“KENYA: Disasters continue to happen,” IRIN. This article examines the lack of disaster preparedness across East Africa and looks at just a few possible scenarios. One of the biggest challenges facing sections of the world where unreached peoples live is not the increasing number of disasters but the increasing numbers of people living in disaster-prone areas, and the lack of disaster preparation. This is an area where Christians could help–if they will.

“Immigrants Wonder What Arab Spring Will Mean for Them,” New York Times. For those following diaspora peoples, here’s an article about the impact of the Arab Spring on workers in North Africa. This will particularly have an impact on tentmakers who go to the Middle East.

“Catch-22 of Xinjiang as a gateway,” AsiaTimes.com. For those who follow news about the unreached Uighurs, here’s a good reference article to the challenges in this region.

“Prices up, living standards down,” TheHindu.com. A reminder that while rising prices can be a nuisance in Western countries, in poorer regions where prices on necessities rise but incomes don’t they can be far more serious. The article interviews one lady whose monthly grocery bill has doubled while the price of cooking gas has gone up. At root is a rise in fuel prices which affect everything from transport to work to the transport of food. Many of the unreached peoples of the world are among the poorest of the poor and feel this trend dearly. Missionaries who try to reach them will likewise feel it in their own operating budgets. I remember quite well the pinch  for us when our monthly donor base stayed the same but the exchange rate between the US dollar and the local currency devalued the dollar–and at the same time fuel costs rose…

“Reproducing Disciples: Are you ready & willing?” Greater Europe Mission. Here’s a touching story about one man evangelizing another. At the end is a brief paragraph in which GEM mentions “Re-revolution training”: “a seamless Biblical discipleship process of faithful steps that can quickly multiply disciples, leaders, new groups and new churches to the 4th generation and beyond.” Fourth-generation is exceedingly difficult so this training looks interesting. Anyone know more and want to comment?

“India: Half a dollar a day ‘adequate’, says panel.” BBC. The official estimate is that 37% of India’s population live below the poverty line. Critics of the panel’s number say the amount is intended to “artificially reduce the number of poor who are entitled to state benefits.”

Multiplying Short Term Team Leaders. Brigada profiles Team Leader Training by Delta Ministries international. The idea is that you train leaders—who take the tools home and lead trainings themselves. This leads to multiplication. You can ask yourself the question: how is your training/program/activity reproducible by the people you train? Can they train others who train others? If they can, you’ve got the potential for a multiplication cycle.

The 7th element of swarming is Multiplication. To have an outsized impact on a region and to have any chance of achieving its goals (given that most swarmish networks operate close to, or at, “free”), a swarm must be able to scale toward its vision or problem solution: this can only be done through the idea of multiplication.

Exponential multiplication is a key concept in nearly any piece of literature that talks about the decentralized network approach to problem solving. You can find multiplication in political literature about grass-roots mobilization, and in church planting literature about church planting movements. You can find it in social networking literature. It’s at the core of popular books like The Tipping Point, Made to Stick, and The Idea Virus.

As I recently began unpacking my office in Plano, I once again ran across this little gem from the late Dr. Ralph Winter: “The Planting of Younger Missions.” (I’ve hunted for a web-based copy but haven’t found one; if you know of one or can provide a PDF–friends at the USCWM, I’m looking at you–I’ll happily update this post with a link or upload the PDF itself.) It was originally published in “Church/Mission Tensions Today” in 1971.

Missionaries and mission strategists commonly talk about planting younger churches in the mission fields they are sent to. This is all to the good. But in this chapter, which may turn out to be a milestone in contemporary missionary thought, Ralph Winter raises a question that is not commonly talked about in missionary circles: How about planting younger missions?

If the Great Commission is ever to be completed (and I think it can be–although I know others disagree with me), I believe it’s going to require partnerships and collaboration between Christ-followers from every corner of the globe. It’s great to see the  huge number of networks around the world that have sprung up to focus on the unreached–from Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia. I think the Church needs to get even better at helping these networks form.

One network that I’m part of–the Bs–is a classic example of superempowerment and multiplication. This small network is focused on a very unreached people group in Northern Africa. The network is made up of volunteers, ministers, and missionaries and hosted by small churches–and they are already have a “superempowered impact.” But to really reach the vision, it’s going to be important for these kinds of networks to learn not just to form–but also to multiply. Churches must plant churches and networks must plant networks.

Sometimes, this means a network will in the end die. It will be the seed that falls in the ground, from which springs up many networks. We need to be willing to see this happen if that’s what required to achieve the goal. We are not here to build empires but relationships.

See if you can look up Ralph’s book. It’s just 17 pages long, but it’s worth adding to your library.

“Power corrupts, especially when it lacks status,” Science Daily. A new study from the Kellogg School of Management found that people in roles who possess power (the capacity to act) but lack status (reputation, notice, visibility) tend to engage in activities that demean others. This has important ramifications in swarmish, decentralized networks, and in the idea of the “superempowerment of the individual.” Is mentoring, discipling and accountability an appropriate counter to this toxic combination?