Contacts

Professor Elaine A. Heath, McCreless Assistant Professor of Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology, serves as director of the Center.

Biography:

Rev. Dr. Elaine A. Heath, Ph.D., is the McCreless Associate Professor of Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology, and director of the Center for Missional Wisdom at Southern Methodist University. She is an Elder in the East Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church.

In local church ministry her special area of interest is leadership development leading to congregational health and evangelistic vitality, and the development of new monastic faith communities. Elaine has provided retreat and seminar leadership in spiritual formation and leadership development for clergy for many years. Among her research interests are the new monasticism, the emerging church, spirituality and evangelism, and gender and evangelism.

Elaine is instigator and pastor of New Day, an emerging, missional, new monastic community in the United Methodist tradition in Dallas, Texas. She and her husband Randall live in Garland, Texas and are the parents of two adult daughters. Favorite activities include hiking, camping, bicycling, canoeing, sailing, flea markets, music and watching movies.

Elaine holds a B.A. in English from Oakland University, an M.Div. from Ashland Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in theology from Duquesne University.

Publications Include:

:: We Were the Least of These: Reading the Bible with Survivors of Sexual Abuse (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2011).

:: Longing for Spring: A New Vision for Wesleyan Community, co-authored with Scott Kisker (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2009).

:: Naked Faith: The Mystical Theology of Phoebe Palmer (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2009). 

:: “The Quest for Holiness,” Oxford Handbook on Methodism, William J. Abraham and James Kirby, eds. (London: Oxford University Press, 2009).

:: The Mystic Way of Evangelism: A Contemplative Vision for Christian Outreach (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008).

:: More Light on the Path (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1998), co-authored with David W. Baker.