John Arthur Nunes

John Nunes leads Lutheran World Relief (LWR) staff in 17 countries, working to end poverty, injustice and human suffering worldwide.

Prior to joining LWR, John served on the faculty of Concordia University Chicago as a professor of theology. He has also served as a management consultant, and as an urban parish pastor and community organizer in Dallas, Texas and Detroit, Michigan.

John holds a Bachelor of Arts from Concordia College, Ann Arbor, Mich.; a Master of Divinity from Concordia Seminary in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada; and from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago he holds both a Master of Theology and a Doctor of Philosophy with an emphasis in postcolonial identity. John has also received honorary doctorates from Concordia University, Ann Arbor and Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin.

He currently sits on the board of directors of InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based international nongovernmental organizations.

John is the author of Voices from the City: Issues and Images of Urban Preaching and, with his wife Monique, the children’s book Little Things Make Big Differences: A Story about Malaria.

Born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, John grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and has lived in the U.S. since 1981. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland and is married to Monique Nunes, who is the Director of Student Development for Concordia University, Nebraska. They have five grown children.