OC Research

Nicholas Kristof, Opinion Columnist with the New York Times, writes an interesting piece in which he outlines how 2019 was possibly the best year ever... if you consider the reduction in the number of people living in extreme poverty, illiteracy, and childhood deaths.

He provides a selection of headlines that could run daily in our newspapers:
“Another 170,000 Moved Out of Extreme Poverty Yesterday.”
"Another 325,000 people got their first access to electricity"
"Yesterday 650,000 went online for the first time"
"Today 200,000 got piped water for the first time"
“The Number of People Living on More Than $10 a Day Increased by 245,000 Yesterday.”

This quotation from St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) lays a wonderful basis for mission information work:

There are those who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge, that is curiosity.
There are those who seek knowledge to be known by others, that is vanity.
There are those who seek knowledge in order to serve, that is love.

At its basis, Mission information work is a search for knowledge. However, St. Bernard's quote highlights the fact that there are diverse motives for seeking knowledge, some commendable, others less so.

What motivates your involvement in mission information work?

"Through love serve one another." Galatians 5:13

One Challenge's Global Research Team facilitated the second OC Futures Think Tank in November 2019. This gathering build upon the September 2018 Futures Think Tank.

Following the example of the “sons of Issachar” (1 Chronicles 12:32), our primary aims were to better understand the times in which we minister and to know what to do. The group process helped us to think through the implications of Great Commission work in an ever more rapidly changing world. Significant energy was evident in group discussions. Most participants indicated that they gained a better understanding of the times and appropriate actions to take.

Cultures around the world perceive life and morality in different ways. These can be categorized by the emphasis placed on guilt, shame or fear – recognizing that all three elements are present in every culture to varying degrees. The eye-opening conclusion of current research is that “honor-shame is the primary ‘operating system’ for 80% of the world.”

The accompanying map shows the three primary cultural orientations. Understanding these cultural orientations has significant implications for relationships, for how the Gospel is presented, and for discipleship. Unfortunately, honor-shame cultures remain a significant blind spot for Western culture, theology, and missiology. Read more for additional resources about Honor-Shame Cultures.

According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, in 2018, Africa, for the first time, had the most Christians compared to any other continent - 631 million. Indeed, not all of these Christians in Africa are evangelicals or born again. But in Africa more people identify with Jesus Christ than any other continent. Asia, on the other hand, has the lowest percentage of Christians, just 9%.

The growth of Christianity in Africa is quite amazing when placed in historical perspective. In 1910, at the time of the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference, Africa was 9.4 percent Christian. Now it is 45% Christian.

In what ways do people change? This is a fundamental question when creating any "learning" program, especially for a mission like ours that has the word "Transformation" in our vision statement. (See our Tagline in the logo here.)

Our Global Research Team sometimes uses the paradigm "K-A-P" to describe human change.

K is Knowledge – Did our ministry impart information that became part of the knowledge base of the participant?
A is Attitude – Did the participant experience Christlike change in the way they think or feel?
P is Practice >– Does the participant now live/do things in a more God-honoring way?

Another way to describe this is "Head-Heart-Hands" impact. As complicated as it sometimes is to do, OC missionaries believe ministry can improve if we determine if/how head, heart, and/or hands have changed because of what we do for those we serve.

In 2011 the world's population passed the 7 billion mark. Which map best shows where they live? (Each figure represents 1 billion people.) What do you think? A, B or C?

Click the "Read more" link below to check your answer and learn the world's PIN code.

When Julia's Hope, a ministry facilitated by Debbie in Singapore, recognized its need to move evaluations from a simple "Did you enjoy this event?" to "How were you transformed by this training?" she came to the Global Research Team for help. Could we help her measure how participants had grown in their Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (or, Head/Heart/Hands)? Yes, indeed!

Julia's Hope was named after Debbie's niece who had a vision to heal and restore trafficked women. Julia's Hope uses Flourish ©, a 9-week Life Skills training curriculum touching women from 20 to 70, from poor rural communities to professional urban businesswomen.

This is one example of how the Global Research Team comes alongside ministry partners to help them become more fruitful. How might we come alongside your ministry?

Making sense of interviews, focus groups and responses to questionnaires primarily involves the researcher's judgements and categorizations.

The process for discovering themes from a text is called "coding." A new researcher may feel overwhelmed at how to make sense of all these words. But the process is much like doing an inductive study of a Bible passage.

It is possible to use a variety of tools for the coding process. The tools you use are only aids. People have effectively used paper and pencil, Microsoft Word or Excel as well as specialty software like QDA Miner. Therefore the choice of tools is largely how useful you find them.

Whatever tool you use, the process is quite similar. The following are suggestion for coding.:

How are you giving numbers a clear and convincing voice? What story do numbers bring to light in your situation?

Share you story with us with us.