David Scott

PhD – Boston University
MTS – Boston University
BA – Lawrence University

David W. Scott’s research focuses primarily on understanding the history of the expansion of global Methodist and Wesleyan traditions, especially as it relates to larger socio-historical processes such as globalization and migration. Included in this research is a series of Methodist missionary biographies assembled for the bicentennial celebration of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church that will be transitioned to the History of Missiology website hosted by the Center for Global Christianity and Mission.

A second focus of Dr. Scott’s research is investigations into the development of the organizational structures and financial strategies that support mission and ministry in American Protestantism. This area of research has been largely neglected, but such organizational structures and financial arrangements reflect important values and significantly shape the development of American Protestantism.

Dr. Scott is Director of Mission Theology at the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church.  In this capacity, he was responsible for the 200^th anniversary celebration (in 2019) of the founding of the first Methodist mission society in the United States. Before joining the staff in 2016, he taught religion and leadership at Ripon College in Ripon, WI. He is the blogmaster for the scholarly blog UM & Global (www.umglobal.org). He is the author of Crossing Boundaries: Sharing God’s Good News through Mission as well as Mission as Globalization: Methodists in Southeast Asia at the Turn of the 20^th Century. He also co-authored Methodist Mission at 200: Serving Faithfully amid the Tensions (Abingdon Press, 2021) with Thomas Kemper. In addition to teaching, he has worked in nonprofit planning, evaluation, and project management.