In Loving Memory of Rev. Dr. Elizabeth S. Tapia

With deep sorrow and reverence, we honor the passing of Rev. Dr. Elizabeth S. Tapia—trailblazing theologian, pastor, teacher, and the first Women’s Concerns Programme Secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia. 

One of the original foremothers of PANAAWTM, Dr. Tapia passed away on June 5, 2025. She helped shape the theological imagination of countless students, colleagues, and communities across Asia and the world.

An ordained minister of The United Methodist Church in the Philippines, Dr. Tapia served as Dean of Union Theological Seminary, professor at John Wesley College and Harris Memorial College, and Director of Mission Theology at the UMC’s General Board of Global Ministries. She was also a beloved faculty member at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches, where she taught mission and contextual theology. Tapia organized the PANAAWTM group at Claremont School of Theology while she was a doctoral student at Claremont Graduate University. She contributed her article, “‘While There Is Life, There Is Hope’: My Journey toward Leadership,” to our second anthology, Leading Wisdom: Asian and Asian North American Leaders. Whether mentoring young women, writing curriculum, or preaching with power and tenderness, she lived what she taught.

Her legacy endures in the prophetic witness of Asian and Asian American women theologians who continue to build the house she helped form. We give thanks for her life and grieve her passing with hope, holding Rev. Alan Cogswell and all who mourn in our prayers. May her memory be a blessing and a guiding light for the path ahead.

A Eulogy by tita Rebecca Asedillo, Dr. Tapia's dear friend and colleague