Innovation in Mission
The world is changing quickly and that is requiring mission agencies, missionaries and churches to live... View more
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Looking back to better see the way forward
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Looking back to better see the way forward
One thing about innovation is that it’s not new.
There have been many past innovations and observations that have paved the way for what we are doing now. Many were revolutionary at their time and sometimes got enthusiasts a little too excited.I particularly like how excited William Carey got in 1793 about the latest technological advances of his day. In addressing “the impediments in the way of carrying the gospel” he states.
“As to their distance from us, whatever objections might have been made on that account before the invention of the mariner’s compass, nothing can be alleged for it, with any colour of plausibility in the present age. Men can now sail with as much certainty through the Great South Sea, as they can through the Mediterranean, or any lesser Sea”
18th century technology offered new possibilities. 21st tech offers a few more.
Modern technology is great.
God is greater.
What past innovations do you see as influential? Which have you (or others) been too optimistic about? What else can we learn from looking back?
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To list a few: Invention of paper for the inexpensive dissemination of ideas (and the gospel), the development of the Roman road system that facilitated the spread of the gospel, the invention of the printing press for mass printing of scriptures.
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In the modern missionary era, innovations include the use of boards/nonprofit structures, personal support raising, Bible translation (mostly neglected until about a century ago), the use of media in different forms, contextualization, three-self and other indigeneity ideas, the UPG paradigm, and the idea of a “global Christianity.”
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