Multiplying Gospel Bridge Builders
While many Langham Scholars can recall a meaningful visit or conversation with our founder, John Stott, Ruth Padilla DeBorst (pictured above) has childhood memories of “Uncle John” sitting at her breakfast table. Ruth’s father, the Latin American theologian René Padilla, was among Stott’s closest friends.
“Some of my earliest memories are of John Stott preaching in Buenos Aires,” she recalls. “The conversations around the table, the give and take on both ends. I know his friendships with Latin American leaders were very significant in [shaping] Langham.”
As Ruth progressed through her studies, earning a Bachelors in Buenos Aires and a Master of Arts from Wheaton, she had thoughts of pursuing her PhD but felt she needed more life experience.
By the time John Stott and Chris Wright, Langham’s international ministries director, persuaded her to pursue her PhD in theology (with a focus on missiology and social ethics) from Boston University with support from Langham, Ruth was already an internationally sought-after speaker and writer.
So, why pursue her PhD? Ruth notes a PhD would both benefit the institutions and movements she leads, and open doors for the next generation of women leaders.
Training New Leaders
Today, through her writing and teaching opportunities, Ruth equips others to understand the Gospel, and then to take God’s truths and work them into hearts and minds outside seminary walls.
In her role as provost at the Center for Interdisciplinary Theological Studies (CETI), she guides 1,000+ students to become bridge builders to the gospel in their families, neighborhoods, and workplaces as they pastor churches, lead ministries, and shine Christ’s light into every corner.
“Change never happens imposed from the outside. It has to bubble up from the inside,” she says. “We need to help people facilitate the engagement of the Word with the realities of their context.”
With the platform of a PhD, studies show that Langham Scholars like Ruth will each go on to train 7,733 more leaders for the global church—leaders like Jocabed, one of Ruth’s students at CETI. Jocabed is heavily involved in helping to train pastors and lay leaders with Langham Preaching, and she serves as a missionary among her native Guna people in Panama, where the majority don’t know Christ.
Bringing Christ to the Culture
Jocabed’s family were among the first Christians in her community, and her grandfather was a missionary. Now, a missionary herself, she says, studying at CETI with Ruth helped her understand church history, theology, and how both relate to cultures today.
Jocabed shares, “We need to integrate more faith in Jesus into our identity and culture. [Trained leaders] like me can be a bridge to help people integrate faith and culture.”
Thank you for your faithful support, which helps strengthen the global church by making it possible for leaders like Ruth to multiply many more like Jocabed, who bring Christ into their cultures.
Learn how your partnership with Langham provides support for scholars like Ruth, who will go on to train 7,733 more leaders for the global church.
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