Revd Dr Israel Olofinjana

Rev. Dr Israel Oluwole Olofinjana (PhD) is the new Lead Minister of Colchester Baptist Church and he is an ordained and accredited Baptist minister who has led two multi-ethnic Baptist churches and an independent charismatic church. He is African Public Missiologist with a particular focus on intercultural justice. He was the former Director of the One People Commission (OPC) an intercultural network of the Evangelical Alliance. He is the founding director of the Centre for Missionaries from the Majority World, a mission network initiative that provides cross-cultural training to reverse missionaries in Britain. Israel is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education in Birmingham and is on the Advisory Group of ICCT-WEAVE, an intercultural church initiative. He is on the Christian Aid Working Group of Black Majority Church leaders, exploring the intersection of climate justice and racial justice and a member of Tearfund’s Theology Committee. He is a Co-Director at Christ Theological College (CTC) Centre for World Christianity and lectures on themes related to World Christianity, Intercultural Theology, Diaspora Mission and Biblical Studies. He is also one of the Patrons of Anglican Network of Intercultural Churches (ANIC). He is also on the council of reference of Moorlands College.

He is a Yoruba Nigerian coming from a Pentecostal background. He holds a BA (Hons) in Religious Studies from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, MTh from Carolina University of Theology (CUT) and PhD in African British Contextual Theology from the University of Roehampton. He has published several books with his latest book project being co-editing Polyphonic God: Exploring Intercultural Theology, Churches and Justice (SCM 2025). Others include editing World Christianity in Western Europe: Diasporic Identity, Narratives and Missiology (2020), African Voices: Towards African British Theologies (2017), Turning the Tables on Mission: Stories of Christians from the Global South in the UK (2013) and co-editing Encountering London: London Baptists in the 21st Century (2015). He is the author of Reverse in Ministry and Missions: Africans in the Dark Continent of Europe (2010), 20 Pentecostal Pioneers in Nigeria (2011), Partnership in Mission: A Black Majority Church Perspective on Mission and Church Unity (2015) and Discipleship, Suffering and Racial Justice: Mission in a Pandemic World (2021). He is happily married to Lucy Olofinjana, who works for London City Mission (LCM) as their Evangelism Content Manager. They are blessed with one son, Iyanuoluwa (meaning God’s miracle) and one daughter Iretioluwa (meaning God’s hope).