Asian Theological Academy Refresher Course held in Sri Lanka
The group pictured in Trinity College Chapel in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The chapel stands out as a unique Anglican church, blending together traditional Buddhist and Indigenous architectural elements.
In late May 2025, the Asian Theological Academy (ATA)’s Refresher Course took place in Kandy, Sri Lanka, with support from USPG. This year’s theme, “Reconstructing Theological Formation for Transformation,” invited church leaders, theologians, and community leaders from across Asia to imagine faith not as a static tradition, but as a living, breathing hope and response to the troubles of this world.
Participants from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka gathered for a three-week course engaging with scripture, theology, and social realities in new and challenging ways.
In his keynote address, The Revd Canon Dr Peniel Rajkumar, Global Theologian and Director of Global Mission at USPG, urged participants to
engage with the margins as sacred spaces of divine self-disclosure
For it is in places of struggle, silence, and vulnerability, he argued, that the divine voice often speaks loudest.
In many parts of the world, especially in the Global South, pastors and lay leaders have little access to ongoing theological education. The ATA Refresher Course is designed to fill that gap — offering a space for leaders to reflect, learn, and return to their contexts renewed and better equipped to lead with hope and justice.
The Refresher Course is aimed at both clergy and lay leaders and focusses on a specific topic that combines theology, biblical studies, social analysis, and contextual learning. In keeping with its grassroots ethos, participants of the Refresher Course this year also visited the Tulana Research Centre to meet its founder, Fr Aloysius Pieris, a long-time supporter of ATA considered to be the founder of Asian Liberation Theology.
To learn more about USPG’s commitment to transformative theological formation, visit: https://uspg.org.uk/cross-regional-work.