Dr Viv Grigg

 

·       Professor. of Urban Leadership, William Carey International University

·       Chairman, MATUL Training Commission, and Encarnação Alliance of Urban Poor Mission Leaders.

·       International Director, Urban Leadership Foundation

·       Chairman, Companions with the Poor, USA

Link to short bio for conference

Download as pdf 

 

Servant among the poor, prophetic voice, missions entrepreneur, viral networker, servant among the urban poor, author, catalyst, theologian, missions strategist: As  a  young  graduate, and  in  quiet  dependence   on  God  to  provide,  Viv  Grigg  went  to  live  in  the slums of Manila,  pioneering  churches  and development.  He has been a prophetic voice calling from the slums of Manila, Kolkata, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles... inviting many hundreds to live in apostolic communities among the poor.  These works have created a plethora of organizations that transform poverty in over 40 cities. He attributes the fruit of this to the overflowing work of the Holy Spirit on these who choose to live the cross among the poor.

 

Global Networking: He coordinated the global AD2000 Cities Network in the 1990’s catalysing and connecting city leadership teams globally. He developed the Vision for Auckland process in the 1990’s.  He coordinates the  Encarnação   Alliance   of  urban   poor  movement   leaders. Their grassroots city learning networks of slum pastors in one three 3 year period established over 1200 new churches.  He is Chairman of the MATUL Commission, which has catalysed training in 5 continents. Recently worked on a small WEA-Middle East strategy/funding project.

 

As an academic trained in theology, community organization, and urban anthropology,  he  catalysed the MA in Transformational  Urban Leadership  (MATUL) now with 8 partnering institutions globally.  In 2009, he  relocated    from   New   Zealand    to   be   an Associate Professor to Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles (one of the partners) to lead their MATUL expansion.  He is author of 7 books including  the paradigm-shifting   Companion to the Poor, whose call to radical incarnation among the poor and lifestyles of simplicity  has challenged  many. Creating an Auckland Business Theology sought to lay some foundations for generational leadership change in New Zealand Christian businesses.   His Spirit of Christ and the Postmodern City: Transforming Revival Among Auckland’s Evangelicals and Pentecostals projects  a  transformative future  beyond  postmodernism in New Zealand.   Kiwinomics   has Biblical reflections on present ethical dilemmas of NZ capitalism. Slum Dwellers Theology: Pedagogy in the Slums  grapples with 15 years of andragogy in establishing Masters and grassroots training for urban poor leaders. See  www.urbanleaders.org  for more information.  

 

Multicultural Lifestyle:  We live in a multicultural marriage, as a Pakeha Kiwi married to Ieda, a Brazilian Free Methodist preacher and chaplain to those dying of cancer. Our three tricultural adult kids - a poet, an interior designer and a political organizer, fighting for immigrant rights – have grown up as Glen Eden Westies in a largely Samoan school, with a Pakeha dad, as we planted an Indian migrant congregation and walked with Maori brothers running Auckland leadership huis and teaching on land rights theology.  Their dad sings Filipino songs, having lived there ten years, then ten years in and out of Kolkata, India, and when their parents argue (very rare!) it is in Portuguese. Yesterday, their mother helped a Muslim family whose daughter lay dying, today she is speaking Spanish with other grieving families, while their father is training Hispanic activists fighting for immigration reform, and one sister is organizing Hispanic voters fighting for legalization in Spanish.  So, I don’t know if we tick the boxes for being genuinely multicultural Kiwis – I am just an old bearded Pakeha warrior…

 

Research networks and interests: This tends to get moulded by the context of the organization in which I dwell at any given time. These are current interests:

·       Global pedagogical multiplication of training infrastructures to 50,000 grassroots slum leaders.

·       National leadership teams, city leadership teams and international multicultural movement leadership development.

·       Global network theological training for evangelical engagement in land rights struggles (this is a global focus on slum and tribal land rights, not a resolution of Middle Eastern historical conflicts though not exclusive of some of that).

 

Demonstrated gifts mix (very mixed):

·       Prophetic (intercessor, visionary, strategist, motivational preacher, writer, catalyst – primary motivation is to academic writing that transforms injustice, if I can be doing that I can sustain motivation with the mundane)

·       Apostolic bent (it just happens, no sense of authority here just pain of serving people establishing a new work every three to six months as the Holy Spirit moves – not sure how it occurs, networker)

·       Pastoral trainer (mentoring, leadership development)

·       Wisdom / leadership – it seems in global gatherings I end up being ask to mediate group leadership

·       Teaching (action-reflection educator/trainer)

·       Community activist (mercy, organizer, projects manager)

·       Entrepreneurial administrator (create structures rather than maintain them), fundraiser.

·       Multi-cultural leader

 

All of that which is fruitful above can be attributed to the work of the Holy Spirit, who takes what we do and works far beyond us.

 

Weaknesses: Create too many ideas for admin staff to manage; cannot understand or manage poofters, fudgers and political manipulators; at times an unwise word can offend; many become jealous as God touches works; have a soft voice and unimposing persona; have always struggled to fully fund all that is put in my hands; not as young as I was; introvert; am dependent on the people around me, and often admin help is not there for each work. Highly competent in entrepreneurial management design hence at times frustrated because as an organizational developer, in any organization I rapidly see the structural dynamics and defects.   But I die, if locked in an office managing endless maintenance details, so I prefer to serve the administrators with ideas that they implement, acting more as a G2 intelligence officer would in the military (I facilitate leaders above or below me).

 

 

  • Link to Family History
    • Link to Influences

    Academics

    ·       PhD (Theology), Auckland  University, New Zealand. 2006. (Fields: Pneumatology,  Urban  Theology,  Urban Leadership)  (University  Scholar).

    ·       Three PhD courses in Urban Leadership at William Carey University, Pasadena.

    ·       M.A. (Missiology), Fuller Theological  Seminary, Pasadena,  CA, USA, 1987 (Fields: Urban Anthropology, Community  Development).

    ·       Certificate  of Accomplishment  in Tagalog, Manila, Philippines.  1980

    ·       Masters Courses in Community Organizing at the University of the Philippines, 1976

    ·       Post Grad Dip. Teaching,  Christchurch  Teachers College, Christchurch,  New Zealand 1974.

    ·       B.E.(Elect).  Canterbury  University, Christchurch,  New Zealand, 1973.

    ervos entre os PobresSome Publications

    1984 Companion to the Poor, Albatross Books: Sydney.

    ·       1990, 2nd edition  MARC: Monrovia, CA.

    ·       2006, rev edn, London: Authentic.

    ·       2010 3rd Edition. Auckland: Urban Leadership Foundation.

    Translations

    ·       1990 tr. in German.  Mit den armen leben. Wolfgang Simson Verlag: Lorrach.

    ·       1988  tr. in Portuguese  Servos Entre Os Pobres.  Comibam/Aura Books: Sao Paulo, Brazil.

    §  2006 rev edn  Ultimato: Curitiba

    ·       1994. tr. in Spanish  Siervos Entre Los Pobres, Nueva Creacion: Buenos Aires and Eerdmans.

    ·       1995. tr. in Korean, _______________________, IVP: Seoul.

    ·       2005  tr. Indian Tamil edition, YWAM: Chennai.

    ·       2019 tr. Russian and French (in process)

    ·       1992-1997 (Revised yearly) Transforming Cities: An Urban Leadership Guide, Auckland: Urban Leadership Foundation.

    o   Peters, Elijah (2012) A Review.  Missio Dei: A Journal of Missional Theology and Praxis 3, no. 2 (August 2012) http://missiodeijournal.com/issues/md-3-2/authors/md-3-2-peters

    Booklets

    Some Professional Papers, Book Chapters and Articles

    Some Popular Articles

    Some Major Conference Involvements

    ·       The Incarnate Christ in the Underside of Anti-Christian Megalopolises

    ·       The Poor You Will Have With You Always - Did Jesus Really Mean This?

    ·       The Poor Wise Man and YTREVOP the Demon

    ·       Releasing Holiness: Fires of Reconciliation, Restitution and Citywide Revival

    ·       Discipling the Poor: The Challenge of Integrating Social Responsibility, Evangelism and Discipleship

    ·       The City of God is a Multiethnic Party - Starting Now!

    ·       Cosmic Christ - Transformer of the Soul of a Nation

    ·       1996, 1997, 1998. Australian AD2000 National Leadership Consultations as plenary speaker

    ·       1999. Vision for Auckland Huis, organiser, keynote address on Six Battlefronts in Auckland

    ·       2000. Transformational Conversations: Developing Indigenous Theologies hui, Auckland, facilitator.

    ·       2001. Biola Missions Conference, addresses, Reaching the Poor of Asia's Mega-Cities, The Judgement of God on a Post modern City.

    ·       2008. RENAS Brazil, keynote, Jesus-style Seminary in the Slums

    ·       2009. Sao Paulo, Brazil. Igreja Relevamente e Incarnacional

    ·       2009. Revitalization Consultation, Asbury Seminary, The Spirit of Christ and the Postmodern City. KY: Asbury Seminary, Oct 2009.

    ·       2013. (February). Multiplying Millions in Holistic Slum Movements: Apostolic and Diaconal Perspectives. Presentation given at the second gathering of the International Society of Urban Missions. Bangkok, Thailand.

    ·       2013. Theology and Practice of Land Rights. Conference plenary address and workshop presented at the Call2Compassion and Justice conference. Mumbai, India.

    ·       2013. Economic Discipleship: Vulnerability to Liberate the Vulnerable. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Alliance for Vulnerable Mission. Norwalk, England.

    ·       2014 CMESP. O Reino de Deus e Economia Solidaria. Plenary at the Conferência Missionária do Estado de São Paulo (CMESP), Rio de Janiero, Brazil

    ·       2014 February, MoveIn, Toronto.

    o  Plenaries:

    o   The Poor Wise Man 

    o   See also White board explainer video, The Poor Wise Man

    o   Hovering Spirit, Creative Voice

    o  Seminar

    Developing a Poor Peoples' Church

    ·       2015. Slum Pastors’ Training in Economic Discipleship. New Delhi, India. May 5-9, 2015.

    ·       2017  Economic Discipleship.  Companions Among the Poor. Manila, March 30-31, 2017.

    ·       2018  From Slum Learning Networks to Urban Institutes. Micah Global Triennial Conference, Tagaytay, Philippines, Sept, 2018.

    ·       2018  The City in Genesis 1. Urban Shalom Society. Tagaytay, Philippines.

    ·       2019  Getting Jesus Seminary into the Slums.  Ted-style talk. Notre Dame: American Society of Missiology. June 15, 2019.

     

     

     

    Some Media

    PowerPoints

    120 of these presentations may be found at http://www.authorstream.com.   Or on slideshare.  Most are simple quality.  Search for vivgrigg.  Total Views, as of June 15, 2017: 13926.  Embed Views: 1658.

    Movie about Viv Grigg's work

    Stewart, David, 2016. Poor Wise Man.  www.poorwiseman.vhx.tv 

    Training Videos

    30 videos on urban missions, urban spirituality, urban realities etc. on www.vimeo.com/vivgrigg

    Websites (updated yearly, always developing)

    1996. Building City Leadership Teams. http://www.urbanleaders.org/620Leadership/08cityleaders/index.html

    1997. Transforming Revival.  http://www.urbanleaders.org/transrevival/

    1998. Portuguese Training Materials http://www.urbanleaders.org/Portuguese/

     

    Masters level resource sites

    2002. Urban Realities. http://www.urbanleaders.org/540UrbanReality/  (Needs second half)

    2002. Urban Poor Churchplanting.    http://www.urbanleaders.org/530FaithComm/

    2004. Encarnação Alliance Training Commission website.  www.urbanleaders.org/ma

    2004. Community Economics. http://www.urbanleaders.org/560CommEcon/

    2007 Urban Poor Movement Leadership. http://www.urbanleaders.org/620Leadership/

    2007. Biblical Theology of Mission. http://www.urbanleaders.org/500Writings/

    2007. Urban Spirituality. www.urbanleaders.org/520UrbanSpirituality

    2009. Land Rights www.urbanleaders.org/655LandRights

    2016 Trainer of Trainers. http://urbanleaders.org/webtrainer/  (Under construction)

     

    Grassroots

    1998. Grassroots Church-planters’ Training. http://www.urbanleaders.org/weburbpoor/

    2017. Economic Discipleship. www.economicdisciple.org - 40 podcasts for oral learners.

    Masters Research supervision

    53 graduate research projects/theses.  Some of these (those not politically or security sensitive) may be found http://matul.org/HTML/finalprojects.html   Totally love mentoring folks in action-reflection. 

    Masters Level Courses Designed and Taught

    These are mostly theology courses, with 1/3 theology, 1/3 social science and 1/3 praxis. The andragogical approach is student-centric Freirian community-based action-reflection, driven by students experiences and questions then integrated into local and global literature and theological studies on each theme. 

    Delivery Methods: These courses have been taught face to face and online using a synchronous or face to face weekly engagement that integrates students’ community praxis into discussion of local and global readings, resulting in graphically designed web-based papers or other project reporting.  Moodle, Sakai and Canvas have all been used.

    Biblical Theology of Urban Mission: This course relates the biblical motif of the Kingdom of God to issues of leadership development in resource-poor urban communities. (Yearly for 8 years)

    Language and Culture Acquisition: This course guides students in acquiring the knowledge and skills for independent language and culture learning within urban-poor communities.

    Urban Spirituality: An in-depth examination of human development and family life in the slum context, this course emphasizes the care and nurturing of resource-poor workers and the practical application of the spiritual disciplines. (Yearly for 8 years)

    Building Faith Communities: This course applies a story-telling approach to the process of entering poor communities and developing holistic poor peoples’ churches in ways faithful to the values and goals of the Kingdom of God.  (Also designed for grassroots training, taught yearly for about 30 years)

    Urban Reality and Theology: This course aims to generate perspectives and tools for transformative urban mission from the social sciences (Yearly for 6 years, undergrad for some years previously).

    Leadership in Urban Movements: This course explores the dynamics of leadership within holistic, urban-poor movements (Yearly for 6 years).

    Community Transformation: Students explore the challenges, models of, and prospects for, transformational change within slum communities while developing a Christian framework for holistic development, organization, and advocacy among the urban poor and gaining facility in community asset mapping (Some years).

    Entrepreneurial and Organizational Leadership: This course introduces the concepts and skills of entrepreneurial and organizational leadership required to initiate new movement structures among the urban poor (4 years).

    Qualitative Community-Action and Theological Research : Students apply analytic frameworks and practical skills acquired through the program to a research proposal for investigation of a specific issue on behalf of a community organization (Yearly for 5 years).

    Action-Based Theological Research Project: Students apply analytic frameworks and practical skills acquired through the program to an investigation of a specific issue on behalf of a community organization (Yearly for 5 years).

    Internships

    Service to the Marginalized: This course guides students in understanding the conditions of marginalized populations and in formulating a theology and strategy for team-based responses that aim to free individuals and change structural causes.

    Educational Centre Development: This course offers analysis of third world schooling with a focus on developing and improving preschool, elementary, and technical schools in the slums as integral to the work of urban poor churches. (Yearly for 4 years Fun course, we get schools started in some places).

    Theology and Practice of Community Economics: This course relates biblical and theological perspectives on human development to the theory and practice of community wealth building. Special emphasis is given to considering how working women in the slums might use micro-enterprises and individual development accounts to create a better environment for asset building and ownership. (Masters level yearly for 8 years, grassroots yearly for about 20 years).

    Advocacy and Land Rights in the Slums: Students examine a theology of land, and of rights, applying it to the relations between urban poor communities, the land, and broader environmental problems including natural disasters. Fieldwork focuses on advocacy for adequate housing, infrastructure services, and effective disaster response. (Yearly for 6 years)

    Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship

    Program Development

    The Lord has given grace to have worked with principals, deans and program directors of 8 schools to establish the MA in Transformational Urban Leadership program in 5 continents – the first masters program for urban poor movement leaders.  Some have evolved into Bachelors or Diploma level.  Some have faced institutional failure.  Some still evolving. Some others exploring the idea.

     

    For 9 years I catalysed this program as an intrapreneur at Azusa Pacific University, one of the largest Christian schools in the US.

    Global Urban Missions and Urban Network Development

    Every advance has to do with pulling together good teams.  As a prophetic/ academic/ serial social entrepreneur my roles have generally been to envision, call the leaders together, work on collective development, and find leadership who can sustain each work. Only the Lord - in answer to prayer - can accomplish such things in the hearts of leaders, so I would not wish to claim the work of the amazing colabourers around me who have then built the longer-term sustainability.  At times, my involvement has been 1 year intensely, at times 3, 5 or 10 years to get works to sustainability.  

     

    These have included: assisting World Evangelical Alliance last year with a small research process; leading the AD2000 movement cities network in the nineties, linking urban leaders; establishing Servants to Asia’s Urban Poor from New Zealand, catalysing Kairos in Brazil and Servant-Partners in the US in the 80’s and 90’s;  Coordinating the Encarnação Alliance of Slum Movement Leaders since 2002; Leading the MATUL Training Commission globally since 2004.

    Fundraising

    In the process of the Lord establishing these organizations, they currently are contributing more than $2 million per year into works around the world in the slums (by a rough calculation).   As all I do is built on colabourship with others, in a unity of spirit, so I can only claim that the Lord has touched people though catalysed vision, imparted a spirituality, anointed leaders, enabled me to set up systems and build the initial teams in these works.  These have been based on volunteer workers, workers living by faith, workers raising their own support, partnerships with churches, and as they grow, occasional foundation grants. I have however raised personal support for many years form the New Zealand church (though not currently).


     

    Areas of Educational Management Experience or Expertise (XXX)- Viv Grigg, 2018

    Management

    Technical Systems

    Communication

    Academic Programming

    Student Management

    Commitment to lead by example in ministry, character, academics (XXX)

    Ability to recruit, build and manage a diverse team (XXX)

    Strategic focus development (XXX)

    Ability to serve management in developing, accomplishing, or reworking their objectives (X)

    Significant change management experience (X)

    Group-based, culturally-sensitive, student and faculty evaluation of programs and courses (X)

    Experienced in budgeting processes, balance sheet management, expenditure controls (XXX) 

    Ability to network across diverse ethnic, occupational and religious lines (XXX)

    IT awareness, technical background database, website and video development skills(XXX)

    Web designer (Designed over 20 sites) (XX)

    Techie: Computer skills: Access, Word, Wordpro, Quickbooks, Excel,  Powerpoint, Adobe Dreamweaver web design Adobe Premier video design, InDesign etc (XX)

    Office setup and develop’t, securing of office resources (Have set up 7)

    Experienced (but not artistic) in design of publicity brochures, flyers, email lists, database maintenance

    Awareness of need for and development of reporting mechanisms (X)

    Folks love creative, experiential, interactive story-telling to high level conceptual teaching style and content (XXX)

    Effective listener: gather opinions from others to develop consensus, or solve problems, both formally and informally (X)

    Ability to develop strong trusting relationships with both strong leaders and students (XXX)

    Oral and written skills - able to identify and articulate vision (a writer, not always concise for bureaucrats) (XXX)

    Excellent ability to make public presentations at church, national and global levels (but weak voice projection, spoken to hundreds of conferences and churches) (XXX)

    Ability to develop strong rapport with operational teams to achieve goals and deadlines

    Experiential to cognitive bias in academic teaching approach (XXX)

    Development of creative group project approaches to learning(X)

    Development of new degree program philosophy (XXX) and curriculum structures (know how to work with experts)

    Development of processes from within multicultural styles (X)

    Abreast of urban missions, missions, New Zealand transformation, revival directions and publications (X)

    Mentoring of masters students (Supervised 53 theses, XXX)

    Publications background (Published 8 books, 40+ articles) (XXX)

    Supportive of institutional systems in which functioning: able to critique and contribute to broader vision. Team player. Currently serving on Faculty Elections Committee at APU.

    Student mentoring processes (Have navigated complex pastoral care contexts with students globally)

    Systems development for selection and evaluation of program participants (highly developed)

    Creation of joyful, participative, pleasant staff and student environments (XXX)

    Adaptive interfacing of University system with ethnic learning styles and English competencies (X)

    Cross-cultural orientation program development (Multiple years)

    Short-term mission team management (Not a strength, don't believe in the value).

    Student Recruitment: The Lord calls people when I speak to large gatherings. Can create policy, strategy for effective recruitment if the right younger persons with management and personal skills can implement.

    Items in bold above are central or higher expertise ( XXX).  At my stage of life, it is more important that I invest in leadership, writing, communication, policy, than in the management that 40-50 year olds can do to carry the load, but whatever a team needs, I generally am able to do (with a little less effort than younger folks).