Recommended Reading: AI Is Into the White Savior Complex

One of the more public-facing uses of AI (artificial intelligence) is in creating images. There are several websites that will allow you to enter prompts and receive back AI-generated pictures. These images are created by computers based on patterns detected in an existing trove of images on the internet.

As reported in this NPR article, researcher Arsenii Alenichev decided to test AI image generation on an issue related to global health. While existing images of white, Western doctors treating black, African children abound, Alenichev wanted to see if he could get AI to generate the opposite: images of black, African doctors treating white, Western children. In short, he couldn't.

Although Alenichev's results were not intended to be scientific, they do point to two important findings that are relevant to Christian mission:

1. These results show how prevalent the white savior trope is. There are so many existing images of wealthy, white, Westerners helping poor, black, Africans (and others who are not wealthy, white, Westerners) that imagining the reverse is nigh impossible, even for extremely powerful computers. But if we (humans) can only imagine help and mission flowing in one way (from wealthy, white Westerners to others), it is impossible to create reciprocal mission relationships that are based on mutuality. We are locked into patterns where wealthy, white Westerners are givers and everyone else, especially poor, black Africans, are receivers. There is no mutuality possible in such a scenario. We need to expand our missional imaginations.

2. While artificial intelligence has a wide range of potentially beneficial applications, it cannot overcome the human biases that shape the world as it is. Because artificial intelligence operates by assimilating content from the internet (and elsewhere) and detecting patterns in that content, it is constrained by the pre-existing biases and prejudices that are part of existing content. That content is overwhelmingly made by Westerners and thus reflects the national, social, racial, economic, and other biases common on the West. Computers might save us from some things, but they won't save us from the biases in our hearts. We will need to continue to rely on the Holy Spirit to carry out that work.

Recommended Reading: AME General Conference

The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church is currently meeting for its 51st Quadrennial General Conference. Like The United Methodist Church, the AME had to postpone its regularly scheduled General Conference from 2020. Unlike the UMC, the AME has gone forward with its meeting this year, despite the ongoing pandemic.

However, there is a twist: the AME General Conference will be a conference in two locations: Orlando, Florida and Cape Town, South Africa. Like the UMC, the AME is an international denomination. It has branches in the United States, Africa, Latin America, Europe, and India. The six (out of 20) African districts of the church will meet in Cape Town. The other districts will meet in Orlando.

It is not clear to me (David) whether all delegates of the AME are participating in this year's General Conference. (For instance, I don't know whether delegates from the 16th district, which covers Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe, have all actually been able to travel to Orlando.) But by having a conference in two locations, it allows much more participation than a single location would.

The conference will include a mix of live and recorded material. The live material allows the church to deliberate together, while the recorded material allows the church to conduct celebratory and ceremonial aspects of the conference on a schedule that works for local time zones.

If the AME General Conference is generally successful, it could serve as a model for other denominations to adopt in terms of distributed church meetings.

For those interested in following along, visit The Christian Recorder or follow the hashtags #IamAME and #AMECGC2021 on social media.

Recommended Viewing: Jenny Phillips on Green Technology and Mission

As part of the "Get Your Spirit in Shape" video podcast series, Joe Iovino recently interviewed Rev. Jenny Phillips, Senior Technical Advisor for Environmental Sustainability at United Methodist Global Ministries, for an episode entitled "Technology and Mission." The half-hour long conversation includes a discussion of solar power generation solutions and other green technology being deployed in current United Methodist mission, the theological underpinnings of creation care as a United Methodist mission activity, and the variety of benefits of adopting such technology. The link to the podcast also includes a transcript for the podcast for those interested in the subject but looking to more quickly familiarize themselves with the material.

Recommended Readings: UMVIM Virtual Mission Trips

For those interested in learning more about virtual mission experiences after reading Karen DiStefano's piece describing them, here are a few more resources to help you do so:

The UMVIM website has a page describing virtual mission with links to specific virtual mission opportunities, including upcoming and on-going opportunities.

The UMVIM Facebook page has posts and pictures from recent virtual mission experiences, including those to Honduras, Tanzania, and Mexico.

Karen Distefano: Virtual Missions

Today's post is by Karen Distefano. Distefano is South Central Jurisdiction UMVIM and Disaster Response Director.

The Virtual Mission program, implemented in April, emerged from the very real need to maintain the connection between United Methodist mission sites around the world and Volunteers In Mission teams during times of quarantine and shelter in place.

The Virtual Mission is based on the traditional VIM team model, with a team leader working closely with the mission site host to understand the ministry and to help the site achieve its goals. Our first Virtual Mission was with the program “Give Ye Them To Eat” (GYTTE) in Puebla, Mexico, run by Global Ministries missionaries Nan McCurdy and Miguel Mairena. Working with Nan, we set the objectives of the mission: to introduce the team to the work GYTTE did and to encourage VIM teams to return to Puebla once the pandemic was over.

Our team consisted of 25 people from across the US, most of whom had never heard of GYTTE before. Like a traditional VIM team, we assigned people to different team “tasks”: construction, meals, devotionals, cultural research, safety, photography, social media, and fundraising. Their task would be very different than if we were on the ground, but still allowed for team members to be able to contribute to the mission. For example, the Meals Group would research the types of food eaten in the area and share recipes that we could make at home. The Construction Group looked at the types of housing that are typical of the area and how much a house might cost. The Photography Group searched for photos and videos of either the geographical area or from the mission site itself (many of the pictures came from GYTTE’s website and Facebook page) and then compiled a team video at the end.

The majority of the virtual mission content, though, was intentionally set by the GYTTE staff. Nan and Miguel, along with two staff members, shared pictures of their ministries and explained what they were doing in the community to empower and improve the lives of area residents. Another crucial piece of the mission was our discussions on videos and readings recommended by GYTTE. The Zoom platform allowed for our team to go into Breakout Rooms to discuss the information we had read or watched. Each Breakout Room was hosted by a GYTTE staff to allow for meaningful dialogue through questions and answers. By the end of the 3-day mission, team members unanimously agreed that they had had a true missional experience, in spite of the fact that we never left home. We forged a relational connection with our hosts and the GYTTE staff that will most likely lead to future teams visiting the Puebla mission.

One of the other intentional parts to the Virtual Mission is what we call the “Local Involvement” component. Team members were challenged to each come up with one idea of how they could continue the ministry(ies) of GYTTE in their own local community. For example, GYTTE has programs in the areas of agriculture and livestock development, water and sanitation, affordable housing, and community health. Suggestions for local mission work in our own communities could be partnering with the local Habitat for Humanity chapter, setting up a food pantry, volunteering at a local free clinic, working with migrants, or teaching ESL.

The Virtual Mission can be a powerful evangelism and discipleship tool because it allows more people to explore God’s call on their lives and to see how their gifts and talents are valuable. The virtual model can incorporate people from a broad spectrum of age and life experiences into the body of Christ and allow them the opportunity to explore the gifts and talents God has given them.

The Virtual Mission will look differently for each mission context. It may even be a different experience for each team that goes to the same site. But what remains constant for each Virtual Mission experience is the refocusing on mission itself. Once the excitement of travel is taken out of the picture, team members are forced to see mission for what it truly is. The focus of the mission no longer is about the airline tickets, team t-shirts, and souvenir shopping. It is about the ministry that God has called us to and learning how we can be a part of it.

David N. Field: Connecting Across Europe – the Case of the Methodist e-Academy

Today's piece is written by Dr. David N. Field. Dr. Field is the Academic Coordinator of the Methodist e-Academy in Europe.

The advent of the corona virus covid-19 has sparked an intensification of the move toward online theological education that has been slowly growing over the past decade. It is quite possible that in the aftermath the pandemic online education will have established itself as an integral component of theological education and pastoral formation.

It is appropriate at this juncture to look at one model that has been operating for almost 12 years. The European Methodist e-Academy started operating in 2008 as a response to the specific situation of (United) Methodism in Europe.

European Methodist Churches are all minority churches. In most cases the annual conferences are small with limited resources yet in many cases experiencing steady but limited growth. Establishing theological seminaries in every country was not viable, and it was not practicable or desirable for students to attend one of the existing seminaries.

A decision was taken that students would do their initial theological training at a seminary or university in their own country and that this would be supplemented by an online program focused on Methodist studies. Thus, the Methodist e-Academy was established to offer this program.

The program consists of six modules covering Methodist History (Early Methodism and European Methodism), Methodist Theology (Doctrine and Ethics), and Methodist Ecclesiology (Including polity but focused on the mission in contemporary Europe). Students take one module a semester. In the majority of cases, the students are engaged in ministry either prior to or after ordination during this time.

At present each module in made up of eleven lessons which have of three components.
 •  Printed and online readings.
 •  Online exercises
 •  A weekly webinar

From 2020, each lesson will also include at least one videoed lecture. This was successfully introduced to one course in 2019.

Each module is concluded with a residential block seminar of two to three days, and students have to complete a major essay on a topic related to the course.

The e-Academy operates primarily as a network linking together students and lecturers from diverse parts of Europe. The lecturers are either suitably qualified pastors or professors at one of the Methodist seminaries. The only people employed on a regular basis are the coordinator and an administrator – both of whom are employed in a part time capacity. The work of the e-Academy is overseen by a board comprised of representatives of the four UMC episcopal areas, the Methodist Church of Great Britain, and the independent Methodist Churches.

A new development which, it is hoped, will facilitate the expansion and improvement of the program is a partnership with Cliff College in Britain. This partnership includes access to the TheologyX learning management system, which offers numerous technological advances that will enhance our program.

The key pedagogical features that we strive to implement are.

 •  Learner centred – It seeks to enable students to learn with and from each other.

 •  Interactive – It requires interaction between the lecturers and students, and amongst the students.

 •  Praxis oriented – It is designed to facilitate interaction between academic theological content and thinking with the lived experience of ministry.

 •  Connectional – It brings together students and lecturers from diverse countries to learn together.

 •  Communal and relational – It is based on the recognition that the learning best takes place in the context of relationships of commitment and trust. A key element of the program is the building of a community of learning. Here, the residential seminars have been of great importance

 •  Responsibility and commitment – Community involves mutual responsibility. On the one hand, students are responsible for their own learning, but on the other, they responsible to enhance the learning of other students by participating in the interactional dimensions of each lesson. 

The program was designed to meet a particular need – to equip students who had been educated at non-Methodist Institutions with a deep understanding of the Methodist tradition so that they could creatively draw on it as they engaged their ministry. It has however had two unforeseen consequences which have become increasingly important particularly in the present context of The United Methodist Church.

1. The development of deep relationships between church leaders from different parts of Europe. This occurred not only in the organised dimensions of the program but also on the initiative of students. They organised, for example, an online fellowship group, congregational visits, and partnerships between congregations in different countries.

2. The facilitation of inter-contextual learning. While students were united by their common membership in a Methodist, in most cases United Methodist, Church they discovered the dynamic variety of contextual differences that lead to very different understandings of the Methodist tradition and its embodiment. Students came from the richest and some of the poorest nations of Europe. Some came from highly secularised societies others from deeply religious societies, though with different dominant religions – Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Islamic. The nations and the churches had lived through the twentieth century on different sides of the Iron Curtain. The e-Academy provided a community in which students could learn from each other’s contexts and experiences  

The Methodist e-Academy has not achieved all its goals and has not fully implemented its desired pedagogy. However, its structure as a virtual connection linking students and lecturers across very different countries and contexts has provided the flexibility to address the particular needs of European United Methodism and provides an example of how online learning can be used to provide inter-contextual and connectional theological education with limited resources, which would not have been possible in a traditional institution.

Jeanie Reimer: Doing Mission by Videoconferencing

Today's post is by Jeanie Reimer. Jeanie is the Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia In Mission Together Partnership Coordinator for Global Ministries.

Using videoconferencing for mission has been a new experience for many during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is a long-standing practice among United Methodists in the Baltics. Through my consulting work with Global Ministries, it has been such a blessing to build relationships with people from all over the Baltics, not only by in-person visits but with the wonderful world of videoconferencing!

My local church, FUMC of Neenah, Wisconsin, and our partner church, Pilviskiai UMC in Lithuania, started doing monthly Skype Bible studies in 2014 shortly after one of our mission trips. The idea of videoconferencing was born out of the desire to keep our relationship strong and to grow spiritually together in between our in-person visits.  Although it was a step outside our comfort zone, little did we know that 6 years later this connection would continue with great enthusiasm.

That first Skype Bible study back in 2014 reminds me of the parable of the mustard seed, which has grown in profound ways that we never imagined. We have planted and nourished seeds as we sought new ways to communicate and build relationships, despite being physically distant from each other. Together, through our openness to videoconferencing, we have been able to be the hands and feet of Christ for each other, halfway around the world. Grounded in prayer and devotions, we are now more involved in each other’s lives and more connected to our mutual spiritual journeys. Although it has not been easy, we have patiently and steadily developed the tools to gather people together virtually.

Connecting over a computer screen does not change the importance of being together in person and doesn’t replace the “real” hugs, but it certainly can keep partnerships alive and strong in between visits. And during this time of pandemic, we have been able to lift each other up and listen to the sharing of similar struggles and challenges. It has been very meaningful to see each other and pray for each other during this difficult time.  I am grateful for the groundwork laid in 2014 between UMC Pilviskiai and FUMC Neenah that has brought us to this point.

Even more exciting has been to see how the concept of videoconferencing has been embraced by more Methodist groups in the Baltics as a result of our first Bible study between our two partner churches, 5,000 miles apart. Here are the Methodist groups from the Baltics that are now using videoconferencing on a regular basis: 

Friends of Lithuania – This is a group of partner churches, individuals, and clergy from the US and Lithuania who have engaged in In Mission Together partnerships with the Lithuania UMC. We have been meeting monthly, and more recently quarterly, through WebEx since January 2018. We are grateful to Global Ministries for providing this resource. Beginning with devotions and prayer, we learn about what is happening in the Lithuania UMC and we keep each other informed about our partnerships. It has deepened our relationship with each other and has definitely improved our communication. It is a joy to have these calls!

Friends of the Baltics – This committee was born out of the desire to connect the three Baltic “Friends” groups – Friends of Estonia, Friends of Latvia, and Friends of Estonia. These are all groups in the US who partner with Methodist churches in the Baltics. Noticing that there was little communication between these groups, Dr. Üllas Tankler, Regional Representative – Europe, Eurasia & North Africa, Global Mission Connections, and I launched this group in the fall of 2018. Consisting of the co-chairs and leaders of each group, we meet quarterly though teleconferencing. The goal is to build relationships, learn from each other, and create a vehicle for communication. These “Friends” groups are passionate about their relationships with fellow Methodists in the Baltics. There are many similarities and challenges with United Methodism in these post-Soviet occupied countries and we knew there was a wealth of information that could be shared. One day, we hope to have a Friends of the Baltics gathering.

Friends of Latvia – This is a group of partner churches, individuals, and clergy from the US and Latvia who have engaged in connecting congregation partnerships with the Latvian UMC. We had our first call in January 2020 before even knowing what COVID-19 was! Since then, we have had two other teleconferencing calls. Our last call on April 25th replaced what was supposed to be an in-person gathering in Dallas, Texas. There were 40+ people on the call from the US and Latvia, and people stayed on the call for the entire time! I was blown away … I thought we would lose people, or they would be disengaged, but quite the opposite was true. Initially, this group was hesitant about getting started, but once we did, we realized how amazing it is to be connected. Our next call will be May 30th, and we look forward to our ongoing connections and conversation.

Development Committee of the Baltic Methodist Theological Seminary (BMTS) in Estonia – We are excited about the newly-formed BMTS Development Committee which held its first meeting in early 2020 and continues meeting almost weekly.  Through Webex and Zoom resources from Global Ministries, this committee consists of BMTS leadership and board members and the Friends of Estonia co-chairs from Estonia and the US.  We were already working virtually on a 2020 Development Plan when suddenly everything changed with COVID-19. Creating a new development plan specific to the response to COVID-19, we quickly adjusted because we had the resource of videoconferencing available to us.

While the idea of doing mission through teleconferencing may seem foreign to many people, the partner relationships I am seeing in the Baltics during this pandemic are only heightening our steadfast commitment to each other. Teleconferencing is making real connections possible! Because the relationships are personal and ongoing, people are caring about each other, praying for each other and taking opportunities to engage with each other via videoconferencing. Our collective willingness to stretch outside of our comfort zones has made this growth possible.

These examples of groups using videoconferencing have reaffirmed my strong belief in the concept of In Mission Together where the framework embraces ongoing relationships. Promoting sustainability versus dependency, creating a journey of engaging in spiritual development with each other, each of us bring to the table our own unique gifts to share with one other. And just like the mustard seed, I see these covenant relationships growing in mutuality through God’s grace and love. We are joined together in human connection by participating equally as the body of Christ. I continue to marvel at God’s wisdom, guidance, and hand in this process for certainly the Spirit has inspired, and will continue to inspire, this journey.

Recommended Reading: UMVIM-NCJ Virtual Mission Trips

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the short-term travel model of mission engagement, along with so many other things in life. Nevertheless, that has not stopped local and regional UMVIM Coordinators from continuing to forge mission connections. With travel off the table, though, those connections look different. One model for continuing those connections is the "virtual mission trip."

UMVIM-NCJ has this resource page on virtual missions. The model they are promoting involves hour-long virtual conversations among mission partners for five days that aim to help participants "learn, explore, connect, and partner."

The UMVIM-NCJ resource page has four potential host partners for virtual missions (two domestic and two international), a list of suggested roles for church participants, and a sample schedule.

There is a fundraising component to support the on-going work of partner organizations (which are still doing ministry, often with increased demand and fewer resources). Yet the virtual mission trip goes beyond just a fundraiser to facilitate more extensive learning and interaction among partners.

While the idea of a virtual mission trip may seem strange to many, this is an interesting model for two reasons: First, as a response to the current pandemic that still facilitates global mission, it is an interesting short-term alternative. And second, given the critiques of some short-term mission practices as forms of helping that can hurt, it will be interesting to see if this virtual model, which is focused more on relationship-building, will be an attractive long-term model as well.

Robert A. Hunt: The Future of Theological Education – Fly or Die: Some Responses

Today's post is written by Dr. Robert Hunt, Director of Global Theological Education, Professor of Christian Mission and Interreligious Relations, and Director of the Center for Evangelism at Perkins School of Theology. It is the second of a two-part series. The first part can be found here.

The future of theological education will depend on it becoming truly accessible, culturally and situationally contextual, financially sustainable, and engaged in continuous partnership and dialogue with local churches and the global church. Of these, the last is first in importance because all the others can be realized only in the context of partnership and dialogue. But as the COVID 19 crisis has clarified, our structures for engaging in partnership and dialogue with the global church are deeply dependent on the convening power that US-based institutions have because of their overwhelming financial resources. Absent the ability to gather significant numbers of persons in a single place, we quickly see how fragile the infrastructure of partnership really becomes. And this is particularly true of the UMC, where almost all the power to convene was vested in General Boards and Agencies or Episcopal offices that are rapidly being defunded.

I would suggest that the conditions described above require the following:

First theological schools, and indeed all schools, will need to shift away from a campus paradigm to a systems paradigm of self-understanding. In particular, both administrators and faculty must understand that a school is essentially a learning management system, LMS, in which facilities, faculty, courses, library resources, and so on are coordinated for the benefit of the student.

COVID 19 has effectively demonstrated the truth of this statement as every function of most schools has moved into an “online” environment. The potential to exist entirely in a virtual space is one of the key characteristics of an LMS as opposed to a campus-based school. Whether it is an LMS focused on course management, such as Canvas or Blackboard, or one based on administration such a People-Soft, a focus on the LMS allows schools to re-think what [was] is essential to education rather than maintaining legacy assets. This doesn’t mean that the classic campus isn’t a valuable resource for learning, but rather that it can and must be treated as a valuable as opposed to essential resource. 

Given a change in paradigm away from the campus to the LMS, theological schools must rapidly develop their competence and resourcefulness in existing and emerging forms of education through digitally mediated relationships, or DMR. “Online education” isn’t sufficiently comprehensive and is too focused on technological rather than relational competence. Seminaries can hire technicians to get them online. What they really need is to engage experts in emerging pedagogies for DMR to become competent and effective. We will need to learn the emerging psychology and sociology of the DMR environment and develop new aspects of emotional and cultural intelligence.

The capacity to engage fruitfully and to cultivate competence in DMR will serve three critical needs.

First, it will become the basis for more sustained partnerships with geographically distant theological schools and churches. Beyond the current crisis, capacity in DMR will allow us to more fully and consistently engage our partners and both learn from them and appropriately share resources with them.

Secondly, it will be the foundation of a theological education that is fully accessible not only in terms of those with disabilities but also those whose disability comes from lack of proximity. This requires more, however, than merely thinking about online teaching. 1. Students in theological schools now need personal computers and internet access as much as they telephones and library access. For this reason, theological schools have a moral obligation to ensure that as part of the aid they offer students they include personal computers and home internet access. 2. Theological schools must rapidly move beyond video-conferencing technology to the cutting edges of DMR such as VR classrooms, 360 engagement with places of pedagogical interest, and Enhanced Reality tools for learning. This technology is available now, and the failure to use it to make theological education more compelling and effective is negligence.

Third, and most importantly, competence in DMR is essential for preparing future pastors to minister in the context of DMR so that they can competently form and lead digitally mediated ministries (DMM). The theological school should and must become a laboratory for emerging ministries in which students can experiment. Courses in DMM incorporating DMR are as critical to the future of theological education as those teaching worship, preaching, evangelism, and pastoral care.

For theological education to endure through both the current crisis and the broader shifts taking place in our culture, in short, to be sustainable, it must fundamentally change its understanding of its goals and its financing.

First, it must recognize that the goal of all professional education is NOT a degree or certification, but involvement in lifelong learning in a community committed to scholarship and professional skill. Theological schools need to move students who graduate into immediate, year-round opportunities for continued engagement in learning. This will only be possible if theological schools work in partnership with the larger church to provide the types of continuing education, and certifications, critical to pastoral leadership of many types.

Closely related to this, theological schools must become intimately involved in pre-professional programs of discernment, working with college student ministries, local churches, and boards of ordained ministry to give potential pastors an opportunity to fully understand the commitments of ministry across many types of calling. Ultimately the MDiv and DMin will simply be intensifications of a process that begins in young adulthood and continues to retirement.

With this groundwork, theological schools will be able to develop more sustainable financial models. In our emerging economy, the days of paying fixed-fees for non-concrete products in need of constant upgrades are rapidly passing. We don’t buy software. We don’t even buy textbooks, we rent them. The reason for this is simple: subscriptions for services provide more reliable cash flow to those who provide such services. Theological schools must move toward a subscription model for their product, something that has already happened with most courses offered through online learning platforms.

What was formerly tuition will become a subscription for a high-level and deeply personalized teaching service. Other subscription levels might provide access to the classroom but not the teacher’s time or course credit. Another level might provide for certification in a specific skill or field of knowledge rather than a degree. Most importantly subscribers to theological education would be encouraged to maintain their subscription at an appropriate level for CEU credits after graduation. Instead of hounding alumnae for donations, theological schools should be encouraging their churches to pay for their continuing education.

Finally, theological schools will need to recognize that forming pastor-teachers, pastor-administrators, and pastor-entrepreneurs is as important as forming pastor-theologians. Teachers must know how to think, but every theological school faculty offers proof that there are thinkers who do not know how to teach. Only the embrace of the universe of pedagogies associated with engaged learning will keep theological education relevant in the emerging church and its social context. A blog post, podcast, PowerPoint deck, sermon, screenplay, video, or even board game can as easily demonstrate the capacity for critical thinking and knowledge as the standard academic essay or exam. But unlike the essay or exam, it also creates the capacity to do the work of pastoral ministry. And that is what the church needs.

The changes I’m proposing are sweeping and will be difficult to implement. They will take time. But the meteor has already struck, and we will either learn to fly or die.

Go To Church in Europe This Weekend

As United Methodist churches around the world are suspending Sunday worship due to the coronavirus outbreak, many churches are experimenting with online worship as an alternative to meeting in person. Readers are certainly encouraged to engage with their home congregations to keep those connections strong despite social distancing guidelines. But a transition to online church attendance also holds an opportunity to explore worship in new forms.

Thus, United Methodists in the United States may want to consider joining their European sisters and brothers for worship this weekend. Several churches or annual conferences across Europe are conducting some sort of online worship. And while time zone differences may make it difficult to participate in realtime, a number of those services can be viewed later in the day.

Many of these options happen via Facebook and YouTube. Both Facebook Live and YouTube allow viewers to see streaming videoes later after the live broadcast has ended. Also, Facebook includes a built-in translate feature that can allow you to decipher posts in captions in languages you do not read. Google Translate is also useful for navigating the web in foreign languages.

Among the possible ways to worship cross-culturally this weekend are the following:

Estonia: The Estonia Annual Conference has this list of five churches that will be holding worship via streaming on Facebook.

Macedonia: The UMC in Macedonia has promised a half-hour live broadcast of a message at 10am and 6pm local time this coming Sunday on their YouTube channel.

Austria: Here are links to a variety of sermons and services (some in English!) from several Austrian congregations for last Sunday, Mar. 15th. It is also worth checking in on the Austrian UMC's blog to see if fresh links have been posted for the 22nd.

Switzerland: The Swiss UMC is collaborating with the TV station musig24 to live stream a worship service this Sunday from 10-11am local time. It has also put together a page of links to live streams and sermon recordings from 10 local churches.

Germany: Several United Methodist churches in Germany will be live streaming their worship services, as listed at the end of this article.

Denmark: The UMC in Denmark has been posting daily prayer and worship services on their Facebook page.

Norway: The UMC in Norway will have a live-streamed worship service on its Facebook page this Sunday. Those who tune in live are invited to participate in communion, although the consecration of home elements only applies to those who watch in realtime.

Recommended Reading: African Theological e-Academy

UM News Service recently published a story about the launch of “Pamoja, a Methodist Network — East Africa e-Academy.” This story is significant for a couple of reasons:

First and foremost, it represents the spread of a new model of theological education that is based online following principles of distance learning. That model already exists in Europe in the Methodist e-Academy. Both Europe and East Africa have adopted this model out of missional necessity. But could this model of theological education end up being indicative of the future of theological education in the US as well? An analogy to the distribution of cell phones is perhaps apt. Cell phones were widely prevalent in the developing world before they were in the US because the US had so much infrastructure invested in landlines. The US also has a lot of infrastructure invested in traditional theological education, but Robert Hunt has argued in a series of pieces on his blog ([1], [2], and [3]) that new models of theological education will be necessary in the US as well.

Second, the range of international partners involved in this new endeavor is impressive. Four United Methodist theological colleges in East Africa, Robert Hunt and SMU, the Methodist e-Academy in Switzerland, the Endowment Fund for Theological Education in the Central Conferences, and Cliff College, England. This new network is a good example of successful multilateral, international partnership.

New Mission Area: Access to Electronic Information Technology

Today's post is by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Director of Mission Theology at the General Board of Global Ministries. The opinions and analysis expressed here are Dr. Scott's own and do not reflect in any way the official position of Global Ministries.

Four weeks ago, I raised the question of what features of the world and its various contexts in the 21st century might constitute new areas of mission, in the same way that features of the world 50, 100, or 150 years ago led to areas of mission work that we now consider central: education, poverty relief, healthcare, etc.

This week, I suggest a fourth possible new area of mission work: access to electronic information technology. This area is in part a rethinking of a former area of mission work: paper-based information technology.

Missionaries were a key player in a previous wave of access to printed information. This type of print information technology mission was carried out through translation work, education, and printing. Missionaries were leading figures in promoting the development of written languages for previously oral-only languages. They were leading figures in promoting literacy in many languages, regardless of whether or not they were previously written. Missionaries (especially Methodist missionaries) started printing presses, newspapers, and magazines in many countries around the world, helping to democratize access to print materials.

The incentive for missionaries in promoting literacy was so that converts (and potential converts) could access religious writings--primarily the Bible, but also hymns, devotional texts, and other religious and theological works--and so that native Christians could communicate with missionaries and each other.

For those used to reading, it is easy to overlook the basic fact that literacy is not just a skill, but a skill at using a set of technology--pens, paper, and printing presses are all items of technology. Reading and writing is thus an information technology.

Yet when the phrase "information technology" is used today, it denotes not print material, but electronic communications equipment - cell phones, email, the internet, etc. All of these forms of technology depend upon skills of reading and writing built upon earlier, physical forms of reading and writing technology, but transposed into the medium of electronics.

Missionaries are not the pioneers of contemporary electronic information technology in the same way that they were of paper-based information technology. Businesses, along with education, government, and secular nonprofits lead the way here.

Yet it is worth asking why missionaries are closer to the forefront here. Is access to the Bible and other devotional and theological materials really only best done through paper? Are there no religious (or other missional) benefits to having access to the world of electronic information technology? Certainly many in the West use information technology to access the Bible, to receive daily devotions, to access online resources in theological, ethical, and other church-related materials. Why do we assume these materials are only appropriate or relevant for Western Christians? Is there no benefit to Christians around the world being better able to communicate with each other?

Access to the Internet varies significantly by country. While the average percentage of the population online in the 50 most well-connected countries is 84.4%, in the rest of the world, it's only 31.6%. Cell phones are much more widely available, and SMS messages along with apps like WhatsApp represent a significant, albeit more limited, form of information technology access for many in developing countries. Certainly, though, there is more to be done in providing access to electronic information technology

Moreover, The United Methodist Church is already doing work in this area. It is both distributing new forms of electronic information technology, such as the e-reader program for theological education in the central conferences, and using existing electronic information technology to new missional purposes, such as the use of text messages to combat the spread of Ebola.

These efforts are good starts, but certainly the types of work in this area of mission could be expanded. Thinking of providing access to electronic information technology as a basic form of mission work (and not just a nifty means to an end) would help to further such work. Moreover, seeing this type of mission work as a continuation of a long-standing mission focus gives historic emphasis to the work, even as it brings it into a new era.

Recommended reading: Women and technology in Africa

This UMNS news story relates new from the first-ever Africa Summit on Women and Girls in Technology. While the summit was led by secular leaders, several United Methodists connected to United Methodist Women were among the attendees. The story is of interest because it connects to several themes explored previously on this blog: the intersections of mission with gender, technology, and education. The education of women and girls for the sake of their empowerment has been a long-standing mission priority, and this summit reflects a form of that old concern, one that focuses on education in the use of digital technology.

Glory Dharmaraj: From Salinization of Mission to Uberization of Mission

Today's piece is written by Dr. Glory E. Dharmaraj, retired Director of Mission Theology for United Methodist Women.

In the timeless twin Greek epics Iliad and Odyssey by Homer, the hero of the sequel, Odysseus, undertakes two major journeys in his lifetime. The first one is an outward journey full of overseas expeditions and escapades, wars and conflicts, dominance and triumph. The second one is a sober one without much outer paraphernalia but with a deeply ingrained truth of an inner journey. Both the journeys throw light on a key functional tool of his mission: a sailing oar.

Beyond Salinization: A Journey
After twenty years of ceaseless outbound seafaring adventures, Odysseus comes home, and undertakes a second journey. This second journey away from home is a spatial reversal of his former sea-bound journey.

In this journey, the hero carries his sailing oar balanced on his shoulders, as a visual symbol of what he has achieved so far, until he arrives at a place whose people know nothing of sails, sea, or salt. As he is carrying the oar, well-balanced on his shoulders, a traveler from the inland region puts forth a stunning yet innocuous query: “What is the winnowing fan” you are carrying? A functional tool of a life time of work is being misrecognized! A sailing oar for a winnowing fan!

It is the end of an era. It is time for Odysseus to go home. That is what he does. He plants his sailing oar in that unknown soil, offers a ritual ceremony, and goes home! Erstwhile tools are inadequate to navigate a new landscape.

Changing tools of mission
In his book The Death of White Christian America, Robert Jones frames an edificial approach to American Protestant Christianity, and laments the decline and loss of denominational and ecumenical influence over the past decades on the cultural and political landscape of the nation. The three major buildings mentioned in his book are The Methodist Building on the Capitol Hill, The Interchurch Center on the upper west side of New York City, and the Crystal Cathedral in California. What Jones bemoans is the loss of institutionalized Protestant Christianity that has wielded an enormous cultural and political leverage in yester years. His findings do not spell the end of Christianity in America but a yearning to re-imagine and reform it!

There is an unspoken yearning in many of us, white or non-white, for a Christianity that can reform, reimagine and-reinvent, and take an engaging and appealing responsibility with the diverse social, cultural, and religious cultural milieu of our time. As the Protestant Christian world is getting ready to commemorate the 500th Anniversary of Reformation, it is a good opportunity for our own denomination to reinvent and reform the structure and polity, and find new ways to proceed into a renewed missional future, and take transmuted ecclesial action. It is not an easy task. But we need to start somewhere, as we stand on the threshold of another axial age when the functional tools erstwhile mission era are unusable in a newly emerging context.

“Uberization of mission”
During an informal conversation with Harriett Olson, General Secretary of the United Methodist Women, about the emerging Uber entity in rideshare and business, and the healthy imagination we should have for our mission today, she exclaimed with enthusiasm, and uttered, “Uberization of mission”! Indeed, healthy imagination helps us form deeper connections through integrated content strategies, right time, right channel of communication, and creative story-telling that inspires action. What happened to consumer services like taxis with Uber will happen to other areas of business services as well. It is not a question of how, but when.

In the past, businesses and companies relied primarily on their brand name to lock in customers by building trust around their product and offering services. Modern day customers expect convenience, experience and flexibility. They also expect a communal engagement and mutual transaction experience as self-serve as possible. In other words, customer experience is the key point around which all systems, people and processes function. Taxis treated consumers as commodities, and Uber grouped these discontented customers to fashion the largest consumer transportation corporation in which cars are now the commodity. An aggregate disruption! Uber business models are being emulated in other fields, from daily chores like grocery shopping to legal service whose workforce is not full-time employees.

Our historic mission imagination has always been fired by biblical theology and tempered by pragmatism. As we are well aware, theology is an activity of the imagination as much as of reason, in which we seek to transcend boundaries and move forward

We now get a kaleidoscopic view of happenings as they unfold, often in real time, on our computer screens and handheld devices. History is not impartial or identical with truth, but the internet doles out to us a newfound vantage on the totality of passing time. Today we should become more aware of our missional responsibility with our ever morphing culture. The Church needs to develop and forge new ways to enter into a dialogical relationship with the surrounding culture and its people as they are closely linked to questions concerning the value of an individual, core human need, the meaning of human existence, and action, and especially their relationship with one another and creation. At this level, mission engagements should give priority to promoting a renewed and vital synthesis between faith and culture.

In the larger context, mission scholars as well as mission practitioners have a responsibility and burden to offer a more expansive landscape, and create spaces for the students and constituents, laity and clergy, so that they can imagine and dream of their ecclesial future, ritually bury the “old oars,” come up with workable winnowing tools, recognizable gears and apparatuses for negotiating the discontinuous changes in our missional journey. Let us not lament the losses of our cherished past, rather let us clang the bell of warning to the evils of unjust society and dehumanizing values, and create and facilitate spaces for innovating new functional tools!

What United Methodist content would you put in humanity's digital library?

Today's post is by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Assistant Professor of Religion and Pieper Chair of Servant Leadership at Ripon College.

United Methodist Communications recently announced its collaboration with a company called Outernet. Outernet has the ambitious goal of connecting every person in the world to freely-accessible content via satellite.

The collection of content that Outernet is assembling is being referred to as "humanity's public library." The agreement between Outernet and United Methodist Communications is essentially that UM Communications will contribute some content to this global digital library. UM Communications is the first faith-based organization to agree to do so.

What exactly that content will be has yet to be announced. Outernet began the selection process this last weekend at a conference in Uganda in conjunction with receiving input electronically from all over the world. Presumably UM Communications will have some say in recommending what they think would be appropriate content that they can provide.

This raises the question, though, of what United Methodist content should belong in "humanity's public library." What United Methodist documents, text, and pictures are important enough and demonstrate United Methodism's unique contribution to humanity that they should be included in this collection?

I think this is a useful question for United Methodists to reflect on as part of discerning not only what it means to be a global church, but what it means to be a church that is part of a much larger global community. The United Methodist Church's 12 million members is a tiny fraction of all of humanity. We would like to think that we have something to offer to the rest of humanity, but we should be humble and realistic in discerning what that is.

So, readers, what do you think? Share your ideas for what United Methodist content should belong in humanity's public library in the content section below.

Social Entrepreneurship in the Cote d'Ivoire UMW

Today's post is by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Assistant Professor of Religion and Pieper Chair of Servant Leadership at Ripon College.

Social entrepreneurship is an emerging trend within both the business and nonprofit worlds.  As a colleague of mine who teaches social entrepreneurship explains it, it's "doing good while doing well" - using business skills and tactics to solve social problems and generate revenue for charitable purposes.  There are a variety of examples of what falls under the umbrella of social entrepreneurship, everything from microlender Kiva to shoe-retailer TOMS to solar lamp manufacturer KARIBU.  The Ashoka Foundation is a great place to learn more about social entrepreneurship for those who are interested.

Now, it seems, United Methodist Women in Cote d'Ivoire are getting in on the game.  United Methodist News Service published an article recently on how members of the UMW in Cote d'Ivoire are partnering with social entrepreneur mobile phone company Pubcell CI to earn money for the UMW.  Members sign up for the mobile phone service, which then shares revenue from ads that are displayed on users' phones.

The UMW is looking to take the money it has earned and turn around and invest it in additional social entrepreneurial endeavors.  The UMW is using the money earned from Pubcell plus an additional $1,000 grant from Pubcell to support women who want to start business endeavors to provide a source of income so that they can lift themselves out of poverty.

A couple of generations ago, missions-led development in Africa looked like Western experts coming in to plan and execute large-scale infrastructure projects.  This story, though, represents the future of mission-led development in Africa: African women banding together to conduct their own small-scale social entrepreneurship projects.

Two tech lessons from Apple, ICT4D & theological e-readers

Today's post is by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Assistant Professor of Religion and Pieper Chair of Servant Leadership at Ripon College.

Apple made technology headlines recently with two significant stories.  First, the widely-anticipated iPhone 6, the latest model in Apple's hugely popular series of smartphones, goes on sale this week. Pre-sales are at record-setting levels. Second, Apple announced a new product, the Apple Watch, which will extend their suit of integrated mobile computing devices into a new form - the wristwatch.  Apple's not the first to develop such a product, but it was still met with great excitement.

Two significant technology stories also happened in the UMC recently.  The first of these was the Game Changers Summit, an ICT4D (information and communication technology for development) conference sponsored by The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection and Episcopal Relief and Development.  The conference was a showcase for ways in which technology is transforming lives in developing countries, and the coverage of the event at the above link is well worth reading.

The second story was the announcement of the continuation and expansion of GBHEM and GBOD's e-readers for theological education program.  As this blog previously reported, the program pilot provided theology students at United Methodist-affiliated Gbarnga School of Theology in Liberia with the opportunity to read class materials on solar-charged e-readers.  The program renewal will also extend to sixteen United Methodist theology schools in Africa and four United Methodist theology schools in the Philippines.

What can we learn from juxtaposing Apple's tech stories with the UMC's?  The comparison can teach us two important things about the use of technology globally in comparison to how the United States uses technology.

1. It's about having the right technology, not the newest technology.

Part of what made Apple aficionados so excited about the release of the iPhone 6 is that it's new.  Yes, it has improvements and better features, but newness in technology is a fetish for Americans.  Technology is like fashion for Americans - nobody wants to be caught with last year's model; it makes you look behind the times.

Yet in many parts of the world, having the newest technology is just not possible, for reasons of cost, distribution, and lack of infrastructure to support it.  That doesn't mean, however, that technology can't change people's lives and in much more significant ways than upgrading from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 6.  Several of the stories from ICT4D talked about ways in which regular mobile phones and text messages were being used to implement public health projects.  No 4G or mobile streaming were necessary; indeed, that infrastructure is not widespread in Africa.  Text messaging is, though, and that made it the right solution for communicating to large numbers of people.  The same is true of the e-reader project.  While e-readers are newer than mobile phones, they're not as new or flashy as tablets, but they are cheaper and get better battery life, which is important for the project.  These solutions to problems relied on technologies that have been around for years, but they were the right technologies.  It didn't matter whether or not they were the newest technology.

2. High tech and low tech can coexist.

Traditional watches have fallen in popularity in the US with the rise of cell phones, especially smart phones.  Who wants to have such an old-fashioned, single-use piece of equipment when one can use a high-tech, multi-function device instead?  The Apple Watch aims to change how people think about watches by upgrading the traditional watch to also be high-tech and multi-function.  Moreover, the Apple Watch will undoubtedly integrate with all other Apple products, as that is one of Apple's prime selling points - all your various Apple technology devices will all work seamlessly together.

The ICT4D stories from the Game Changers Summit and the e-readers project, though, happen in settings where seamless integration of various technology devices is not a concern, since many of these settings don't have multiple high-tech devices to integrate.  Some settings don't even have things Americans would consider basic to technology, like a reliable power supply or internet access.  That doesn't mean, however, that technology can't be used in such settings.  Low tech in some regards does not imply low tech in all regards, and high tech in some regards does not require high tech in all regards.  Electric supply may be an issue in parts of Africa, but solar chargers allow e-readers and some ICT4D technology to function just fine without a power grid.

Technology is revolutionizing how people live all around the world.  Nevertheless, how technology does that and what technologies are doing that differ.  Apple announcements may set Westerners all astir, but it doesn't take an Apple confab to change lives elsewhere.

UM & Global launches online paper

In addition to curating this blog as a place for discussion and conversation about the global nature of The United Methodist Church, I also tend the related Twitter feed, @globalumc.  The Twitter feed is a way not only of announcing new blog posts but also a means by which I can retweet news about stories happening in the church around the world.  If you haven't checked it out yet, I encourage you to.

In a positive trend, there seems to be more such stories now than there was a year ago when I first started.  Indeed, we've gotten to the point where I've been interested in finding new ways to assemble such stories to make them more accessible.  Therefore, I'm pleased to announce the launch of a new online paper, the United Methodist Globe.  The Globe will compile the types of articles that I've been retweeting in one, convenient to access location.  You can check the Globe daily for new updates, which will be posted at noon US Central time.

The Globe is currently an experiment.  Over the next several weeks, I'll be trying to determine a few things: First, whether there is actually enough content out there to justify a daily paper.  Second, whether the mix of stories is informative about what's happening in the UMC not just in the US, but around the world.  Please use the comment section of this blog post to let me know your thoughts on the content.  Third, whether the Globe is attracting adequate traffic.  If you think this is a useful resource, please share it with your friends.

Already in this experiment, I have learned a couple of things about the limitations of the internet and technology as a means of promoting global awareness.  We think of the internet as a means of connecting people across distance, but the internet can surprisingly be another way of reinforcing existing divisions.  (For a great explanation of how this works, even through social media, see this TED Talk by Ethan Zuckerman.)  My first go-around in creating the paper, it mostly contained stories about the UMC in the US.  I actually had to de-emphasize the #UMC hashtag in my news collection to avoid being overwhelmed by US stories.

Moreover, in assembling my list of sources for the paper, I was struck by how much more likely American Annual Conferences are to have a(n active) Twitter feed than Annual Conferences elsewhere around the world.  There are a few active United Methodist Twitter sources in France, Liberia, and the Philippines, but most news stories about the global UMC still come through traditional news agencies like UM New Service and denominational boards like GBGM and GBHEM as well as American Annual Conference.  Technologies like paper.li and Twitter do allow us to connect to United Methodists elsewhere, but we really have to work at it.  I hope this effort that goes into this paper will prove a success.

So the seeds of change are sown

Today's post is by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Assistant Professor of Religion and Pieper Chair of Servant Leadership at Ripon College.

A while back, UMCommunications ran this story about a FrontlineSMS training with a youth group at Galilea UMC in Blantyre, Malawi.  (This blog has previously reported about the FrontlineSMS project in Malawi.)  At first, this may not seem like the makings of a significant story - just one church, only the youth group.  Yet we should pay attention to this story, for it represents how the seeds of change are sown.

We may not think that "just one church" being trained in a new technology is significant.  Sure, we may believe in the power of technology to transform the world, but partly we believe that because technology is ubiquitous.  How much can technology transform the world if it's only in one church?  Yet, as anyone familiar with tech development knows, before technology becomes ubiquitous, it must be used by product testers, have an initial roll-out, and be taken up by early adopters.  Galilea UMC isn't "just one church"; they're among the early adopters that will make it possible for this technology to be used by many churches.

We may not think something that applies "just to the youth group" is significant.  Sure, most churches want a thriving youth group, but it is often easy for us to differentiate between the work the youth group does and the "real work" of the church, work we associate with budgets and committees and the like.  Yet budgets and committees are not the real work of the church.  They exist to make real work, i.e., the application of the gospel in and to the world, possible.  The Galilea UMC youth are already running programs that carry out the work of the church.  Learning how to use FrontlineSMS is just as much preparing to do real work as is sitting in a committee, if not more so.

Indeed, our entire faith is predicated upon the belief that what a small group of mostly young people does in one particular location can transform the world.  Jesus wasn't incarnated everywhere is some sort of global roll-out of God-with-us.  He was born in one place, started his ministry in one town, and spent the entirety of his ministry in only that portion of the globe that could be reached by walking from where he started.  Moreover, Jesus was under 35 for the entirety of his ministry, if not enough to put him in the "youth group" demographic, certainly enough to qualify him as a "young adult" in the UMC.  We may presume that a number of his followers were too.  Yet, despite starting out in "just one synagogue" with "just a bunch of young adults," Jesus' ministry, life, death, and followers have transformed the world, and we proclaim that belief as the good news of the gospel still today.  The seeds of change must be sown somewhere, and a youth group in Galilea UMC, Blantyre, Malawi, is as good a place as any to do so.

Plan now: UMCOM hosting ICT4D conference in September

As we stand on the precipice of 2014, I want to recommend a possible conference for those of you who are in local churches but interested in using technology to strengthen and expand your global connections.  It's the Game Changers Summit: "Dreamers and doers gather to harness the power of technology."  It's being hosted as part of the Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) project of United Methodist Communications.  You can read more about it in the press release or see the main points below.

What's the point of this conference?
The ICT4D movement is a larger movement extending beyond the UMC that looks to use new technologies like cell phone, solar batteries, e-readers, and other devices to help solve social, health, agricultural, and economic development issues.  Technology isn't seen as the sole solution; more traditional forms of development work are needed along side.  Nevertheless, technology is seen as an invaluable asset in finding creative solutions to problems.  Many UMC congregations are already in partnership with each other and other organizations to do the very type of development work (often in Africa or the Philippines) that could be aided by the strategic incorporation of appropriate technology.  This conference seeks to help them do that.

Who is this conference aimed at?
While the sort of international ministry partnerships that are necessary to do successful development work involve partners from the United States, Africa, the Philippines, and sometimes Europe or elsewhere, this conference seems geared toward the American partners in those relationships.  Moreover, the conference is focused specifically on local churches rather than conferences or boards and agencies.  Nevertheless, the conference will be most useful for local churches who already have international ministry partnerships on development issues, as technology is a way to advance those partnerships, not form them.

When and where will the conference be?
The conference will be September 3-5, 2014, in Nashville.

How can I sign up?
Registration is not yet available for the conference, so keep checking back at the conference website through the spring.