Cathy Ross (born 1961) is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

-born academic and scholar of

missiology Missiology is the academic study of the Christian mission history and methodology. It began to be developed as an academic discipline in the 19th century. Definition Broadly speaking, missiology is "an interdisciplinary field of inquiry into Ch ...

. She leads the Pioneer Mission Leadership Training centre of the

Church Mission Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British Anglican mission society working with Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as ...

, in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, England. She is also

canon theologian Canon () is a Christian title usually used to refer to a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, in one of the houses within the precinct of ...

Leicester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Martin, Leicester, commonly known as Leicester Cathedral, is a Church of England cathedral in Leicester, England, and the seat of the Bishop of Leicester. One of the city centre's five surviving medieval ch ...

. She is the author of ''Women with a Mission: Rediscovering Missionary Wives in Early New Zealand.''

Biography

Born in New Zealand, Ross graduated from the University of Auckland in 1983. She worked for a time as a teacher of French and German. In 1991, she went to the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

(then known as

Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

), as a mission partner with the New Zealand Church Mission Society. She also served in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

and

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

. In the late 1990s, she studied at the

Melbourne College of Divinity The University of Divinity is an Australian collegiate university with a specialised focus in divinity and associated disciplines. It is constituted by twelve theological colleges from seven denominations and three schools. The University of Di ...

, where she completed a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1998. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Auckland in 2004. She has taught at the Bible College of New Zealand. Ross moved to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to work with the Church Mission Society in 2005. She was the head for CMS's mission exchange and the scholarship program. She also held an appointment as Tutor of Contextual Theology at

Ripon College Cuddesdon Ripon College Cuddesdon (RCC) is a Church of England seminary, theological college in Cuddesdon, a village outside Oxford, England. The College trains men and women for ministry in the Church of England: stipendiary, non-stipendiary, local orda ...

. In August 2008, Ross became the general secretary of the International Association of Mission Studies. She led the organisation for eight years, stepping down in 2016. She was installed as canon theologian at Leicester Cathedral in 2018. In May 2019, Ross was selected to lead Church Mission Society's Pioneer Mission Leadership Training programme in

Works

Ross has written on pioneer women's mission work. She authored a book examining the lives of four women who engaged in mission with their husbands in New Zealand in the 1800s. The book, entitled ''Women with a Mission: Rediscovering Missionary Wives in Early New Zealand,'' was published in 2006''.'' The women featured in the book are Charlotte Brown, Elizabeth Colenso, Kate Hadfield, and Anne Wilson. In 2008, Ross co-edited, with

Andrew Walls Andrew Finlay Walls (21 April 192812 August 2021) was a British historian of missions, best known for his pioneering studies of the history of the African church and a pioneer in the academic field of World Christianity. Biography Walls was b ...

, a collection of essays on missiology, entitled ''Mission in the Twenty-First Century: Exploring the Five Marks of Global Mission''. She also edited a collection of essays by Anglicans involved in mission who had attended the centenary celebration of the

1910 World Missionary Conference The 1910 World Missionary Conference, or the Edinburgh Missionary Conference, was held on 14 to 23 June 1910. Some have seen it as both the culmination of nineteenth-century Protestant Christian missions and the formal beginning of the modern Pr ...

, held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in June 2010. The publication was entitled ''Life-Widening Mission: Global Anglican Perspectives''. The book was published as part of a series by Regnum Press, about the Edinburgh 2010 gathering.

Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet, who served as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012. Previously the Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of W ...

, the Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote the foreword to the collection. In the preface, Ross noted that her mother passed away in New Zealand, while she was attending a workshop for the project in Toronto, in August 2011. Ross has collaborated on several books with Jonny Baker, the director of mission education at Church Mission Society. They co-edited ''The Pioneer Gift'' , published in 2014, and ''Pioneering Spirituality,'' published in 2015. In 2015, Ross co-edited, with Steven Bevans from

Catholic Theological Union Catholic Theological Union (CTU) is a Catholic graduate school of theology in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was formed in Hyde Park as a union of schools from three Catholic religious institutes and has since been sponsored by 23 institu ...

in Chicago, the book ''Mission on the Road to Emmaus: Constants, Context and Prophetic Dialogue''. In 2018, Ross co-edited ''Missional Conversations: A Dialogue between Theory and Praxis in World Mission,'' with Colin Smith. In 2020, Ross and Baker published ''Imagining Mission with John V. Taylor,'' about the missiology of Taylor, who was general secretary of the Church Mission Society and the former Bishop of Winchester.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Cathy Missiologists 1961 births Living people People from Auckland University of Divinity alumni

Biography

Works

See also

References