LifeLearner Network Weblog

The LifeLearner Network dream

In September of 2010, a dozen people are introducing themselves over an internet discussion board.  They come from eight different ministry areas on three continents, but the link that brings them together is a desire to prepare the fledgling churches in which they minister to send one or two of their own people into intercultural ministry.  “My growth plan for this year focuses on learning to grow a church with intercultural vision” writes one on her satellite-linked laptop in Chad. A seminary professor at Erikson-Tritt Bible School in Indonesia records his introduction into an MP3 file, “Our students have to plant a church as part of their graduation requirements. I need to learn how to help them instill intercultural ministry in the fibre of the church from the beginning.” A missions pastor in the US wants to help his church become more effective in reaching Muslim immigrants in their community, and a couple in Mainburg, Germany are helping the local church of which they are members birth a daughter church among the Turkish gastarbeiter (guestworkers).

During the next twelve weeks, they will search for, read, study, and share articles online gleaned from the libraries of Columbia International University, the Billy Graham Center, and Princeton University, as well as Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen and the archives of the China Inland Mission. They will reflect on principles of intercultural ministries and collaborate on developing strategies to raise the cultural sensitivity and commitment to communicating the gospel among the people with whom they work. By the end of their online learning group’s brief collaboration, each individual has produced an action plan for their ministry initiative to move forward in intercultural outreach and sensitivity. As a group, they have also written a “white paper” entitled “Seeds of intercultural service: planting, watering and cultivating.” The documents and multimedia presentations are stored in XML format in a searchable archive hosted on a secure server, and each participant has included their reflections on the learning experience in their own e-portfolio.

The year is 2020. A Chinese missionary working in Iran is participating in an online discussion with an Indonesian Muslim Background Believer (MBB) and two French guestworkers from Turkey.  They are considering how best to prepare the fledgling group of Christ-followers in Iran to take responsibility for sending one of their friends to work in Palestine, where they want to begin an outreach to upper-class business people.  The virtual discussion is carried on using a secure internet site where the Turks have posted a VP5 video file of their training program based in Marseilles, led by Chadian MBBs.  A wide range of documents and audio and video files have been produced by learning teams over the past ten years, and are searchable and displayed using XML files that adapt to each linguistic setting.  The site provides access to electronic media resources from seminaries in Indonesia, China and the

US, which the learning team participants can study, analyze and reflect on individually and as a group.  Each individual has access to the full range of material using real-time translation and graphic software that displays the text in the characters of their native language.  

 The LifeLearner Network is a tool that can help achieve this kind of global linkage and collaboration for the growth of the Kingdom and the glory of God.  For more information on how you can participate, write to info@lifelearner.net.