Nelson Okanya, DIS

DMin Faculty of Record

nokanya@ambs.edu
DIS 2022, Fuller School of Mission and Theology, Pasadena, CA, 2022
MDiv, 2002, Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Harrisonburg, VA, 2002
Diploma 1997, Daystar University, Nairobi, Kenya, 1997
 

About Nelson

Why I am at AMBS

I chose to work at AMBS because it is a learning community that reflects God’s reconciling purpose in Christ through shared teaching, research, formation, and service. I resonate deeply with AMBS’s commitment to the disciplined study of Scripture, theology, and ministry; embodied worship, community, and Christian discipleship; and the formation of leaders who serve the church with vision, humility, and missional imagination.

What I do at AMBS

I serve as DMin Faculty of Record for Anabaptist Leadership.

Publications

Books

  • Okanya, Nelson. 2026. Let Your Life Sing: A Story About Faith, Culture, and Leadership. Santos Books LLC. https://santosbooks.org/. 
  • Okanya, Nelson O. 2022. Understanding of and Participation in the Missio Dei among Mennonite Churches in Eastern Pennsylvania. Dissertation Fuller Theological Seminary. http://gateway.proquest.com

Book chapters

  • Okanya, Nelson. 2025. Footsteps of Faith: A Global Anabaptist Devotional. 108: Leadership is Serving Rather than Being Served. Menno Media. Herald Press https://www.mennomedia.org/9781513815169/footsteps-of-faith/.
  • Okanya, Nelson. 2015. “Inspiring the Next Generation for Involvement in God’s Mission.” In Fully Engaged: Missional Church in Anabaptist Voice, edited by Stanley Green and James R. Krabill. Harrisonburg, VA: Herald Press.
  • Okanya, Nelson, with Mark T. Nation, Jesus Crucified ed. Krabill, James R., and David W. Shenk, eds. 2009. Jesus Matters (Chapter 8): Good News for the Twenty-First Century. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.

Articles

  • Okanya, Nelson. 2017. “Effective Strategies for Building Missional Churches: Lessons Learned in Multicultural Mission Collaboration.” Anabaptist Witness.
  • Okanya, Nelson. 2024. “Anabaptist-Mennonite Understanding and Practice of Missions: An Eastern Pennsylvania Case Study.” The Mennonite Quarterly Review 98 (4): 395–412.
  • Okanya, Nelson. 2023. “The Use of Power in an Intercultural Church.” Leader, Spring 2023.
  • Okanya, Nelson. 2022. “Adapt and Thrive Through Coaching.” Columbia Theological Seminary, May 24, 2022. https://www.ctsnet.edu/adapt-and-thrive-through-coaching/.
  • Okanya, Nelson. “The Use of Power in an Intercultural Church.” Leader, Spring 2023.
  • Okanya, Nelson. 2026. Apostolicity, Polygenesis, the Missional Church, and the Global Anabaptist‑Mennonite Communion

Awards

  • Jennie Calhoun Baker Memorial Award for Excellence in Sermons, Bethany Theological Seminary, 2001
  • Evangelism Award, Daystar University, 1997