In a ceremony yesterday (March 8) at Lambeth Palace a presentation was made by the Archbishop of Canterbury for Dr Vinay of the Lanfranc Award.
Mark Samuel and Ruth Samuel de Monte received the award on his behalf ( third and fourth from the left in the photograph below).
The news release reads
“The Archbishop of Canterbury has today announced the recipients of the 2022 Lambeth Awards. They are given to people within the Church of England, the wider Anglican Communion, other Christian churches, as well as to those of other faiths and none. Musicians, activists, clergy, peacemakers and educators are included, alongside people whose quiet dedication to their work hasn’t drawn the public eye. Those honoured work in countries from Burundi to Finland, and the USA to Brazil.”
Vinay Samuel – The Lanfranc Award for Education and Scholarship
For outstanding service in the field of theological education to prepare and train Church leaders in the Global South and beyond.
Dr Vinay Samuel has been a force for transformation in the Anglican communion from South Asia to the USA. He established organisations for education, development and networks for biblically-based leadership inspired by Matthew 25:40 ‘whatever you do for the least of these you do for me’. Vinay sacrificed greatly to ensure that hundreds of thousands of people could access excellent education, vocational training and biblical-based seminaries. Those he mentored and taught continue to grow and work in South and Southeast Asia, Africa and beyond , with much impact in the countries where Christianity is a minority faith and faces hostility .
His contributions to the Christian world have been outstanding. Those who have come to a relationship with Christ through Vinay’s commitment to holistic and transformational mission, testify to his witness of Christ through a sacrificial lifestyle and God’s visionary and prophetic mission. He desires, even today, to secure the voice and witness of the Global South at the highest levels of the church and international organisations and continues to direct the agenda towards a biblically strong church that considers the realities of the weak and impoverished, who need the transformational power of Christ to move forward.
Vinay’s chief partner has been his wife Colleen who has exemplified the work of transformation among the poorest people in India and has influenced many women internationally to address the needs of the most vulnerable women and children in our society.
Vinay continues to work in the Divya Shanthi Christian Association, St. James Academy, The Bridge Foundation (microenterprise banking), The Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life (PhD programmes for the Global South) and Partnership in Mission Asia.
Note. Canon Dr Vinay Samuel is a Canon of the Anglican Church of Kenya and a former General Secretary of EFAC.