Rafael Malpica Padilla

Damm Chair in Leadership and Director of Latine Ministry and Theology

EDUCATION

B.A. Philosophy, 1977
Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez
Cum Laude
Master of Divinity, 1981
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia
Doctor of Divinity honoris causa:
Newberry College, South Carolina 1989
The Academy of Ecumenical Indian Theology and Church Administration, India 2006
Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio 2010
Serampore College, India 2019
Instituto Internacional de Estudios Superiores, Mexico 2021
United Lutheran Seminary, Gettysburg-Philadelphia 2023.

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

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

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.