In This Issue: Scott Moreau on Mission Trends
- Note to Readers
- What’s Changing and Why It Matters
- New Listings on the Missions Events Calendar
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Practical Mobilization by Shane Bennett is published once a month.
Dear Readers,
Though I’ve got to side with Lake Superior State University in considering the word “webinar” a foul blight on our language, some friends and I spent a worthwhile 90 minutes yesterday watching and listening to one.
In it Dr. Scott Moreau, editor of the Evangelical Missions Quarterly and professor at Wheaton, pulled back the curtain on some interesting missions trends: the changing pace of mission projects, travel, and communication; the changing nature of mission-related goods and services; and the changing profile of mission agencies and missionaries. I’d like to spotlight a few of his key points – and, with you, flesh out the implications for mobilizers.
Dr. Moreau also spoke about the changing (usually shortening) length of service for many missionaries. Since we looked at that some in last month’s column I’m not going to add anything here, but get the webinar if you wish to pursue Dr. Moreau’s thoughts.
The event was hosted by David Mays, the sharp training guy at The Missions Exchange. If you want the full story, I’d encourage you to buy the download.
cheers,
Shane Bennett
What’s Changing and Why It Matters
1. Communication
Time was, you communicated with missionaries by handwritten letters floated across the seas by boat, maybe reaching their destination months later. On my first overseas trip we were an exclusively letter-supported team (although airmail had come along by this time!) On my next project, though, one team member actually both made and received international calls! (One of each, mind you. His engagement to the girl of his dreams, the day before we departed, compelled such an extravagance.) Later trips I was on or helped with saw the advent of phones in the homes where we stayed – a big step – then cross-town internet cafes, and, finally, wireless networks in the very places we slept.
As Scott (As Dr. Moreau is known to people who know him better than me!) suggests, this creates a situation in which people can be in a new culture without cutting ties to their former one. To the degree that this prevents accomplishing what God wants done in the new culture, it is a problem.
But is there a positive side? How can we as mobilizers capture the benefit of accelerated global communication for accomplishing God’s purposes for us?
I realize this is a bit dangerous. I’m not suggesting that someone making a career move to serve in a Mumbai slum should put a generator on their must-have equipment list so their i-everything gadgets are never without power.
On the other hand, consider: This summer a group from my church will head to Central Asia for a service-and-scouting trip. They’ll have two main tasks: Help orphans transition to grown-up life in the real world, and ask what God may be giving us, as a church, to do next in the country they’re visiting. The first task can be accomplished with minimal “tech.” But serving as the church’s eyes and ears could benefit a good deal from communication tools, time, and thinking. A blog comes to mind. I hope they get brilliant footage of some of the lovely people who live there. Maybe we could even set up a Skype call with the church for Sunday morning while the team is on the ground.
You likely have horror stories about misused communications between visited and home cultures. So do I. Let’s share those over coffee some day! What I’d like to hear are positive examples of how to use limitless communication used with discretion (e.g., how do you stop high-school kids from endless texting in the shadow of the Taj Mahal?), as well as creative ways that we can maximize communication availability to accomplish our mobilization goals.
2. Travel
Dr. Moreau discussed how trips to the other side of the planet which once took months can now happen in days or sometimes hours. (Conversely, a trip across Nairobi, which once took 20 minutes, now requires half a day!)
I’m thankful for this. It means I can occasionally visit cool people living in cool, far away places, but still get back to my family before they forget me. I’m also thankful for the way this opens the sandbox for a wider set of pals to play in. I know people who are either running a company or raising kids who simply can’t take a month away to serve and learn in a distant city. But if they could visit, maybe get away for a long week, the impact on their lives and those they influence would be tremendous.
As mobilizers, how do we encourage those under our influence (yeah, that’s a scary thought!) to arrange their lives to take advantage of current opportunities?
I had a couple of days last week with Carol Davis (read her bio here under ‘presenters.’) Carol is one of the smartest women I know, and she burned a new phrase onto my brain: kingdom intentionality. The current travel situation allows us to encourage kingdom intentionality in exciting ways. Over lunch, I heard Carol discuss the ways a young college student specializing in hospitality could use that skill to serve the burgeoning hotel industry, and could do it in some of the most under-evangelized cities in the world.
This shrinking travel time has also had a huge catalytic effect on short-term missions – a good thing, in my mind. Very few go long-term without first going short-term. Logically, an increase in short-term “goers” will generate an increase in career workers.
But get this, straight from Dr. Moreau: While short-term participation more than doubled between 1996 and 2005, the number career workers increased by only 3%. That gets my attention. As a mobilizer, I wonder what I might be doing wrong. I don’t think every short-termer should become a long-termer. But are we missing something, dropping the ball somewhere? I’d love your thoughts on this.
3. Profiles
The last bit of Moreau-ology I want to throw your way has to do with the changing look of Christians, agencies, and missionaries. Scott outlines the change this way:
Christians: From progressive, European, mainline, and male; to more conservative, North American, and evangelical; to very conservative, Pentecostal, majority-world, and female.
Agencies: From powerful, denominational agencies; to newer, activist agencies founded on the vision of those who served in WWII; to mega-churches, majority-world agencies, and entrepreneurs.
Missionaries: From full-time, long-term, professional, U.S. missionaries; to a mix of full-time and part-time, U.S., amateur missionaries; to a blended (international) missionary force of mixed longevity.
Many people smarter than me may see in these changes God pulling his hand off of western mission and mobilization efforts (that the time for western missionaries is over). And frankly, I sometimes wonder why I’m mobilizing in the U.S. instead of somewhere else. Even so, my attitude toward this is: God is opening all sorts of doors of opportunity to accomplish his great work. Wonderful. He’s using all sorts of people from all sorts of places to gather followers for Jesus. This is good, good news.
If you’ve read this far, you’re to be commended. Can I give you an assignment? Send me your list of three worthwhile opportunities for mobilizers that emerge out of these changes in the world of missions. Thanks!
New Listings on the Missions Events Calendar
Source: Marti Smith, Managing Editor
Did you know we at Missions Catalyst publish a calendar of missions events in the US and (to some extent) around the world? Our friend Dave Imboden at GoConnect suggests we find a way to let people know when new items have been posted. So here are a couple of recent additions:
March 29 – Reaching East Asia’s Peoples since 1865 (Houston, TX, USA). More info: OMF or call 800.422.5330.
March 31 to June 22 – Encountering the World of Islam online course (international). Offered four times a year. More info: Encountering Islam.
April 19 – OMF ‘No Limits’ conference (Long Beach, CA, USA). More info: OMF. Theme ‘Beijing and Beyond.’ Featuring Dr. Patrick Fung, OMF international director.
April 26 to 26 – OMF ‘Partnership for Asia’ conference (Redwood City, CA, USA). More info: OMF. “Glorifying God in Beijing and Beyond.” Featuring Dr. Patrick Fung and OMF director of China research Tony Lambert.
April 25 to 26 – ‘247 to Go’ event (Dallas, TX, USA). More info: Frontiers, or call 1.800.462.8436. Dialog with others about the un-begun task of bringing the hope of Jesus to unengaged Muslim peoples.
April 26 to 30 – Kairos – condensed world mission course (Pasadena, CA, USA). More info: Kairos. Nine sessions long, recently upgraded; those seriously interested in facilitating courses in the U.S. should plan to attend. For information about Kairos courses around the world (e.g., Australia, Thailand, Albania…) visit the Kairos site.
May 09 to 10 – ‘247 to Go’ event (Lynnwood, WA, USA). More info: Frontiers.
July 10 to 13 – retreat for missionary women on furlough (Irvine, CA, USA). More info: Women of the Harvest. Sign up soon; these retreats fill up quickly!
November 08 – ACMC VA/MD conference (Silver Spring, MD, USA). More info: ACMC or contact Joe Steinitz.
November 15 – ACMC NY/NJ conference (Hawthorne, NJ, USA). More info: ACMC.
November 22 – ACMC New England conference (Avon, CT, USA). More info: ACMC. To see the whole calendar, click here.
(Readers, if you don’t have easy web access please feel free to write me at any time and I’ll send you the same information directly in an email.)
Questions? Problems? Submissions? Contact publisher/managing editor Marti Smith.