Southwest Region

Communication(s) is at the heartbeat of God’s interaction with humanity. God has communicated with us by revealing himself through his Word (the Bible), becoming flesh as the Word (Emmanuel) and empowering us through the Holy Spirit with gifts and means of communication(s), enabling us to participate in his mission to others.

Communication(s) connects with mission and all that it entails through a vast diversity of avenues. Artists, evangelists, monks, preachers, and missionaries express themselves through a multitude of devices and vehicles of communication. Anthropologists explore the process of communication within and across cultural and social boundaries. Bible translators explore how to make the Word available in heart languages.  Historians explore ways God’s people have integrated communication(s) with mission throughout the story line of the Church. Biblical scholars engage with God’s revelation, theologians with the impact of a communicating God and humankind made in God’s image. At the personal level Christians communicate God’s Good News polycentrically with others across the world, share the evangel with others in mentoring and discipling relationships.  All of these are viable ways in which communication and mission intertwine.

• How language affects communication of the gospel message in one’s own, intercultural or multicultural societies
• Contributions from theological disciplines (biblical studies, systematic theology, Christian history, homiletics, pastoral theology, missiology, pastoral counseling) that connect communication(s) with mission
• Contemporary challenges of mission stemming from communication(s) practice, ideology or world view
• Explorations of key global missiological thinkers and practitioners connecting communication(s) with mission; contextualization is a prime example.
• Communication(s) vehicles and mission such as art, music, orality, media, preaching, storying, and social media
• Global case studies examining communication(s) and mission, including stories of success and failure.