Regent College Receives $3.5 Million for Endowed Chair in Marketplace Theology and Leadership
Regent College is very pleased to announce the creation of the R. Paul Stevens Chair in Marketplace Theology and Leadership. The Chair’s $3.5 million endowment, the gift of Dr. Margaret Wai Kay Wong of Hong Kong, is the largest gift in Regent’s history.
Dr. Jeff Greenman, President of Regent College, expressed the College’s gratitude and delight:
“We at Regent are deeply grateful to Dr. Margaret Wong for her generous support of Regent’s mission by investing in the College’s commitment to marketplace theology and leadership. A fully endowed chair simply is a marvelous gift to us. It provides a strong and enduring institutional platform for a faculty member’s research, teaching, writing, and mentoring in a strategic area of Regent’s ministry.”
“Throughout our entire history, Regent has sought to equip men and women with a deep, integrated faith that is lived out in a variety of marketplaces and in their leadership roles. This gift advances that distinctive pursuit and ensures the vitality of Regent’s contribution to the church in this important area.”
Dr. Wong, a Canadian citizen, lives and works in Hong Kong. She completed her doctorate in Physics at MIT before moving to Hong Kong to oversee management of her late father’s property developments, including new town residential communities in the New Territories.
In the early days of the opening up of China, Dr. Wong supported the establishment of Bible research and study in Chinese academia. She is a longstanding supporter of the Teaching Enhancement Project for Young Scholars in Mainland Chinese Universities (TEP), one of the most dynamic projects of Regent's Chinese Studies Program. She and her husband, architect Nelson Chen, have three grown daughters living and serving in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East.
Discussing the motivation for the gift, Dr. Wong said, “I am pleased to recognize the distinctive and pioneering work of the College in this special discipline which has long occupied a central place in Regent’s theological education.” You can read our conversation with Dr. Wong about her vision for marketplace ministry and her reasons for endowing the new Chair here.
The Chair in Marketplace Theology and Leadership is named for Dr. R. Paul Stevens, Professor Emeritus at Regent College. Dr. Stevens joined Regent’s faculty in 1987 as Associate Professor of Applied Theology and was named the David J. Brown Professor of Marketplace Theology and Leadership in 1999. He is known as a global pioneer in the field of marketplace theology. Dr. Stevens was named Professor Emeritus in 2005 and continues to teach frequently at Regent College.
On learning that the Chair would be named after him, Dr. Stevens said,
“In total surprise and with a feeling of unworthiness I have accepted that the forthcoming Chair in Marketplace Theology and Leadership would bear my name. But I do so not claiming to be a great exemplar of the integration of faith and work in the marketplace. My sole reason is that I have given most of my adult years to helping people see their work in the world as God’s work and a ministry. I pray that the Chair will further the inbreaking of God’s lovely kingdom through the people of God dispersed in the workplaces of the world.”
President Greenman applauded the decision:
“It is entirely fitting that the new Chair is named in honour of Regent’s beloved pioneer in the area of marketplace theology, Paul Stevens. His teaching, writing, and mentoring has had a worldwide impact. He has championed the integration of faith with daily work and has cast an exciting vision for what Christian ministry in the marketplace can be. Paul’s contribution is noted for its biblical grounding, spiritual depth, and relational warmth. All those qualities are ones we will seek in the holder of the Stevens Chair.”
“On behalf of our Board of Governors and faculty, I want to express our profound gratitude to the Lord for this provision. Dr. Wong’s gift has given tremendous early momentum to the College’s efforts, just begun, to raise $21.8 million in a major capital campaign over the next few years. Friends of Regent will hear more about the campaign in the months ahead. This is a hugely encouraging early sign of the transformational impact that we hope the campaign will bring to the College.”