Cultural Engagement-The new normal?
Phil Cooke is a deeply respected ministry media consultant and I read some materials from him yesterday that addressed trends in ministry that effect all of us. He framed them as things that are open and things that are closed. This one caught my attention…
Closed: Political power was the method of choice for impacting culture
Open: Cultural engagement is the way to impact the culture
I address this issue of cultural engagement a little in my post called Engage: the future of missions, but Phil has me thinking about this whole thing from several angles.
One of the angles that has profoundly challenged me in the context of cultural engagement and technology is a ministry that just came onto my radar in the last 6 months. Kiva.org is this amazing combination of third world impact, donor relationships and responsible economic development, all threaded together through technology to help people engage.
Here is the offcial statement from their web site….Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.
Leveraging technology, Kiva has figured out how to connect people with resources directly to people in areas of poverty and to “responsibly” provide assistance for a more productive future. What an example of cultural engagement using technology and eliminating distance and travel barriers.
By the way, the Kiva people will be sharing this year at the WCA Leadership Summit on August 6 and 7th which can be experienced all over the US in local church host sites.
How could you connect people to the need? How could you create “cultural engagement”?
Question more than comment. I was interested in the report you gave about the World leadership conference in Myanmar this summer. Sunday you were giving numbers of people who attended sharing how much money BTCC raised towards having this event. Yet I didn’t really hear anything about Jesus in this.. mostly just about gathering a huge team there to stream “world leaders” to these people from Myanmar. Can you further elaborate on just what the leadership conference covered? Is this preparing folks for the mission field? I am new to BTCC and just wanting to understand the Biblical significance of this event. Please know this is a question ask with sincere desire to better understand. Sunday’s service did not make it clear what was being taught there. Just that there was the biggest gathering of Christian leaders ever in this country… and the huge expenses that were taken care of by BTCC. Thank you for taking time to help me understand