Research

What factors build a team’s developmental culture?

In 2019, several members of the Global Research Team were tasked to answer this very question. To do so, members of three ministry teams having a reputation for strong team development were interviewed. From these interviews, three major factors were identified that contribute to a team’s development - Including one surprising practice that enhances a teams effectiveness. Read more to learn about this surprising practice.

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

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.

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?

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.

The Kunming Circle represents the area within 2,400 miles (3,750 km) of the city of Kunming, China. Although this area covers less than a tenth of the surface of the globe, it is home to more than half of the people on earth, but only about one eighth of the Christians.

A member of the Global Research Team first identified the Kunming Circle in 2004 and recently developed these infographics. He believes that the Kunming Circle “will help people to gain a right perspective on the world in general” and “challenge unhelpful misconceptions about the world.” Likewise, this perspective can guide our engagement in Great Commission Work.

The Global Research Team is passionate to help Christians around the world grapple with the mobilization of Great Commission workers based on potential and need. As we consider the distribution of Christians around the globe, the Kunming Circle provides a suitable focus for Christians and Christian organizations within the Circle, as well as those in the Americas and Pacific region, or those that have or aspire to a truly global ministry.

The following infographic highlights how few Christians there are in this part of the world compared to other regions.

Have you used Google or another internet search engine in the last week?

What were you looking for? Breaking news? The weather forecast? Shopping? Entertainment? Information to make decisions? It seems more and more that we are all becoming information junkies.

But what needs to happen in the background for Google to work?

For you to find the information you want on the internet, someone first had to anticipate your question, gather data, organize it into a useful format, and publish it on the World Wide Web. (We will not go into the technological advances of the last 25 years that enable us to access all the information on the World Wide Web with a smart phone that you can hold in your hand.) If someone has not taken these steps, your search would not turn up anything relevant.

The Global Research Team of One Challenge specializes in finding out information about world mission that you can’t find with Google.

For an example, let’s consider the topic “God at work...”

Presently our research team is reading the book Factfulness by Hans Rosling. Rosling's life work focused on using data to understand our ever changing world. Check out his TED talks on YouTube to catch his creative use of numbers to help audiences grasp how the world is changing for the better. Likewise in mission work, we need good numbers to guide and evaluate our efforts. But we also need to talk to people to gain a deeper understanding of all the factors impacting mission work.

This quote by Donald McGavran highlights the relationship between effective mission strategy and quality mission research. It also calls attention to the investment required to produce good research that guides Kingdom impact. What valuation do you place on mission strategy and research?