Leading in Global-Glocal Missional Contexts: Learning from the Journey of the Wycliffe Global Alliance

The journey of the Wycliffe Global Alliance (WGA) is an example of how some paradigm shifts are influencing leading in mission. Since Christianity is both an agent and product of globalization, its beliefs have spread from one source to another, crossing religious, linguistic and cultural contexts. As a result, there are polycentric or multiple centres of influence since Christianity has homes within a diversity of contexts. This carries with it various implications including how partnering in mission needs to be deconceptualized through greater emphasis on friendship. In order for this to happen as a missiological principle, third spaces may need to be created. Viewed against the backdrop of church and mission agency leadership, structures may be ‘stuck in the Industrial Era’ (Uhl-Bien et al., 2007: 298). Therefore, the stage is set for exploring how these and other themes influence leadership in God’s mission.

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Polycentrism in the missio Dei

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies ◽

10.4102/hts.v72i1.3145 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 72 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Kirk Franklin ◽

Nelus Niemandt

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Missio Dei ◽

Specific Context ◽

Global Alliance ◽

Economic Context ◽

God's Mission ◽

Global Church ◽

Mission Agency ◽

Significant Effort ◽

The Way

Structures for mission have been under review as a result of many factors. In particular have been the widening influences of globalisation, and to a lesser degree, glocalisation. Various models of leadership praxis and structures have been proposed along the way. As Christianity moved farther away from the Christendom model of centralised control to other models of structure and leadership, other paradigms have been proposed along the way. However, one possibility, called the concept of polycentrism, has not been considered with any significant effort. In order to understand polycentrism, this research covered a literature review of seven spheres: (1) the urbanised-economic context; (2) political-ideological associations; (3) globalglocal socio-cultural situations; (4) organisational-leadership contexts; (5) missional movements; (6) the global church; and (7) the journey of the mission agency called the Wycliffe Global Alliance. The application of the concept of polycentrism to the specific context of the Wycliffe Global Alliance has enabled conclusions about the relevance of polycentrism in mission structures that are part of the missio Dei. The study concluded that polycentrism was a very helpful methodology that understood and resolved the inherent tensions and influences brought about by globalisation upon structures in God’s mission. The implications shaped what leadership communities look like in terms of values and ideals because of the benefits of polycentrism. Through polycentrism, there has been a deliberate movement away from established centres of power, so that leadership occurred among and with others, while creatively learning together in community.Keywords: Polycentrism, globalisaiton, glocalisation, mission leadership, global church

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On Emergent Phenomena

An Imitation-Based Approach to Modeling Homogenous Agents Societies ◽

10.4018/978-1-59140-839-0.ch009 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 93-115

Author(s):

Goran Trajkovski

Keyword(s):

Popular Culture ◽

Multiagent Systems ◽

Artificial Life ◽

Life Sciences ◽

Paradigm Shifts ◽

Cultural Contexts ◽

Systems Research ◽

Emergent Phenomena ◽

The Social ◽

Sciences Of Complexity

“Emergence” is itself emergent; although originating in the context of the “sciences of complexity” — i.e., life sciences, cybernetics, multiagent systems research, and artificial life research — “emergent thinking” has spread to other parts of the academy, including the social sciences and business. Utilizing examples drawn from popular culture, this chapter looks to the ways IT has proven influential in other cultural contexts, but not without a price. The second part of the chapter interrogates the transportation of emergent thinking into these other discourses, taking them to task for not embracing the promises inherent in emergence and, in fact, merely reproducing the old under the sign of the emergent new. Finally, by borrowing notions of “surprise” from robotics and multiagent systems, I suggest new possibilities for emergence to lead to genuine paradigm shifts in the ways we think.

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A Case Study: A Journey of Leading in Polycentric Theory and Practice in Mission

Transformation An International Journal of Holistic Mission Studies ◽

10.1177/02653788211026330 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 026537882110263

Author(s):

Kirk Franklin

Keyword(s):

Geographic Region ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Governance Structures ◽

Case Study Approach ◽

Global Alliance ◽

Christian Mission ◽

Study Approach ◽

God's Mission ◽

To Come

Leadership and governance structures for any organisations involved in God’s mission need to come under review because of the growing influences of the inter-connected globalised world. As Christianity moved farther away from the Christendom model of centralised control to other models of leadership and governance, other paradigms have been proposed along the way. One is called polycentric leadership and governance and is based upon principles of polycentrism. Using a case study approach assists in giving contexts for assisting the understanding of polycentrism in a world where Christian mission is adapting in a rapidly changing polycentric world. The case study explores leadership, governance and specific focus of one geographic region all within the context of the Wycliffe Global Alliance.

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The Graduate Dysphagia Course: Opening the Door to New Frontiers

Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups ◽

10.1044/persp1.sig13.104 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 1 (13) ◽

pp. 104-112

Author(s):

Karen A. Ball ◽

Luis F. Riquelme

Keyword(s):

Graduate Student ◽

Paradigm Shifts ◽

Speech Language Pathology ◽

Approaches To Teaching ◽

Graduate Level ◽

Graduate Curriculum ◽

Current Trends ◽

Language Pathology

A graduate-level course in dysphagia is an integral part of the graduate curriculum in speech-language pathology. There are many challenges to meeting the needs of current graduate student clinicians, thus requiring the instructor to explore alternatives. These challenges, suggested paradigm shifts, and potential available solutions are explored. Current trends, lack of evidence for current methods, and the variety of approaches to teaching the dysphagia course are presented.

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