Alan Richard Tippett was a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

, missiologist, and anthropologist.

Life

Tippett was an Australian

to the Fiji Islands for more than 20 years, and an academic in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Born 9 November 1911 in

St Arnaud, Victoria St Arnaud is a town in the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia, 244 kilometres north west of the capital Melbourne. It is in the Shire of Northern Grampians local government area. At the , St Arnaud had a population of 2,318. It is named ...

, Alan Tippett was the son of William Tippett, a

pastor from a family with a long tradition of

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

involvement.Charles H. Kraft
TIPPETT Alan Richard (1911-1988)
. He graduated from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

in 1934 and the Methodist Church Training College in 1935. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

in 1938 and worked in churches in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. With his young family, he worked as a

with the Fijian Methodist Church from 1941 to 1961. He was a professor at Northwest Christian College, Eugene, Oregon between 1961 and 1964. He earned his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

in 1964 and taught part-time in the Institute of Church Growth,

Fuller Theological Seminary Fuller Theological Seminary is an interdenominational Evangelical Christian seminary in Pasadena, California, with regional campuses in the western United States. It is egalitarian in nature. Fuller consistently has a student body that compr ...

. Tippett also served as

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

of Missionary Anthropology at Fuller Theological Seminary's School of World Mission in Pasadena, California. In the spring of 1965, an invitation was extended to him and

Donald McGavran Donald Anderson McGavran (December 15, 1897 – July 10, 1990) was a missiologist and founding Dean of the School of World Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and is known for his work related to evangelism and religiou ...

to move the Institute of Church Growth to Pasadena, where the school would become another satellite school to the

. The faculty was expanded to include such scholars as Ralph D. Winter in

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

, Arthur Glasser in

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, Charles H. Kraft to join Tippett in anthropology, and C. Peter Wagner in

church growth The Church Growth Movement is a movement within evangelical Christianity which aims to grow churches based on research, sociology, analysis, etc. The Church Growth Movement started with a passion for the Great Commission, and seeing people come to ...

. As church growth ideas matured, they were incorporated by McGavran into the basic textbook of the movement, Understanding Church Growth (Eerdmans), published in 1970. Tippett authored over 500 pieces of literary work as part of his contributions to missions and he helped pioneer the theory as well as practice of missiological anthropology. In 1977 he retired to Canberra, Australia, where he died 16 September 1988.

Books

*Tippett, A.R., 1954, ''The Christian (Fiji 1835–1867)'', Auckland Institute and Museum, Auckland. *Tippett, A.R., 1967, ''

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

Christianity: a study in growth and obstruction'', Lutterworth Press,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Alan Tippett
in By David Hilliard, God's Gentlemen: A History of the Melanesian Mission, 1849-1942. *Tippett, A.R., 1970. ''Church Growth and the Word of God'', Eerdmans, Grand Rapids. *Tippett, A.R., 1971, ''People Movements in Southern Polynesia'',

Moody Press Moody Bible Institute (MBI) is a private evangelical Christian Bible college founded in the Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, US by evangelist and businessman Dwight Lyman Moody in 1886. Historically, MBI has maintained positions that have i ...

, Chicago. *Tippett, A.R., 1973, ''Aspects of Pacific Ethnohistory'', William Carey Library, Pasadena, CA. *Tippett, A.R., 1977, ''The Deep Sea Canoe: Third World Missionaries in the South Pacific'',

William Carey Library William Carey Publishing, previously known as William Carey Library, is a book publishing company based in Pasadena, California. It was one of the first companies to publish mission resources exclusively. William Carey Library is part of the U.S ...

, Pasadena, CA. *Tippett, A.R., 1987, ''Introduction to Missiology'', William Carey Library,

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

, CA

References

External links

Alan Tippett interviewed by Charles H. Kraft
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tippett, Alan Missiologists Australian anthropologists Methodist missionaries in Fiji 1988 deaths Australian Methodist missionaries Australian expatriates in Fiji Australian expatriates in the United States Fuller Theological Seminary faculty