Church Mission Society (CMS) | Crowther Centre for Mission Education

Johan Velema

The Leprosy Mission International

Johan Velema

Johan is head of the Evaluation & Monitoring Network of The Leprosy Mission International. He is involved in evaluating projects and programmes, training people to be evaluators and facilitating collaborative research in community-based rehabilitation, occupational therapy and other areas of applied research. Johan has a Master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and a PhD in Epidemiology from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. He also studied at All Nations Christian College in the UK.

Johan is keen to work in a Christian organisation and seize opportunities for communicating biblical truth as he travels around in Africa and Asia. Our work should not just be secular work done by Christians. It should be Christian work, characterised by biblical values. As The Leprosy Mission is shifting its focus from working with individuals to working with communities, Johan is reflecting on the biblical basis for the new approaches that are now being implemented.

Central questions concern the integration of community development and Christian mission and the need to re-think our Christian view of man – especially at a time when the dynamics of working with persons affected by leprosy or living with a disability are rapidly changing.

Johan is husband to Heleen, who is an artist (her work can be seen on the web) and father to three sons in their twenties who are developing exciting careers of their own.

More on The Leprosy Mission: www.leprosymission.org

For those interested in art: www.heleenvelema.com