© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden,  | doi:./- Mission Studies  () – brill.com/mist Mission as Integral Ecology: Doing Theology at Bethany Emmanuel Katongole Professor of Theology and Peace Studies, Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA ekatongo@nd.edu Abstract Christianity’s reality in the global south where poverty, climate change, ecological degradation and marginalization are the daily, lived experience of the majority of the world’s population, presents theologians with a unique moment of challenge and opportunity for theological exploration, experimentation, and missiological inno- vation. This article explores and analyzes one such experiment, the Bethany Land Institute (BL I, https://bethanylandinstitute.org/) in Uganda. Inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, BLI promotes the concept and practice of integral ecology as a lens for missiological reflection. The article argues that integral ecology, as pursued at BLI, invites us to rethink the traditional themes of Christian mission such as conver- sion, love, spirituality, and ecclesiology. It also provides a new model of doing theology, one that is particularly appropriate in an era marked by World Christianity, and by the global ecological crisis. Keywords mission – theology – integral ecology – World Christianity – Pope Francis – Laudato Si’ – Africa – Bethany 1 Introduction A global demographic shift in the population distribution of Christians, away from the traditional heartlands of Europe and North America, to the global south of Asia, Latin America and Africa, has been taking place over the course Downloaded from Brill.com07/12/2022 07:09:18PM via free access