P.S. it’s a Girl!! Bogdan & Paula’s new baby:
WorldView: Culture – No ‘flat’ superhighway to world evangelization
Location still matters. Despite the so-called “shrinking world,” fewer than 3 percent live in a country where they were not born. An even smaller minority have access to all the advantages of modern technology and travel. The rest are still tied to the cultures that spawned them. So why is the IMB moving away from dividing its missionaries by location or region and toward “global affinity groups” that focus on peoples sharing the same language, culture or ethnicity? Because “place” is a state of mind and heart as much as a physical location. The most powerful “place” is culture. And those who live somewhere else often hold the key to reaching those they left at home. The new global affinity groups will be designed so missionaries can more effectively engage unreached peoples regardless of their location.
IMB asks church mission teams to provide child protection measures
With sexual abuse among children a growing problem even in churches and ministry organizations, the IMB is requesting that short-term mission trip participants have training in child protection and go through a background screening process. For the screening, local churches can use a company they already have a relationship with or a company the IMB has contracted with to provide the services at discounted rates. Free training resources will be available from the IMB in January 2009.
