Have you heard of the Joshua Project?
Prior to this collaboration, only a few of our cohort members had used it before or even heard of it.
Over the past few decades, the Joshua Project team has meticulously put together a massive database with information about how far the gospel has spread among people groups from all over the world. There are so! many! possibilities! with this data.
However, the Joshua Project team saw that all the information could be difficult for us to take in. They hoped that this data would convince Christians of the need for missions and help missionaries strategize better so that we can bring the gospel where it hasn’t gone before.
Their original goal, in their own words: Like Joshua [and Caleb], to scout the land and bring back a report.
(Fun fact: There was a Caleb Project, too! I present to you Exhibit A and Exhibit B.)
Their target audience: The next generation of missionaries. Gen Z.
And that, my friends, is where we come in. As members of that generation, as students learning business, tech, and marketing skills, and as young Christians wondering how our faith would permeate and transform even our work, we were uniquely equipped and excited to take on this challenge. We were the “who,” we were learning the “how,” and we knew the “why.”
To start, our mentors challenged us to ask questions that start with “how might we”:
How might we use and present this data to young Christians and invite them to take action?
Over the course of these few months, we want to develop an idea for a product and then create and test a prototype to address this question. We started with a big group brainstorming session using a Miro board to identify who might be the audience, what actions might be our end goal, and how we might guide the audience to take action.
Already, we’re seeing these skills that we’re still learning could be used for projects for God’s glory—projects that teach people about the need for missions and, hopefully, mobilize people to go.
How might we worship God in our work?
How might we challenge our siblings-in-Christ to do the same?
How might we spark interest among our peers in learning about people groups who don’t know the good news of Jesus?
How might God use us and the skills he’s crafted in us to advance his kingdom?
That was how we began this journey. Have you asked yourself these questions before? What advice do you have for us?
We’d love to hear from you!
Take care,
The Spring 2021 Serve Cohort
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