The Strain of City Growth

This month, we’re analyzing how global urbanization may flip traditional missions on its head!

What we’ve discovered is that more than half of today’s world population now lives in metropolitan areas. And the question that remains: While missions has often set up camp in rural areas, is it time to “go urban”? If so, what are the key differences in urban versus rural ministry?

This week, we’ll dig deeper into these questions by taking a closer look at what relocating missions to urban areas might look like by surveying the existing needs and brainstorming how missionaries can make a difference.

Week #2: “The rapid growth of cities strains their capacity to provide services such as energy, education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and physical security. Because governments have less revenue to spend on the basic upkeep of cities and the provision of services, cities have become areas of massive sprawl, serious environmental problems, and widespread poverty.”

Many needs face people living in urban areas around the world. The Urban Institute, a nonpartisan economic and social policy research center, notes on its website that the primary problems facing urban areas in all 50 U.S. states as well as 23 other countries generally include: crime and justice, economy and taxes, education, healthcare, housing, welfare, and work/income issues.

In her book Missions, Gailyn Van Rheenen points out how different urban and rural areas are. Van Rheenen notes that while people in rural communities remain primarily homogenous, connected with friends and family, and educated for subsistence skills, urbanites live in a context that is pluralistic, heterogeneous, populated but not connected, focused on jobs over families, and fueled by formal education, especially in technological and informational training. So, clearly, missions organizations must realize that when comparing rural and urban missions, they are talking about two completely different contexts.

Additionally, Van Rheenen notes that urban peoples’ mindsets vary drastically from their rural counterparts. In order to work with and understand people in cities, missionaries must know that urbanites live in situations characterized by:
•Being consumed by commodities
•Disintegrating communities, where marriages and families are breaking down and many people are lonely
•Tremendous complexity, with a wide variety of choices in everything from food to religion
•A dominating cultural relativistic mindset, fueled by individualism

Is the Church uniquely qualified through its missions efforts to address such needs and cultural contexts? What might such ministry and evangelism efforts look like, in light of such information?

Your opinion matters. Weigh in.

Living Among the Urban Poor

Traditionally, missions work has often taken itself to rural areas: tribal or remote communities that need to hear the gospel.

But the cold, hard fact is that people are on the move! Now, more than ever before, people who once lived in rural areas are moving to the cities—a phenomenon researchers have called “Global Urbanization.” And this movement is taking place worldwide!

In fact, today more than half of the world’s population lives in metropolitan areas, and within the next 50 years, analysts expect that more than two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in towns and cities instead of rural areas.

So with this rapid move to the cities, should missions efforts transition to the cities, where the most people are? Have we been neglecting the urbanites and their needs? How does missions look different in urban versus rural areas? And if a move to the city is inevitable, should missionaries join existing outreach efforts or human service providers or should they continue to exist as indigenous missionaries?

These questions are what we will attempt to answer over the next few weeks. Join us in this missions mystery by taking part in the conversation!

Week #1: “Although half the world’s population now lives in cities, most humanitarian agencies continue to focus their efforts on rural development. There is a desperate need for people to live among the urban poor as ministers of God’s hope and redeeming power, and to partner with them in transforming their communities.”

In developed and developing countries alike, many people are moving to urban areas in hopes of a job, a home, and an all-around improved economic condition. But what they often meet is a lack of housing or poor living conditions, job shortages, and other major issues. And the problems brought on by urbanization look different in each country.

According to Servant Partners, a Christian organization dedicated to reaching out to people in urban areas, “One out of every six people in the world today lives in an urban slum, with very few churches among them.” Even in the United States, about 80 percent of the U.S. population lives in the nation's 300-plus metropolitan areas.

So is it time for missions to follow the masses and focus on cities? Is it time to re-evaluate how many resources are being plugged into rural areas when cities have just as many (if not more) needs? What do you think? Please join in the conversation and leave your comments.

http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=4613&catid=535&typeid=24&subMenuId=0
http://servantpartners.org/display.php?slug=focus
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/urban_gc/
http://servantpartners.org/display.php?slug=focus
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-02-08-metro-power_x.htm

The Future of Missions

MySpace, Skype, iPhones…the list goes on and on. Are these modern advances in technology valuable resources or distractions on the mission field? The jury is still out.

Many people think that these and other postmodern changes around the world have completely changed the traditional “pick up and go” style of missions. Are they right? Will missions and outreach never be the same? Let’s take a look at the evidence.

Week #4: “Missionaries at Open Doors use computer courses to train nationals in countries not open to Christian missionaries. They use chat rooms and questions-and-answer sites to do work that would be impossible using traditional missions methods.” Is this format the future of missions? Does technology make the go-and-stay model obsolete?

Online training and evangelism increasingly seem to be topics of conversation in the missions world. The questions that seem to be floating around include: Why spend money to send individuals overseas to conduct training that could be done over the Internet? With the rise of social networking sites, instant messaging, and other communication tools, do people actually need to uproot their lives in order to work effectively with people around the globe?

Internet Evangelism Day notes “the Internet is unique in its ability to reach people, and, we believe a God-given tool for the whole Church.” And the resources seem to abound!

Missionary Geek is an entire online resource devoted to “focusing on the modern missionary, […] look at the latest tools, processes and hacks that will help you do your job easier, more cleanly and leave you with more time to drink coffee with your friends.” Some missions organizations, including WGM, even have manuals for people wanting to get involved in becoming a virtual missionary.

So is it time to say goodbye to old models of missions work? Should Internet evangelism or online training techniques replace having missionaries go overseas and stay for long periods of time? Or do you think it’s important to retain the tactics and tradition from years gone by? Is there still benefit in actually sending missionaries to foreign lands for long periods of time?

Share your thoughts! Be a part of the conversation.

http://www.abpnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2753&Itemid=120
http://www.internetevangelismday.com/results.php
http://missionarygeek.blogspot.com/
http://www.wgm.org/Page.aspx?&pid=3262&srcid=3262

Are there downsides to using technology in missions?

You just can’t get away from the impact of technology. Even right now, you’re reading a blog that connects you with the missions world—maybe from the comfort of your living room, at the office, or even at a local park.

But have technological advances impacted the missions world at a deeper level? Has the face of traditional missions changed forever?

This week, we’re going to ask: Are there downsides to using technology in the missions world? Have we lost elements of what once was an efficient and effective tradition? Is technology really improving missions?

Week #3: Not everyone sees these technological advances as a godsend to the missions world. So are there downsides to using technology in missions?

A recent NY Times article, “Surveillance of Skype Messages Found in China,” noted that “Researchers in China have estimated that 30,000 or more ‘internet police’ monitor online traffic, Web sites and blogs for political and other offending content in what is called the Golden Shield Project or the Great Firewall of China.” For missionaries in that country and those like it, using Skype or other online communication tools may actually increase their personal security risk.

Others note that downsides to using technology on the mission field include: altering “missionary tactics and systems that have worked for decades” and distracting missionaries from their work with nationals by increasing their responsibility to stay connected back home.

So do these critics have a point? Should the ever-mobile and global world impact how missionaries do their work and stay connected? Or by using the most recent technological tools, have missionaries actually lost important fundamentals to worldwide outreach?

What’s your verdict? Do you have friends or family members who share your sentiments? We’re sure there are a variety of views out there when it comes to technology and missions, so please share your thoughts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/technology/internet/02skype.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1
http://www.abpnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2753&Itemid=120