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| Mapping projects | ||
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MAPPING FOR MINISTRY Many aspects of mission work take place in geographical space. The people we want to reach with the Gospel live in a geographical place. The missionaries serve in geographical places. Churches are planted in geographical places. Therefore as Inserv serves the church through mission research a good way to present many of the results of our research is in the form of maps. Often you can see things in a map which are not obvious in a table of data or a long report. There is a Chinese proverb which says, “Seeing is understanding.”
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Mapping is a new ministry at Inserv which started in
the second half of 2005. Our mapping director has training in the use of
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and computer mapping software. Since
2005 Inserv has undertaken a number of mapping projects on a local (city or
province), national (country), regional, continental and global level. Some of
these mapping projects have been in support of the ongoing research of Inserv
but most have been commissioned projects for other mission organizations and
churches.
Examples of some of the projects undertaken
include mapping the distribution of languages in South Africa, a map of the
10/40 window (region of the world between 10° N and 40° N where the majority of
the people groups lest-reached with the Gospel live), a map of the per capita
number of missionaries being sent out by each country in Africa and many other
maps.
MAPPING FOR MISSIONS TRAINING We are aware that to merely do mapping ourselves will have little effect in reducing the amount of work in reaching the unreached. We want to share the knowledge we have gained with others to assist them to do their own mapping and so become more effective in their outreach efforts and ministry. Inserv together with Global Mapping International (GMI) in the USA, offer training in the use of computer mapping software for Christian ministry and mapping purposes. For more information on mapping and training contact us at mapping-at-inserv.org.za Mapping projectsWhy MappingResearch and mapping in Africa: Thinking outside the box |
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