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.

Digital inspiration writes about a new service called “TinyLetter” which might be useful to missionaries. It appears to compete with Constant Contact, MailChimp, etc. This one looks far simpler, however—just a simple interface for entering your letter and for emailing subscribers. Interestingly, it allows you to require a subscription (e.g. $5) collected via Paypal. I probably won’t move away from MailChimp but this could be useful for people sending out short email newsletters.

• Many Afghans Haven’t Heard of 9/11: the majority of adults are illiterate and news is spread largely by word of mouth. Many have no idea of why the US is in Afghanistan.
• Can a Muslim sitcom from Canada prove popular elsewhere? Looks at the Canadian sitcom, “Little Mosque on the Prairie.” I had not heard of this. I would love to see an episode or two.
• After a decade, US-Islamic relations take new shape, Wall Street Journal. Looks at how the US is better grappling with the complexities within Islam. (But, obviously, still has a way to go?)
• Michael Moore: I was the most hated man in America. I remember when Michael Moore made this particular speech and how I thought it was the stupidest–or bravest–piece of free speech I’d ever seen. This article, excerpted from his new book, tells the story of what happened to him afterward–he ended up with 9 ex-SEALS for bodyguards–and makes for extremely troubling reading. When thinking about whether America is a Christian nation, one of the questions we have to ask is–how do we react to those we disagree with?
• We should forgive on 9/11, by Father Robert Barron, via RealClearReligion. “We should remember. We should be angry at the gross injustice. We should forgive.”

Here are some particularly frightening articles on the subject of surveillance and cybercrime:

• Half the world’s PCs use pirated software: much of this piracy is in the majority world. Many of these computers are infested with trojans, malware, keyloggers and the like.
• How an Omniscient Internet ‘Sextortionist’ Ruined the Lives of Teen Girls: this horrifying article shows how a hacker used malware (disguised in part as music downloaded from P2P torrents) to take over computers, turn on webcams and microphones, identity-hack and solicit NSFW photos and then use them for blackmail. The point for us being that computers which are exposed to malware can easily be turned into surveillance and blackmail devices.
• The spy who tweeted me: intelligence community wants to monitor social media: if the CIA is seeking permission to do this, we should understand that other intelligence agencies (with less oversight) are already doing this. And cybercriminals are certainly doing these kinds of things against targets.
• Cybercrime is now bigger than the drugs trade: The Norton Cybercrime Report says the straight-up financial costs of cyberattacks is in excess of $100 billion; time lost dealing with crime adds another $275 billion. The global trade in marijuana, cocaine and heroin together equate to about $288 billion. 14 aqdults become the victim of a cybercrime every second.

Here’s an illustration of how a methodology can limit the growth of Christianity.

Singapore has a population of 5 million living in 275 square miles. Let’s say you strategized to have a church building in every square mile to cover every individual. You would need some 270 buildings—each attended by 19,000 people. Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church is attended by 22,000—so you would be looking for 275 Saddlebacks in Singapore.

Or, consider Hong Kong, in a similar situation: 7 million people in 426 square miles. You would need 426 or so churches, each serving 16,000 people.

You might think that the better plan is more churches which are individually smaller. So, let’s theorize about a church every “half mile.” The buildings would still have to be substantial: 8,000 instead of 16,000 people, for example.

With fewer churches, you have to serve more people. With more churches, you are up against situations where space costs a lot. What’s to be done?

A strategy that involves church buildings won’t scale to cover all existing believers and potential believers—e.g. 100% of the population—especially in heavily urban situations. We are left with two choices. First, we can say, “The reality is the church will never be 100% of the population,” and so we build buildings to serve believers. This choice self-limits the growth of the church.

Or, second, we can mostly abandon buildings and find a solution that scales.

Kevin Kelly, “The Futurist’s Dilemma,” kk.org. (Check out the great Arthur C. Clarke video.) Is Kelly looks briefly at the challenge of the futurist: that he will make plausible predictions further out, which may turn out to be right, but are so fantastic that they will be dismissed out of hand; or, he will make predictions further in, which turn out to be wrong. You gotta be passionate about thinking about the future to persist in this environment.

Where futurism is concerned, it truly is a matter of the process and not the goal. The process of futurism prepares us for the future: it investigates what might happen, what is probable, and helps us choose the future we want so that we can choose the right actions. Futurism has much in common with weather casting: we always remember when the weather forecasters get it wrong. But, in general, they are often right–and it helps us to know whether to prepare for rain or drought.

I think it’s wise for an organization to intentionally have/sponsor/recruit a few people within its ranks who think about trends, futuristics, and where matters will end up–not to make accurate predictions.

“Doing Missions Like It’s 1930?” Gary Corwin, EMQ 2009 (EMQ subscription required to view, sorry) . While updating my bibliography I ran across this particular article.

In it, Corwin makes three suggestions of what might happen in the near future: 1) agency economic survival will depend upon a somewhat different criteria mix than it has in the recent past; 2) the profile of the missionary harvest force will change; 3) missions will become a far more dangerous enterprise for cross-cultural workers.

I can theorize about why today seems like the 1930s–and I relate it to the Fourth Turning’s theory of generational patterns. (See my Generational Future of Missions for a look at this). Both today and the 1930s were in the middle of a “Crisis” period for America (and for many other countries around the world who are on parallel generational tracks).

This is one reason why I think another Student Volunteer Movement really isn’t likely (make no mistake, I’d love if it did). The last SVM got started in 1886, at the beginning of the Awakening period. It was shattered during the Unraveling and subsequent Crisis. It waned in the following High. I don’t think a similar movement could possibly start during either an unraveling or a crisis. I think the opportune time would be a High or, most ideally, an Awakening.

See also

“A Haystack that Changed the World,” Ryan Shaw, EMQ, Oct. 2006.
“Student heroes: do it again, Lord.” Gary Corwin, EMQ,  Oct. 2003.

Millionaire households make up less than a tenth of the world, and control nearly a third of its wealth.

Global millionaire households: 12.5 million
Top locations of millionaire households: US, 5.2m; Japan, 1.5m; China, 1.1m; the UK, 0.5m.
Most densely rich nation: Singapore (15.5% of households are millionaires)

Millionaire households, % of the world’s population: 0.9%
% of global wealth held by millionaire households: 29%

Millionaire households with at least $5 million: 0.1% of global population
% of global wealth held by $5 million households: 22%

% of American wealth in millionaire households: 29%
% of Middle East/North Africa wealth in millionaire households: 38%

Source: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg

Ars Technica writes: 28% of US smartphone owners use them as primary ‘Net connection.

Interesting: in the choice between (a) large window, powerful processor and (b) small window, enough-processor, always-with-us, at least a quarter of the US seems to be choosing the always-on-if-smaller connection.

We can all celebrate the new freedom for South Sudan. It’s a great thing–for them. The way forward will be difficult and perhaps tense at times, but at least they will have a chance. However, the downside of this is: the majority of those opposed to the policies of the north have now left. This means that the north is now free to fully implement its policies in its remaining territory, to the detriment (perhaps) of the small minority remaining there who disagree with Khartoum.

The place to watch in this regard is the Nuba Mountains.