It’s that time of year again… the time of year when so many of us begin reflecting on the past year and pondering on the year to come. So I’m curious about your take on 2012. What were the top trends you saw. For example, did you see more or less interest in…
*** CHE
*** TESL
*** Rise in interest in Bible Translation?
*** Rise in interest in Orality (and oral Bible translations)
*** Unreached Peoples
*** Church Growth (the science)
*** Church Growth (the practical result)
*** Sending missionaries from your homeland (specify your homeland)
*** Sponsoring nationals from another country (specify which)
*** Denominational mission boards or interdenominational boards
*** Collaboration and partnership
*** Short-term missions
*** Rise of Global South involvement in missions (we used to say “Two-thirds world” and before that, we would say “Developing World”)
*** Urbanization
*** Others?
What trends did you see in which topics? I’ll share some of my own takes in these areas, and if you share yours in the Comments (below the web version of this item), I’ll share your views too. Remember, be careful with sensitive lands and don’t mention people at risk. Thanks in advance for your participation.
From my work with Mission Frontiers over the past two years, the biggest trend I see is a rapidly spreading interest in discipling and church-planting movements such as T4T (Training for Trainers—mentioned in this issue of Brigada) and DBS (Discovery Bible Study—described in the Nov/Dec issue of Mission Frontiers).
In many parts of the world, among both reached and unreached peoples, these movements are demonstrating the exponential power of reproducing disciples. And the rapidly spreading interest in and application of these principles holds huge promise for the coming year and the decade to follow, particularly for reaching the remaining unreached peoples.
One significant trend I was pleased to see was greater attention on mobile ministry. Participation in the 2012 Mobile Ministry Forum consultation held in Orlando more than doubled over the previous year’s attendance with many of those executive level leaders of their organizations. If you want to learn more about this exciting trend, please visit http://www.mobileministryforum.org and view the executive summary from the recent consultation (Nov 28-30).