Missionary Reunion
We are staying for a week in Atlanta while we get our GBGM medicals. How nice it is to stay put in one place for a few days. Last weenend we were in Nashville at Scarritt Bennett Center for the Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia Missionary Reunion. We were the only "live" missionaries present; all others are retired or teaching in the US. To be in the presence of people who served before us was quite humbling and educational. We saw pictures of Singapore in the 50s and 60s, and we heard stories from the time of Singapore's independence.
I also found useful the discussions about the future of missions, particularly Robert Hunts observations about the transformation of missions, particular from the influence of entrepreneural and short-term missionaries. The era of big, centralized mission agencies is waining and the era of networking between local churches and mission field is growing. Interestingly enough, while short-term missions, with it's strengths and significant weaknesses, is all the rage, Prof Hunt noted a growing awareness, even among entrepreneurial types, of the important of long-term missionaries. Without long-term missionaries who know the place of assignment from the inside out, short-term mission efforts cannot be sustainable.
--georgos
I also found useful the discussions about the future of missions, particularly Robert Hunts observations about the transformation of missions, particular from the influence of entrepreneural and short-term missionaries. The era of big, centralized mission agencies is waining and the era of networking between local churches and mission field is growing. Interestingly enough, while short-term missions, with it's strengths and significant weaknesses, is all the rage, Prof Hunt noted a growing awareness, even among entrepreneurial types, of the important of long-term missionaries. Without long-term missionaries who know the place of assignment from the inside out, short-term mission efforts cannot be sustainable.
--georgos
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