August 01, 1986 by John Holzmann

Bob Waym ire, author of this months cover feature, says, "an effective means for gathering, managing and communicating information is a prerequisite so finishing the task"! Yet hearing about a massive Global Mapping Project with Global Research Databases and Global Research Networks leaves me  and, I imagine, many other people out in the cold.

We have a difficult time getting excited about "standardization of informa tion storage procedures" and about "master index"" and "software," We're tempted to throw our hands up in disgust and shoot back as many big words as we can in reply:

"So what if you are now able to use PCs and minicomputers to produce maps and graphs that show the 'status' and 'dynamic' of 'harvest fields and forces' the world over? What difference does it make?"

But once we've waded past the jargon, is there something of value to mission research?

had the privilege not so long ago to spend almost three hours with Mr. Waymire. I asked him some of these questions,

"In my experience," he said, "on a denominational or regional basis, the church is very seldom reaching its full potential for making new disciples. The problem is, it doesn't know itself and it doesn't know its context.

"You don't dig potatoes with a combine. Certain types of farm machinery are more useful when reaping different types of crops. So, too, with the church. Certain parts of the church have more effective ministries within certain parts of the harvest field.

"The church needs to have an accurate picture of itself. It needs to know what kind of 'machine' it is. Sadly, too often it doesn't."

Waymire said mission research is designed to help churches and mission agencies discover who they are, what they are, and how they can be most effective where they are.

Besides the agricultural analogy, Waymire suggested mission research is similar to military intelligence. "In the military, you need to identify your enemy," he said. "You need to know who he is, where his strengths are, what his plans are, what his successes and weaknesses are...

"You also have to know yourself. You need to know your identity why you exist, what makes you distinctive, what makes you worth fighting for; and you need to know your status, your condition how many tanks, soldiers, weapons, supply lines, etc. you have, and where they are.

"Mission researchers are trying to do something similar for the church. We're trying to get an accurate picture of the "armed forces" so that we can show the church where the needs are.

"And then realizing that the resources for the battle are in the churches at home (they're the ones who are providing the personnel and the ammunition and all of the resources for the war)¬we pay just as much attention to our resources as we do to our direct ministries.

"So, besides studying the harvest fields and the front line harvest forces, we're also trying to get an accurate picture of the churches 'back home' to know what the potential resources are and where they're located."

Mission researchers are asking questions and are helping churches, mission agencies, and missionaries to ask similar questions of themselves.

Some of the questions: Where are the people groups? What identifies them as a people group? What are their distinctives? What tools can we use to help preach the Gospel among them? What are some of the redemptive analogies (like Richardson's "Peace Child') we might use?

And concerning the churches and missions: Whom they? Where are they? Are their ministries growing? Declining? Standing Still? How does their growth compare with that of others in similar circumstances? How does it compare with growth at other times? What factors contribute to the similarities and differences?

Barbara Brown of the Institute of Tribal Studies recently remarked, "Most of the listings of unreached peoples in the Unreached Peoples series put out by MARC (Missions Advanced Research and Communication, a division of World Vision International) have a validity factor of 'I.' That means, basically, all we know is the name of the group and where they are supposed to be located. You can't make plans to send missionaries into an area based solely on that kind of information."

Waymire put it more forcefully. "Suppose we know there's a 'national' church somewhere. Who are the nationals in the church? Upper class? Lower class? Middle class? Which working class is it? Which tribes? Which languages? What's their religious heritage? Who are you reaching in that society?

"It's one thing to say there's a church in the people, but who are the people in the church?"