Focus on fullness of life in Jesus
At the Winter Launch Lab, we innovate, working with adaptive challenges. We’ve worked with non-westerners who want to share Jesus with unreached people groups and with evangelicals who are working to mitigate against climate change. Innovation moved us to assist health professionals during the coronavirus pandemic and people sharing the gospel message in the Buddhist world. The spiritual application of innovative problem-solving in complex systems is our core skill set. We use and teach it to help introduce a holistic gospel to everyone, especially with those living past the borders of world Christianity.
Innovation that brings change to a society starts with people who have been changed. We embrace the mission of Frontier Ventures that is to nurture new ways for people at the borders of world Christianity to experience the fullness of life in Jesus. As a result, we seek new holistic and sustainable ways to address societal needs.
Currently, we are involved in three long-term projects and we are activity looking to add more. Here they are below.
Description of Kingdom Initiatives
This network of field practitioners works among nomadic people around the world in order to fulfill the Great Commission mandate among nomadic people.
The network believes that the unique worldview, values and lifestyle of nomadic peoples requires them to show the reality of the Gospel to nomadic people in a way that underscores its relevance to their lives. The Christian message is as much at home in a nomad camp as it is in a western church building.
This networking comes from over a dozen evangelical mission agencies. They encourage one another, learn, and share each other’s resources.
A major function of the network is to identify and promote best practices in church formation among nomads. And then also advocate in the world-wide body of Christ for appropriate and effective work among nomads.
Health for all nations. To call this a lofty goal would be a gross understatement. But it is exactly what the organization, Health for All Nations, exists to facilitate. Health, as in wholeness of the human mind, body, and spirit in a thriving community, is not a reality for many humans now or at any time in history. But that wholeness is exactly what scripture refers to where shalom (OT) or Irene (NT) are translated as peace. For this shalom to be experienced by people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, a huge shift in the mindset of the Church must occur. And this shift in mindset must then be accompanied by radical changes in the way the Church cares for the whole person. This will only happen in an environment of innovation. Health for All Nations co-labors with the Winter Launch Lab in creating this type of environment. While the Winter Launch Lab has a broad focus on its involvement in missions’ innovation, HFAN focuses more narrowly on global health. Through this partnership, HFAN will catalyze new solutions to the complex global health challenges facing the world. Some innovations already started by HFAN are:
The Christian Journal for Global Health - the only peer reviewed health journal published from a Christian perspective
Best Practices in Global Health Missions - the only such initiative from a Christian perspective
Christian Global Health in Perspective course - the only course of its kind, modeled after the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course
Midwives at the Edges - a global network of frontline midwifery workers, organizations, and like-minded individuals who collaborate to support, teach, and encourage each other, build the evidence base and share best practices, and recruit and train up others in the art and science of midwifery.
NextMove helps agencies and other missions groups to navigate the change process necessary for engaging effectively in diaspora missions.
This includes:
Identifying alignment between an organization's mission and values and how diaspora missions fit with their unique calling.
Gaining clarity about the specific realities of the global diaspora and any organizational roadblocks that may exist to fruitful engagement.
Procuring the necessary resources, skills, and relationships for effective diaspora missions.
Obtaining significant results from engaging in diaspora missions including the necessary organizational changes to obtain these results.
Financial transactions in developing nations are often complex, expensive, or unsafe, with challenges ranging from cross-border payments and fund accessibility to proving asset ownership and battling inflation. These difficulties also present significant barriers to missions, notably the hardship of transferring funds into restricted access nations, raising adequate support for Global South workers, or conducting financial activities anonymously in regions under strict government surveillance. These obstacles can slow mission progress, disrupt operations, and even place workers at risk, creating an urgent need for better financial solutions.
Our approach involves identifying innovative missionaries and partners in financially repressive contexts, exposing them to the Bitcoin network as a multifaceted financial empowerment solution, and coaching them through a design process to launch Bitcoin-powered prototypes for Great Commission purposes. This project involves researching Bitcoin use cases, developing partnerships, building a faith-driven team, recruiting and empathizing with mission practitioners, and hosting collaborative design labs. We believe this is an opportune time to pioneer this initiative given Bitcoin's immense growth and the current global inflationary conditions.