In 2005, and with the generous support of the John Deere Foundation, the Human Needs and Global Resources program inaugurated its first annual Symposium. Since its inception, the annual Symposium convenes hundreds of guests each year, including Wheaton College students and faculty, scholars, activists, artists, and organizational leaders, to recognize and celebrate the creative work that people from around the world are doing to confront injustice and pursue human and environmental flourishing.
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We invite you to join us in 2026 to celebrate our 50th anniversary!
Join us in welcoming alumni, organizational partners, and special guests to commemorate the HNGR program’s 50th anniversary. Our September events will include a chapel message and plenary talk, classroom-based learning, a celebratory dinner, and a reconciliation workshop.
With special guests Dr. Ruth Padilla DeBorst (A Rocha Costa Rica), Christophe Mbonyingabo and Diane Kantarama (Christian Action for Reconciliation and Social Assistance, CARSA), Dr. Rolando Pérez Vela, and José Vinces Rodríguez (Paz y Esperanza), Lalbiakhlui (Kuki) Rokhum (A Rocha International), and Dr. Melba Maggay (Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture, ISACC).
Read more about our guests and the schedule of events here.
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Clock 6:30 PM
How are we to endure recurring loss and work for flourishing as a community? What does the collective work of perseverance in the midst of suffering entail? We explored these questions with Rev. Dr. J. Todd Billings (PHIL/ENGL ‘95, HNGR ‘94) and Rev. Collin Flake (PHIL/BITH ‘18, HNGR ‘17) for the Spring Symposium in Human Needs and Global Resources on Thursday, March 26, 2026 (7:00 pm) in the Meyer Science Lecture Hall. Following the talk, guests were invited to enjoy refreshments and participate in the 2025 HNGR Intern Poster Session in the Meyer Science Atrium.
Rev. Dr. J. Todd Billings
Rev. Dr. J. Todd Billings is the Girod Professor of Reformed Theology at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, MI. A graduate of Wheaton College (’95), Fuller Theological Seminary (’99), and Harvard Divinity School (’05), he has served with the church in East Africa for a year and a half, on the staff of a church-based homeless shelter for five years, and in a variety of academic and ministry settings. The author of seven books and many articles on a range of theological topics, he has also written personally as a cancer patient about faith, mortality, hope, and vocation amid suffering in Rejoicing in Lament and The End of the Christian Life. His current research explores theology and chronic illness.
Rev. Collin Flake
The Rev. Collin Flake is a graduate of Wheaton College (‘18) and Duke Divinity School (‘22). He is currently the HOPE North Carolina Community Facilitator for the North Street Neighborhood in Durham, NC. There, he accompanies an intentional community of about 100 people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities sharing life together on a neighborhood block. He is an ordained deacon in the Anglican Church in North America.