Rafael Malpica Padilla

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Biography

The Rev. Rafael Malpica Padilla joined LSTC faculty in July 2023. Pr. Malpica Padilla serves as the John Damm Chair in Leadership and as Director for the Latine Ministry and Theology program. Prior to joining the LSTC faculty, Pr. Malpica Padilla served for 30 years with the Global Mission unit of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the last 20 as its executive director. During his time in Global Mission Pr. Malpica Padilla developed a theological framework for the practice of mission known as “Accompaniment.” Pr. Malpica Padilla is a practitioner of mission. Commenting on his decades of experience in global mission Conrad A. Braaten writes: “Lutheran theologian Paul Tillich one noted that the best place to acquire knowledge is on the boundary -that is, the meeting place between traditions, worldviews, nations, cultures, and the like. The truth in Tillich’s remark is borne out in Malpica Padilla’s life and ministry. With one foot in the South and one in the North, one in the ecumenical world and one in the Lutheran tradition, one in the developing world and one in the developed, Malpica Padilla brings critical experience and knowledge to bear on the shape of the mission of the global church in today’s world.”

Ordination

• June 7, 1981

Professional Experience

• 2021-2023 – Executive Director, Service and Justice ELCA
• 2003-2021 – Executive Director, Global Mission ELCA
• 2002-2003 – Associate Executive Director, Global Mission ELCA
• 2001-2002 – Director for International Programs and Planning, Global Mission ELCA
• 1993-2001 – Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Global Mission ELCA
• 1987-1993 – Bishop, Caribbean Synod, ELCA
• 1981-1987 – Pastor, Reconciliation Lutheran Church, Caribbean Synod, LCA

Other Activities

• 2021-2023: LIRS Board ember
• 2021-2023 Lutheran Services of America (LSA) Board member
• 2003-Present: Advisor to the Council of the Lutheran World Federation
• 2003-2011: Lutheran World Relief Board member
• 2000-2018: Member Board of Directors and Executive Committee Church World Service
• 1994-2000: Chair, Forum on Latin America and the Caribbean, National Council of Churches
• 1994: Co-chair U.S. Congressional Observer Delegation El Salvador Elections
• 1988-2000: Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico Board
• 1988-1995: Caribbean Conference of Churches Board

PUBLISHED WORKS

• 1999 “Re-encounter and Reconciliation: The Task for Latin America Today,” Paul V. Martinson (ed.), Mission at the Dawn of the 21st Century: A Vision for the Church.
• 2008 “Accompaniment as an Alternative model for Mission,” in Trinity Seminary Review, Volume 29, Number 2, Summer/Fall.
• 2018 “Freeing Luther from Domesticated Serfdom,” in Peter Vethanayagamony and Volker Greinfenhagen (eds.), Global Lutheranism: Vitality and Challenges.
• 2021 “Martin Luther for the Life of the Church,” in Conrad A. Braaten and Ryan P. Cumming (eds.) The Forgotten Luther III.
• 2021 “Construyendo Puentes en Medio del Distanciamiento Social,” en Mercedes García Backmann y Hernán Dalbes (eds.) Iglesias en Pandemia, Templos en Crisis: Hacia Nuevas Eclesiologías en el Distanciamiento Social.

Honors

• Bishop Emeritus Caribbean Synod, ELCA, 2013
• Bishop Emeritus Iglesia Evangélica Unida, Sinodo Luterano Cuba, 2020