they have three young adult children: Mia, Chelsea, and Emil.
Tim chairs the theological commission of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) and is part of the Technical Panel on Christian Formation of the Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED). He has written essays in various books and theological journals. He is the general editor of Asian Christian Theology: Evangelical Perspectives (2019) and co-editor of Ama Namin: The Lord’s Prayer in Philippine Life and Spirituality (2023).
John Regolo S. Leones, Jr. (ThM, AGST)
2024-2025 Junior Fellow
Blog Articles Editor
John is a faculty member and current chair of the Theology Department at IGSL in Quezon City, Philippines. He is married to Awit and has two children, Timothy John and Trinity Jan. An ordained minister and church planter, he previously served as the pioneering pastor-teacher of Borongan City Evangelical Church in Borongan City, Eastern Samar, Philippines. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Theological Studies with AGST.
Matthias P.S. Gergan (PhD, Asbury Theological Seminary)
2024-2025 Junior Fellow
Deep Dives Editor
Matthias serves as Program Coordinator for the ThM/PhD in Theological Studies offered by AGST in collaboration with IGSL. He also serves as Project Editor for Non-Commentary Books for ATA Publications. His current research interests are World Christianity, the church in Asia, and the development of theological studies in Asia. Matthias is from a mixed Ladakhi and Lepcha heritage from the Indian Himalayan region. He currently lives in Dehradun in Uttarakhand with his wife Menguphrenuo, mother, and son. His most recent article is “Faith Seeking Understanding in the Indian Himalayan Region” in Insights Journal.
Modesto G. Biolango III (ThM, AGST)
2024-2025 Junior Fellow
Manager — Blog Articles
Modesto is an ordained minister within the Christian and Missionary Alliance Churches of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMACOP). He previously served as a theology instructor at Ebenezer Bible College and Seminary, Inc., in Zamboanga City, Philippines before moving to full-time pastoral ministry. He is currently a student in the PhD in Theological Studies program at AGST. When not teaching or fulfilling his ministerial duties, he enjoys having a cup of coffee with his wife, Weggie.
C. Paul Mojica (ThM, AGST)
2024-2025 Junior Fellow
Manager — Deep Dives
Paul is a faculty member at the Center for Biblical Studies – Institute and Seminary. Since 2009, he has been serving as a Pastor-Elder of FCF-Baguio Mission Centre. He contributes to collaborative works in philosophy and serves as an editor at Wise Ideas Publishing Co. Paul and his wife, Pauline, have been homeschooling their children, Paull Amos and Psalm Ayla. He is currently pursuing PhD in Theological Studies with AGST.
N. Noman Shahbaz (ThM candidate AGST),
2024-2025 Junior Fellow
Devotionals Manager
Noman serves as an assistant pastor at Assemblies of God Church in Korangi, Karachi, Pakistan. He also acts as a local facilitator for the Langham Preaching Seminars in Karachi. He previously served as adjunct faculty at St. Thomas’ Theological College. He is interested in doing expository preaching, studying historical and contextual theologies. He resides in Karachi with his wife and their two daughters. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Theological Studies at AGST.
Fran Flores (BA, University of the Philippines),
Aside from her work with CTIA, Fran serves as the administrator of the ThM and PhD in Theological Studies programs at Asia Graduate School of Theology, hosted by the International Graduate School of Leadership. She is married to Telo, who serves as a pastor at Jubilee Evangelical Church in Quezon City, Philippines.
