thoughts about the rough draft- what i'm learning about media and missions.

Wow, I am really learning a lot about the relationship of media and missions through my paper topic- imagine that. I'm really excited about this because not only do I think that the information is interesting, but I also think that the knowledge will help me this summer as I travel to Guinea.

This summer I am going to be living in Guinea for eight weeks and working with two missionaries who are currently stationed there. We will be working with the Fula people, who are 99.9% Muslim. Exploring my paper topic (which is the relationship between media and world missions- in case you didn't pick up on that yet) has brought a lot of things to my attention that I didn't think about before. Incorperating media in evnaglisim has a lot of different reprecussions for Christianity and developing cultures.

One thing that I found interesting was the debate of wether or not churches or types of evangelism too foreign to a native societies customs will be rejected. Because of it's belief that the medium used to convey the gospel message (various types of media vs. interpersonal communication) will shape the message in some way, this theory incorperates the theory of technological determinism.

Utilizing media as a medium for spreading the gospel has shaped the way the message is interpreted by other cultures. It has made native cultures percieve Christianity as a major globalizing factor. Some of these cultures have reacted negatively to this as the previously mentioned theory of chruch rejection predicts. Such groups include Islamic fundamentalists.
On the other hand, other groups have embraced media in christianity, and through doing so have become a more consumerist society, which isn't always a good thing either.

Through my research I discovered that in order to integrate christian mass media successfully on the mission field, missionaries need to understand the field they are evangelizing to (like the ways religion and religous media are already used in the culture), have a balanced view of globalzation and preserving native culture, and implement media in a correct context (linked to a local community or church.)

I think that knowing these things will prepare me a little more for going to guinea this summer and in any future missions career i may pursue