An exciting development in Christian missions’ research is the role which maps and mapping are playing in this regard and how they are assisting the church in the fulfillment of the command of the Lord Jesus Christ to be His witnesses from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). This paper briefly defines what mapping is and how it is of value in missions’ research. There is then a brief outline of the history of mapping for mission purposes starting in the 18^th Century with William Carey and ending in the current era of information technology. There are some exciting developments in mapping and missions in Africa which will challenge the common misconception that nothing good can come out of Africa. Many mapping projects are on the go in Africa (e.g. from South Africa, Cameron and Lesotho as well as multi-national projects). There is also a growing interest in mapping training and using computer software to create maps which will be of value to Christian ministry in Africa. Training by GMI (Global Mapping International) has taken place in various countries on the continent such as South Africa and Egypt. Inserv (Institute for Strategic Services) has also conducted training in Lesotho. People from Africa have also received training from GMI in the USA. There is also interest in future training from South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Kenya, Cameron and Nigeria. Some innovative African applications of mapping in missions’ research will be discussed, from a local level to a national level to an international level in line with Jesus’ command in Acts 1:8. At a local level maps have been produced of the Roodepoort area of the city of Johannesburg to show the relationship between the number of young adults (age 20 to 34) and those who are non-religious. There is a great need for churches to be involved in ministry to young adults who are now the largest age group in Roodepoort and the most likely to be non-religious. On a national level a project to map churches in South Africa has started. Applications of this project will be discussed. At an international level a map has been produced on the 10/40 window showing the religious make up of each country as well as other information of interest for missions. This map shows a way of presenting a correct picture of the religious make up of a country especially when no one religion is dominant e.g. when there are almost equal numbers of Christians and Muslims. Also at an international level there are plans to create accurate up to date maps of the distribution of languages and people groups in Southern Africa. This project will assist MANI (Movement for Africa National Initiatives) who are endeavoring to establish national initiatives of churches in each country in Africa which will mobilize to reach the lest-reached peoples in their respective countries with the Gospel. Also at a continental level there is a desire to create an African CD of maps of mission interest for Africa from updated information. The paper will close with a look at some of the challenges for the future of mapping for missions’ research in Africa including the need for accurate information and the challenge of getting church leaders in Africa to understand the importance of missions’ research and the role mapping can play in such research.

Pierre Wedepohl.

For the full paper click on the following link: mapping-and-missions-research-in-africa-paper

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 4:01 pm and is filed under Conference Papers 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.