Current Events / Trendlines / Articles
European refugee problem demands coherent EU policy. Link.
… “unless Europe restores order, [all sorts of bad things could happen]…”
Refugees: 10,000 refugee children missing, targeted for sex work, slavery. Link.
Al Jazeera: The Christians of the Middle East. Long Read. Link.
The real, unsexy reason why the Arab Spring failed. Link.
… brittle dictatorships and weak state institutions …
Muslim declaration on religious minorities: landmark declaration on tolerance. Link.
Afghanistan: ISIS in Afghanistan (2015). 35-minute video. Link.
Albania: possibly, the country of last resort for refugees. Link.
China: grand new strategy for the Middle East: moving closer to feuds, oil. Link.
China: est. 6 million travelers vacationing during CNY, 61% going overseas. Link.
Chinese New Year: the largest annual human migration: 2.9 billion journeys. Video. Link.
As many as 2 million Chinese tourists could be headed to Cambodia in 2016. Link.
China: leader of govt-sanctioned megachurch held in secret detention. Link.
… for opposing cross-removal campaign. In Hangzhou.
China: new crackdown on churches (WSJ Op-ed, $). Link.
Eritrea: the questions no one is asking. Human Rights, refugee outflows. Link.
Iran: Washington Post journalist case reveals factions within Iran govt. Link.
Iraq: thousands of Iraqis headed home from Europe, in reverse migration. Link.
Iraq: the crumbling Mosul dam that could flood the country. Link.
… hundreds of thousands could be killed/displaced.
Libya: it had over 100,000 Christians before 2011, now only a few thousand. Link.
Nepal: why it has one of the world’s fastest growing Christian populations. NPR. Link.
Nepal: 20 years wasted. Link.
North Korea: Christianity, access to the Bible grew to 7.6% last year. Link.
North Korea: another perspective on potential fall (100+ page RAND study). Link.
Saudi Arabia: struggling to adapt to plummeting oil price. NPR. Link.
Syria: 95% of Aleppo’s doctors have fled / been detained / been killed. Link.
… Syrian medicine once envy of the Middle East, but now…
Syria: Assad has it his way. [the reversal of military fortune] Link.
Taiwan: how the church there compares to the church in China. Doyle. Link.
Tajikistan: forcibly shaves beards to “fight radicalization.” Link.
Thailand: child angel dolls, a new superstitious trend. Link.
Studies / Charts / Graphs / Reports / Statistics / Resources
Graphed: % of land devoted to agriculture in world’s major economies, 1960-2010. Link.
Vietnam: nicely done 1-page overview from OMF: history, Christianity. Link.
Missiographics collection of country-specific infographics. Link.
Pew: 25% of Americans think 50% of the Muslims in the US are anti-American. Link.
Long Reads / Mission Industry News
J. D. Payne: Apostolic Imagination: what few pastors have but we all need. Link.
… “church life as we know it has come to be defined in pastoral terms.”
… “I believe 25% is … the maximum amount … will be reached by pastoral approaches.”
Keelan Cook: 3-prong program for how my church prepares missionaries. Link.
… “finally, we will not send anyone as a missionary who is unwilling to be one here…”
Flashback to 2011: Do missions destroy culture? Link.
Deborah w/SIM: Why I’m not afraid to live in Niger. Link.
Pioneer Mission Startups / Startup Thinking / Work / Lifehacking
The psychological price of entrepreneurship [startups]. Link.
… applies to missional startups, too …
Missional thinking / Mission hacking / Tactics / Skills
Movements are a buzzword but faithfulness is the more important factor. Link.
Movements happen when pioneers keeping doing the right things day after day. Link.
Honor & Shame societies: 9 keys to working with Muslims. Link.
4 simple ways to start telling the Good News. Link.
… living one’s faith out loud, practicing telling one’s story.
Book: A field guide for everyday mission: 30 days, 101 ways to demonstrate the Gospel. Link.
… I don’t think every Christian is a missionary, but any Christian can be one.
… this looks a good guide for Christians who want to start practicing missionary skills here.
UPG Profiles
H/T @hannahanderson for most of these.
Chinese New Year travel, in photographs. Link.
Refugees: A visual journey through Lesbos, gateway to Europe. Link.
Djibouti: Welcome to the Horn. Video. Link.
Dubai, photographed from above. Link.
Mauritania: World Food Program, malnutrition, numerous photos. Link.
North Korea: First Person: terrifying 5-year journey to escape NKorean famine. Link.
North Africa’s Berbers: 27-slide photoessay. Link.
Somalia’s displaced and disabled: the plight of the most vulnerable. Link.
Syria: Drone footage captures view of Homs: “like apocalyptic video game.” Link.
… “now almost completely empty of life” …
Turkmenistan: a journalist’s look inside a secretive country. Link.
Vietnam: The idyllic life along Tri An Lake. Link.
Futuristics / Tech
Trying to hide from surveillance can make you stand out. (2nd graphic.) Link.
Drone Rangers: occupation of the future. Link.
Lists are the new Search: the role and value of curation. Link.
Are paper books really disappearing? Link.
Quotable
“I can give you a six-word formula for success: Think things through – then follow through.” – Edward Rickenbacker
“Evey artist was first an amateur.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
“A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and spiritually. One must fight for a life of action, not reaction.” ~Rita Mae Brown
“Unexplainable suffering is not meaningless suffering.” ~Tony Merida
“All curation grows until it requires search. All search grows until it requires curation.” ~Benedict Evans
“Talk doesn’t cook chicken.” Mali proverb.