Humanity Care: UPGs and SDGs 13

Integral Mission

Journeying into the UPG-SDG Domain 

In this entry we reconnect with the original purpose for the UPG-SDG focus of these entries and also share a few new resources. This is a journey into integral mission which historically has been part of the Church's work and witness over the centuries.

We launched this blog series in January 2018 and have periodically posted materials since then. Many of the materials are verbatim re-postings of our monthly Member Care Updates. The materials are from many sources and include resources, perspectives, news, stories, etc. Many can stir up sadness and disillusionment Others are more hopeful and inspirational.  

It would be helpful to see a conceptual grid emerge to help guide this venture into the UPG-SDG domain. One example could be using the 17 SDGs as a grid themselves, with applications/examples for different  UPGs.  Or vice versa, there could be a grid focusing on different UPGs and how SDGs are being implemented within them. Regardless of the grid, some good conceptual thinking and analyses are surely warranted for exploring and evaluating this integrative domain! For instance...wold it be possible to have a tangible albeit likely avant garde article on something like Doing Frontier Integral Mission Well: Perspectives and Practices for Sustainable Movements and  Development.

We continue on this integral mission journey with many others around the world and across the ages, emphasizing the person and work of Jesus Christ, ad majorem Dei gloriam.

Kelly and Michele

A Proposal--24 January 2018
We are considering a new series of blog entries (and/or perspectives/articles from various colleagues) that will look at the relationship between UPGs and SDGs: connecting points for collaboration, issues, and opportunities on behalf of some of the most vulnerable, overlooked, and often resilient people in the world. How does the global Church-Mission Community (CMC) involvement in the good news and good works especially on behalf of UPGs relate to the world community's efforts (spearheaded by the United Nations and Civil Society groups) to promote sustainable development especially via the SDGs. And vice versa.  What are some examples of collaboration or non-collaboration, and the results? TBD

Humanity Care—excerpts from Member Care Update, February 2017

“This Update features the newly expanded model for global member care. It emphasizes the missio Dei context for member care and adds a seventh sphere, Humanity Care….Humanity Care, reflects the growing interests and involvements in wellbeing for all people. It surrounds the other six spheres and is itself contained within the missio Dei, that is, the overall work of God in the world through Divine, secular, ecclesiastical, missiological, etc. means. Here is an abridged description of the seven spheres….

Sphere 7. Humanity Care: The Flow of Common Good

There is a tremendous need to address major problems affecting the wellbeing of people and the planet. Both member care and mission provide many opportunities for strategic involvement—at local to global levels—by Christian colleagues [from all backgrounds, across sectors, cultures, countries, etc.] who can leverage their character, competencies, and compassion. Those with member care responsibility in particular are encouraged to connect and contribute in our globalizing world in new ways for the common good while maintaining the focus on supporting the health, resiliency, and effectiveness of the diversity of mission personnel and their sending groups.”

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Additional Resources--11 May 2021

Reimagining and Re-envisioning People Groups. Leonard N. Bartlotti. International Journal of Frontier Mission (July-December 2021). “Rethinking people groups does not mean eliminating the concept but reimagining and re-envisioning it in light of twenty-first century realities. The essence of my discussion here is reflexive, consciously acknowledging our assumptions and preconceptions. It is also corrective, addressed not to critics but to those of us who embrace and advocate UPG missiology. In this article, I explore ways to reimagine people groups through an upgraded understanding of the concept itself and suggest steps to re-envision the UPG approach in order to maximize efforts to reach all peoples.” (quote from introduction)

Towards an Integral Mission. International Journal of Frontier Missions (April-June 2020). “Frontier missiology stands on the shoulders of spontaneous forums. Two consultations which resulted from these conversations recently published their compendiums, both significant for frontier missiology. This issue spotlights one convened by the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies (OCMS) in 2018, because we like the way it explored the intersection—a missiological gap— between Jesus movements, relief and development, and the least-reached peoples. Ten principles are addressed in their subsequent publication, Undivided Witness (ad, p. 92; book review, p. 106), and the publisher has generously given us permission to offer you an excerpt (p. 93). The second [compendium] publication is from the “Rethinking People Groups Forum,” which was sparked by discussions at ISFM 2018. Any attempt to clarify the global demographics of the remaining frontiers must address the emerging debate over the concept of “peoples.” After a year and a half of many virtual and face-to-face deliberations, Marv Newell, editor of the Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ), agreed to publish an extensive compendium of those perspectives (now available online from MissioNexus).” (excerpt of the introduction to this journal topic by the editor, Brad Gill)

Undivided Witness: Jesus Followers, Community Development, and Least-Reached Communities. Edited by David Greenlee, Mark Galpin, and Paul Bendor-Samuel. Regnum Books International (2020). Book review HERE. “Undivided Witness presents ten key principles linking community development and the emergence of vibrant communities of Jesus followers among the ‘least reached’. Twelve practitioners explore this uncharted missiological space, drawing on decades of serving and learning among communities in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and South, Central and Southeast Asia.” (quote from website)

 

For God So Loved th World: The Church & the Sustainable Development Goals. Edited by Jorge H Barro, Júlio PTM Zabatiero and Welinton P da Silva. Regnum Books International (2021).  “What has poverty reduction, education, health, gender equality and environmental sustainability to do with the Church? What have these to do with God's mission? These are just some of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals, set out in 2015 as "a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030". In this remarkable book, 28 Brazilian specialists reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of each goal and their relation to the mission of God's people. Originally published in Portuguese, Regnum Books is delighted to bring this unique contribution, coming from the continent that introduced the global church to Missão Integral.” (quote from website)