Senior Lecturer (Scholarship)
- Overview
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Reverend Dr KENNETH JEFFREY Contact Details
- Telephone
- work +44 (0)1224 274276
- ksjeffrey@abdn.ac.uk
- Address
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The University of Aberdeen
KCF2
Kings College
Old Aberdeen
AB24 3UB
Scotland, UK
- Web Links
Web Links
Here, below, is the web link to a series of recordings of lectures I delivered on Pastoral Care at a conference organised by the Church of Scotland at Dufermline in June 2017.http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/resources/learn/events/content/pastoral_care_conference_2017
Here, are links to an interview I gave to one of my colleagues, Dr Leon Van Ommen, on Sacramental Theology.
Pt1 https://abdn.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=a95c8bd9-eda2-4d0e-bab3-aa0900f5daeb
Pt2 https://abdn.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=9747afbf-4d96-47fb-b168-aa0900f40097
Biography
Born in Northern Ireland and brought up in Holywood where he attended Sullivan Upper School, Ken Jeffrey went to Stirling University in 1988 where he studied History with Professor David Bebbington.
After graduating, he went to Malawi where he taught English and Bible Knowledge for two years at Livingstonia Secondary School.
In 1994, he returned to Aberdeen University where he gained a first class honours BD. Ken undertook post graduate studies with David Bebbington and studied the 1859 Revival as it affected the communities of north east Scotland. He was awarded his PhD in 2000 and his thesis was published by Paternoster under the title When the Lord walked the land.
Between 2000 and 2002, he served as a Probationary Minister at Rubislaw Parish Church in Aberdeen, before he was ordained and inducted as minister of The Parish Church of Cupar Old and St Michael of Tarvit in Fife where he served for almost twelve years. During this time, he undertook further studies at Aberdeen University and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and was awarded a DMin degree.
In January 2014 he was appointed as the new Director of the Centre for Ministry Studies at Aberdeen University. The CMS has nurtured an innovative working relationship between the academy and the church and provides education and training for people involved in Christian ministry at home and abroad through a suite of undergraduate and postgraduate courses and a calendar of annual activities and events.
Ken has also created a collaborative partnership between Aberdeen University and Zomba Theological College in Malawi where he delivers the MTh Ministry Studies course to ministers of the Central Church Africa Presbyterian, and helps supervise some of the staff from the College on Aberdeen's distance PhD programme.
He continues to develop his interest in nineteenth and twentieth century religious movements and in modern Scottish church history, and in 2019 was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Church History.
- Research
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Research Interests
Revivals, Renewal and Church Growth
I have a particular interest in the history of Evangelicalism and of revivals. I have examined how these 'seasons of grace' have appeared across Britain, and Scotland in particular, during the last four hundred years.
I also have a keen interest in the spiritual renewal of the church today and its expression in new and pioneering forms of ministry. I supervise doctoral students who undertake research into new churches formed in Glasgow between 2000 and 2016, discipleship practices among missional churches in Texas, and the recovery of ancient practices among other neo-liturgical churches in America.
Current Research
Personal Research
The experience of conversion in the 1859 Revival in the north east of Scotland
Rev Dr Robert Laws, Scottish missionary and founder of the Livingstonia Mission in Malawi
Billy Graham's mission in Glasgow in 1955.
I have supervised three doctoral students to the successful completion of their studies. Their work focused on:
Church and Mission in Four Aspects: Locating church planting within a missionary ecclesiology for the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church in contemporary Northern Ireland
The Changing Theological functions of Corporate Worship among Southern Baptists: What they were and what they became, 1638-2008
The changing landscape of the church in post-Christendom Britain: New churches in Glasgow 2000-2016
In addition, I supervise the following further doctoral students, whose subjects include:
A contemporary survey of narrative preaching among United Methodist Pastors in Liberia
An examination of vocational theologies and their application from the reformers to present day
Exploring Discipleship Models of Millennials in Missional Communities in Fort Worth, Texas: An Ethnographic Inquiry
Ministries of Reconciliation within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland
Renewal or Rejection? Exploring the Retrieval of Church Tradition Among Evangelicals in the United States
Sanctification in seventeenth-century English Puritan pastoral theology
Spiritual Formation Practices and Youth Ministry in Vietnam
The Impact of Witchcraft Beliefs and Practices on members of Church of Central Africa Presbyterian: A Case Study of Livingstonia Synod
What theological and practical resources might a conversational ecclesiology offer to church planters?
- Teaching
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Teaching Responsibilities
1. Undergraduate: BD
Scottish Church History and Theology
2. Undergraduate: Theology and Religion Flexible Learning Programme:
An Introduction to Pastoral Care
An Introduction to Christian Spirituality
Scottish Church History and Theology
2. PGT: MTh Ministry Studies: (At Aberdeen University and Zomba Theological College, Malawi)
Spiritual Formation
Leadership
Preaching
Christian Practices
3. PGR: Doctorate in Practical Theology
Literature Review
Publishable Article
Research Proposal
Reflective Writing
- Further Info
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External Responsibilities
External Examiner at:
Birmingham University
Union Theological College, Belfast
Admin Responsibilities
Coordinator of the Centre for Ministry Studies
Coordinator of the Theology and Religion Flexible Learning Programme
Senior Personal Tutor for the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy
- Publications
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Publications