DownshoreDrift

This morning we leave for India. Three of us are going on a delegation of sorts to establish contacts for a future public health conference and to explore microbanking initiatives. We hope to have lots of conversations with people about their own future and the future of India as well. We will learn a lot, but we also hope to help people find the Way. We'll be gone for almost two weeks, so blogging will be sporadic, if it happens at all. I do hope to find a few internet cafe's along the way, so I'll post updates as I can. Please pray for safety, health, and divine encounters along our journey.

I've done a lot of study over the years on the place of culture and worldview when it comes to issues of development. There is a large amount of scholarship that is beginning to emerge that is pointing to culture being the overriding factor behind the economic development of a nation. I believe that India's biggest problem regarding the poverty and mortality of the vast majority of it's people has to do with worldview and culture. I know that that is not a huge shock to most of my readership, but the secular world has only recently begun to think this way. We plan to help them along a bit.

Since I won't be posting much, I want to recommend a paper for your reading pleasure. It was written by Dr. Thom Wolf, president of Global Spectrum, and delivered at Lucknow University in India. In it, he explores the factors that make cultures progress prone or progress resistant. His conclusions are very interesting and hold dramatic implications for us globally, as well as here in America as we continue to grapple with a culture that is spinning wildly out of control. If you have time, read it and tell me what you think.

Progress Prone vs. Progress Resistant Cultures by Dr. Thom Wolf

Grace and Peace.