Computer assisted communication and information sharing is going to change
the way we do missions. Our cherished Biblical beliefs will not be altered. Our godly
principles will stand the test. However, quick and easy messaging and collaboration
will bring about an era of cooperation in missions.
Computer Use Increasing
Missionaraies have had computers for many years now. For more than a
decade now David Barrett has documented phenomenal growth of the number of
computers being used in Christian work from one thousand in 1970 to over 158 million
this year. I purchased my first Apple IIc while on furlough in 1985. Many of my
younger colleagues in Kenya had gotten one a few years prior to that. Computers
assisted the word processing and record keeping aspects of my work. It allowed me to
easily construct graphs which revealed trends and allowed me to report those trends
clearly to my supporting congregation. Once I got started, I did not understand how
I got along without a computer. It was a tool claimed for God's work and the benefits
were reaped.
Networked Computers
Modems and networks brought a whole new functionality to the computer.
Today the computer sitting on my desk is connected to the world. Libraries in
Germany, databases in South Africa, United Nations files, and the full text of Voice of
America news broadcasts can appear on my screen in an instant. I discuss East
African issues in Swahili with more than one hundred and fifty people around the
world. Without leaving my office or making long distance phone calls, I planned an
upcoming program with colleagues in Wisconsin, Boston, Pennsylvania, and Ghana.
I catch the latest breaking news from Africa and the happenings in world missions
through stories that will never appear on TV or radio. Yet, my computer never misses
them.
Church of Christ Missionaries and supporting congregations are using this
new technlogy. I receive at least five inquiries every week concerning the way to
connect computers to the networks. The Missions On-Line Newsletter was begun in
January of 1994. That first issue was sent to the eighteen missionaries and missions
committee people for whom I had electronic mail addresses. By the second issue in
March, there were more than one hundred on the list.
Two groups of missionaries have used this networking to assist their regional
efforts. Workers in the former Soviet Union keep in touch with each other, plan
projects and share information. They do this with more frequency than ever before
and they pay a fraction of the cost. Clay Widden in Rostov-On-Don, documents a
phone bill of $260 prior to the use of e-mail and now a combined e-mail and phone bill
of under $90. Clay says he sends far more messages now than he did when he was only
using a phone. His experience is not unique.
Missionaries in Buenos Aires, Argentina, pool their messages
together and send them to the States by one computer.
Information Storage and Retrieval
The networking has allowed missions by Churches of Christ to glean information
and insights from the research and findings of major denominations and missions
agencies. Global Mapping Incorporated, formerly of Pasadena, California, now in
Colorado Springs, Colorado, were the forerunners in missions computing and then led
the way into networking. The Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board, especially
from the time that David Barrett was brought into their center, compiled large volumes
of information. Only recently has that information been shared with others.
The most broadly attended forum for missions computing is the International
Conference for Computing in Missions (ICCM). This conference which takes place
each June, is a gathering frequented by researchers and technicians from such
organizations as Global Mapping, Southern Baptist Foreign Missions Board,
Assemblies of God, World Vision, Wycliff Bible Translators, Dawn Ministries and
many other agencies. Richard Chowning and Tom Dolan of Abilene Christian
University take a leading role in this meeting. Such participation brings the cutting
edge of information and research into our missions efforts.
Internet is the most powerful network on the information superhighway. It
is a universe of networks which are connected to each other. AD 2000 Global Monitor,
in an issue of its regular Computer News column, states that "The Internet seems likely
to grow with between 29 million and 45 million computers on local area networks
(LANs) in the U.S. by 1995.
ACU's Missions Information Service
An example of what is available on the Internet is the Missions Information
Service at Abilene Christian University. Those who came into our system can
download articles from any of the past issues of the Journal of Applied Missiology.
They can select and read one of the many reviews of books on mission topics.
The system is not just a storehouse of our own missions information. It is an
orderly control panel to connections to missions information around the world.
The Missions Information Service is so useful to missions that the major
Christian information centers in Colorado and California access it regularly. Even the
Library of Congress and the World Wide Web lists it as the main Christian missions
resource.
The first step to connecting to this growing world of information is to gain
access to e-mail. Check the side bar (below) for more details. Additional information
on how to connect the information superhighway can be obtained by contacting:
Richard Chowning
ACU Station, Box 29438
Abilene, Texas 79699
Phone (915) 674-3754
e-mail: chowning@acuvax.acu.edu (Internet)
Stewardship and Information Technology
Times: Snail Mail
When was the last time you got excited about a missions story in your
local church bulletin only to find that it took place a month or two ago. The
post office's movement of the letter and the retyping of the report both weigh
on the timeliness of missions news. Reports sent via electronic mail normally
arrive the same day and the text can be imported into a word processor without
being retyped.
Cost: Fax-like for a Fraction
The number of missionaries with fax machines has increased greatly over
the past five years. These machines have in turn boosted the phone charges to
missions accounts to often intolerable heights. The typical saving of e-mail over
fax is fifty to eighty percent for identical messages.
Getting On-Line
Anywhere there is a phone line electronic mail if possible.
Computer Hardware
A computer, modem, communications software, and a telephone line are
all that missions decision makers need to connect to the information and
communication highway.
