Post 90 Missions Fest International (MFI)

I ended the last post with the announcement I was going to attend the annual conference of Missions Fest Vancouver (MFV). There is a world-wide Missions Fest movement so that I do need to specify it is the Vancouver version I am talking about. Every specific Missions Fest has a place name associated with it to distinguish it from the others.

Well, not quite. There is actually a Missions Fest without a place name. It is the international version that is the proprietor of the name and the logo, and that is also based in Vancouver.  It is appropriately called Missions Fest International (MFI). Yes, our secular Vancouver is the womb where it all started. In fact, the original founder, Richard Dodding, now a man of seasoned age and living in Metro Vancouver, is still busy founding new chapters especially in Africa. There are now chapters in seven African cities with more preparing for theirs.  At the MFV conference he strides around sporting a lanyard that identifies him as “Founder.” I think he is both justly grateful for and proud of his achievement—with the help of God, of course—and well he might. He wrote the history of it all in his book Uncovering Missions—Engaging the World with the Gospel that I found very interesting reading. I encourage you to check out MFI’s website.

I have great respect and admiration for his achievements. People of greater fame than mine likewise exude in praise for MF in general. Tony Campolo, the well-known maverick Christian sociologist, wrote:

Missions Fest is one of the premier missions conferences in the world. This conference draws huge crowds to hear some of the best speakers in the world. Here, in Uncovering Missions Fest–Engaging the World with the Gospel, is a thorough account of its history, which in itself can inspire the reader to consider what he or she can do to carry out the Great Commission.—Dr. Tony Campolo, Eastern University, St. Davids, PA. 

Likewise, Mrs. Darlene Dodding wrote a book entitled Stories from a Reluctant Missionary of which one reader exuded:

You won’t be able to put this book down. I wasn’t! Reading Stories from a Reluctant Missionary made me laugh and cry–and relive my days in Kenya. These stories of sacrifice and dedication are full of adventure, challenges and, most of all, love. Arlene has captured the thrill of introducing her village students to the wonders of science and technology. In truth, these Christian young people have taken their places in Kenyan society in medicine, teaching and business. —Lillian Cornelius Warkentin, missionary and Bible translator.

I haven’t read Darlene’s, but it sounds like I should.

I do want to alert the more academically inclined among my readers. These books are not of an academic nature and sometimes that’s enough for us academics to shove them contemptuously aside as not worthy of our time. I have at times caught myself with that kind of attitude. But you know, some of the best things in this world are not of academic inspiration or nature. Any academic who dismisses popular books purely for that reason, is acting on prejudice and false pride, and definitely not according to a genuinely academic standard.  Missions itself—yes, a legitimate singular/plural combination—is not an academic enterprise, though missiology is. Non-academic as missions is, it has been one of the most positive forces for good during the last two centuries, in spite of its warts  and even more in spite of its many critics and detractors. My writings, including this blog, are a combination of the two.   

As noted at the beginning of this post, I intended to write about MFV but ended up writing mostly about MFI and its founders. OK, so I changed course slightly, but this MFI stuff really needed to be aired first in order to understand the context of MFV.  So, I promise: The next post will be on the latter. 

There I go again with my promises!  I just can’t seem to live without them. In addition, this post represents a break from some of the longer ones I have forced on you recently—not even up to the 750 words at which I generally aim and often exceed. An entire 37 short!