Lead Mentor: Jason Swan Clark

Portland Seminary Visiting Professor Dr. Jason Swan Clark serves as the lead mentor for the Doctor of Leadership in Global Perspectives program. As lead mentor, Clark teaches four of the courses, leads each of the three Advances, and facilitates online experiences.

Dr. Clark is the principal and head of Waverley Abbey College, leading the development of a new Christian university, at the heart of a partnership with Waverley Abbey and 24/7 Prayer. Waverley Abbey College specializes in applied theological courses, training people in counseling, spiritual formation, chaplaincy, and leadership.

Until 2022, Dr. Clark served as a full-time pastor at Sutton Vineyard Church in London (UK), which he and his wife planted in 1997 while he was an investment broker in London. He and his wife served as regional and national leader for Vineyard Churches UK, overseeing church planting and church development in London. He also served as a Vineyard Institute Board and Leadership Team Member, overseeing the training of leaders and pastors for the Vineyard Church International Movement.

Dr. Clark was very involved in emerging and missional church explorations, having overseen the former Emergent UK network. Jason completed his DMin at George Fox, with research in exploration of emerging and missional church theology and leadership. His subsequent PhD at London School of Theology researched theological assessments of consumerism and the implications for evangelical ecclesiology.

Dr. Clark lectures and teaches in other countries on a regular basis in the areas of church and culture. He contributed two chapters to Church in the Present Tense for Baker Academic’s emersion series.

Expertise and Research Interests

• Leadership: The theology and practice of leadership, especially differentiated leadership
• Evangelicalism: History, beliefs, and practices, worship, identity, formation, assessments of modern ecclesiologies
• Theological anthropology: Christian identity, formation, and agency
• Research methodologies and critical thinking: The integration of critical thinking within research methodologies
• Capitalism and consumerism: The impact of capitalism and consumer culture on Christian agency and formation
• Neuro-theology: The interaction between behavioral science, social science, and theology
• Mental Illness and Faith: The nature of mental illness and integration with Christian identity and formation

Details

• Position: Lead Mentor for the Doctor of Leadership in Global Perspectives; Principal and Head of Waverley Abbey College; Former Senior/Founding Pastor, Sutton Vineyard Church; London Regional Leader for Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland; Leader of HUB the Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland church planter training program; International board member and leader for the Vineyard Institute; United Kingdom leader and director for Vineyard Institute.
• Academic and Professional Background: BA Honours degree in theology, London School of Theology; DMin, Leadership in the Emerging Culture, George Fox University; PhD, "Evangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship," London School of Theology.
• Email: jclark@georgefox.edu
• Office: 011-44-797-3461611
• Web: jasonswanclark.org 
• Twitter: @jasonclark
• Facebook: jasonswanclark