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Environmental MissionsConsultationa gathering of missions and creation care leaders
Manhattan, KSJuly 12-15, 2010
Convenedby:
Four-day Agenda (subject to change)
Primary Goal: to establish a new category of mission: environmental missions
• energetically launching this new category of missions, • protecting the integrity of both cross-cultural church-planting and
creation care, • placing environmental missions in the Kingdom-building strategy of the
21st century church,• identifying what components are missing in the movement,• providing practical suggestions for those individuals and institutions
desiring to develop environmental missions.
Production Outcome: our conclusions, as a record of the proceedings, will be published and distributed to missions leaders, creation care leaders, missions institutions, and missionary/other Christian media outlets.
Monday, July 12: Conceptualizing• What is environmental missions?• What are its historical antecedents? • To what extent can environmental missions claim to be a “new category”
of missions?• What is the biblical and theological basis for environmental missions?• What standards should be encouraged for environmental missions?
o biblical/theological standards?o scientific/professional standards?o integration of evangelism/discipleship/church-planting?
• What are practical means for integrating evangelism, discipleship, and church-planting into creation care projects?
• What unique opportunities does environmental missions present for “fulfilling the Great Commission in our generation?”
• What unique opportunities does environmental missions present for missions among least-reached people groups?
• What unique opportunities does environmental missions present for addressing current environmental crises, including global climate change mitigation and/or adaptation?
• What is environmental missions relationship to disaster relief?• Where does environmental missions fit in AERDO, CrossGlobal Link,
and/or Mission Exchange?
Tuesday, July 13: Mobilizing• What is the profile of an effective environmental missionary?
o spirituallyo creation care knowledge and skill seto cross-cultural missions knowledge and skill seto relationships
Contact:Lowell [email protected]
• Eden Vigil will provide the consultation recorder, for the sake of collecting data, opinions, and conclusions. Eden Vigil will be responsible for writing up the conclusions of the consultation, and will send it first to consultation participants for comment before final publishing.
• Each morning will begin with prayer and devotional.
• We will take a field trip for a guided tour of nearby Konza Tallgrass Prairie Research Center.
Four-day Agenda (subject to change)
Tuesday, July 13: Mobilizing (continued)• How does this profile inform the recruiting of environmental missionaries?
o from secular universities;o from traditional Bible colleges and seminaries;o from the professions;o from converting over veteran missionaries
• What are strategies for mobilizing environmental missionaries?• What unique funding and resource needs does environmental missions
have?
Wednesday, July 14: Equipping• How does the profile inform the training needs of environmental
missionaries?o What would a curriculum for training environmental missionaries
consist of?o What components of that curriculum are already
available?o What components of that curriculum are currently
missing?o What is the best delivery mechanism for the vision of
training that emerges from our discussion?• How can environmental missions teams/projects best be
supported when once operating on the field?• Who are the other stakeholders of environmental missions?• What are the needs of traditional agencies in accommodating
environmental missionaries?
Thursday, July 15: TransformingParticipants of the consultation will spend the final day performing a simulation. They will act as the executive board of a fictional missions agency (but one that any traditional member of CrossGlobal Link or Mission Exchange could imagine being). The board’s visionary president hands down a dictate: “I want environmental missions to become a major part of what our agency does. But I don’t want to simply green-wash
our agency; you must demonstrate the highest degree of effective integration of church-planting and creation care. Present an action plan that I can subsequently use to convert our agency to one that effectively uses environmental missions as part of our contribution to the Kingdom of God. Address the needs of all stakeholders (including a skeptical Board of Directors.)”
Format for the consultation:
• Participants will work, as a group, through a workbook supplied beforehand.• Most discussions will be conducted by the entire group.• The big group may divide into smaller working group for the sake of developing answers to smaller questions, or for generating finished project work.
