Topographical vs.Lateral Missions

Driving home from work, last night I was listening to a podcast of Philip Smethurst, director of Overland Missions. Overland Missions (OM) http://www.overlandmissions.com/ is a missions organization committed to empowering the third world indigenous church and bringing the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. Through expedition-style missions they lead teams into locations that would otherwise remain neglected or unreached, much like our BIKERussia trip did in 1997. Philip was speaking about going on "topographical missions" as opposed to "lateral missions."

Lateral missions means going where you can see to go, essentially standing at "street level". If you stand at the edge of town, you see the forest, and not what might lie within it or beyond. If you can see a trail, you follow where it leads, do what you set out to do (preach the Word) and return the way you came.

Topographical missions are different. in 1997, we took a map of Karelia, looked at it, pointed to a spot and said "Let's go here." When we got there, we encountered three guys on a motorcycle with a sidecar. Actual conversation with locals, pointing to our map; "Where is this village?" "It is not there." "Where is it?" "Why do you want to know?" "These are American missionaries, and they would like to visit the village." "It was moved many years ago. We were the last people out of the village, then they took out the railroad tracks." (Both the village and the railroad tracks were still shown on the then 1-year-old map.)

Google Earth did not exist then, and post-Soviet-era Russian maps are notorious for being filled with "dis-information" But with guides from the local bicycle club, we managed to reach, and evangelize in seven villages in rural Karelia, as well as the cities of Kontopoga and Petrozavodsk.

But Google Earth has changed all of that. Philip was speaking about using it as a tool for missions planting. For seeing the path that lies beyond the village, that leads to a smaller village. At path that might require using a 4WD, or a mountain bike to access, or you may have to go in by foot, with a backpack. OM is using this tool to plan the future of missions outreaches in Africa and the Amazon.

Similarly, we can use it as a tool in Russia. I have already found all of the villages we visited in 1997, right down to the fields and beaches where we set up camp. And there are more little villages out there. Lots of them. Pastor Don says "I do know, ... that there are thousands of villages in Russia where from my experience there is little or no Christian witness. ."

This is just a part of the new Missionary Leadership Training, and it is just a part of what we plan on teaching, starting in April of 2008.

Proceeding on...
Trailpatrol