“Going global” is the process of making content available in other languages. When someone has created a discipleship resource in their own language (e.g. a book, radio program, seminar, video, etc.) and wants it to be available for use by speakers of other languages, there are two processes that can be used to “go global” with it: the Traditional Process and the Open Process.

The Traditional Process has historically been the most commonly used method, in part because the technology on which the Open Process is built did not exist until recently. While common, the Traditional Process has some significant drawbacks that may turn out to be counter-productive to the goals of the content creator. By contrast, the Open Process is relatively new but has significant advantages and can rapidly and inexpensively accomplish the goals of the content creator. Note: it may be helpful to think of the Traditional Process and the Open Process as endpoints on a spectrum. Translation projects usually fall somewhere between the two endpoints, sharing some characteristics of both.

Comparing the two processes

The Traditional Process and Open Process are briefly compared below, in a roughly chronological order as a content creator “goes global” with a resource. Some of the specifics of the Open Process apply directly to the Door43 project (http://door43.org) which is designed to provide a platform for content creators and translators to make open-licensed resources freely available in any language, anywhere in the world.

There are a number of advantages to the Open Process for “going global” as well as some questions to be considered.

Advantages of the Open Process

• Ministry is unrestricted – This is the most significant advantage of the Open Process. By releasing the content under an open license, anyone can use the content for any ministry purpose in any language without restrictions.
• More ministry opportunities for the content creator – As the content gets translated and distributed in more languages, the content creator becomes more well-known, potentially opening doors for further ministry.
• Potentially increases markets for other products – The content creator is under no obligation to release other resources under an open license and may choose to use the Traditional Process for some resources. With the increased exposure from the open-licensed resources, more markets for subsequent products may be available than there were before.

Questions about the Open Process

• “How can the doctrinal integrity of open-licensed content be ensured?” See http://www.dsmedia.org/faq#preventing-false-teaching.
• “What if doctrinally inaccurate content is created from my resource and distributed with an attribution to me?” – Attribution is only of the original work (not the translation or derivative work), people tend to go to the source – get a web presence. The more Open you make your material, the more access people have to the original, and errors or false works are easily identified as such by comparison with the original. Trying to simultaneously “lock down” the resource (to prevent bad derivative works) and also expect it to be useful in as many languages as possible is ineffective. Making the original as common and accessible as possible is the best defense against error. See http://www.dsmedia.org/faq#attribution-not-wanted.
• “Can't another organization sell my open-licensed resources and make money from them? Why not include a 'non-commercial' condition to prevent this?” See http://www.dsmedia.org/faq#commercial-rights.

Summary

When making a resource available in other languages, the Open Process provides numerous advantages over the Traditional Process. In addition to significantly reducing the cost associated with translating the resource into another language, the translation process itself may be of higher quality in the end because it is subjected to ongoing peer review and revisions are inexpensive to make. The Open Process of "going global" results in more people being able to use the resource in more languages, which often results in the Kingdom advancing more rapidly in that language group, as well as increased ministry opportunities for the content creator.

Photo credit: Esparta

1. 1. The concern may be raised of the “telephone” effect whereby the accuracy of a translation may degrade in proportion to how many generations removed it is from the original. This is a valid concern but one that can be minimized by implementing good translation principles and techniques at all points in the process, including working with translation consultants and project advisers to check the accuracy of the translated content against the original. Because the translation process itself is open at every step, corrections and improvements to the translated content can easily be made by any speakers of the target language, improving the quality of the finished product and also fostering increased ownership (and thus use) of the content by recipients.
2. 2. This is not to say that salaries should not be paid to translators in the Open Process. In some situations, that can be an effective missiological strategy. However, the Open Process does not necessarily require or assume the existence of paid translators – anyone who wants to translate the content is free to do so. Open Process projects such as Wikipedia have translators that volunteer their time, as contrasted with Traditional Process projects such as Britannica where translations in other languages either do not exist or are costly to produce.
3. 3. As some ministries are finding out in the Traditional Process, failure to clearly and accurately deal with all the legal implications of international copyright law, with all parties involved, in writing, before beginning the translation and international distribution process inevitably results in significant legal problems and financial expense later on.

A question that frequently comes up regarding Door43 is: "where will people get the time to create discipleship resources?" This is a good question and while there are no guarantees, there are indicators suggesting a change is occurring in society (and, we assume, also in the church) where many people are spending less time as only consumers of entertainment and are starting to use free time to create, communicate and collaborate on projects of eternal significance. In a recent Wired.com article, the following points were mentioned:

• Creating Wikipedia took 100 million hours of work.
• Americans watch ~200 billion hours of TV each year.
• The average person born in 1960 has watched more than 5 1/2 straight years of TV (and some estimates are higher).
• Computer and mobile phone technology makes it so people can both consume and produce, pooling their free time for activities they like and care about.
• The idea of "free & open" has a proven track record of success in the computer world, where open-source software (e.g. Linux and Apache) that is available at no cost and with the freedom to re-program it for any use, powers everything from mobile phones to supercomputers to the Internet.
• "We do things because they’re interesting, because they’re engaging, because they’re the right things to do, because they contribute to the world."

What does this have to do with Door43? In Door43, we are attempting to provide a platform where believers all over the world can tap into their "cognitive surplus" of time and production capability to help create a new generation of unrestricted discipleship resources for the specific goal of equipping the global church to grow in spiritual maturity. Time will tell, but the initial response we have received is very encouraging. Now that the platform is (finally) ready for use, we look forward to connecting with others who want to be part of this movement.

Photo credit: Brooks Elliott

Why are unrestricted (aka "free & open") discipleship resources a key part of the future of global discipleship strategies?

Before attempting to answer this question, it is important to understand the context in which it is being addressed:

• The global church is on the rise, and wanting to grow in discipleship.
• Many have no resources in their language for use in their own culture to help them grow in spiritual maturity.

What are unrestricted discipleship resources?

Unrestricted discipleship resources include content in any format (e.g. text, audio, video) that has been released from copyright restrictions1, thus allowing the resources to be used by others for any ministry purpose without cost or legal concerns.

By contrast, many discipleship resources are limited by copyright law such that only the copyright holder can use them without restriction. Others may be allowed to use them in limited ways (e.g. only a limited number of verses in a Bible translation) but often with commercial constraints (e.g. royalties, price tags, etc.). Both the commercial constraints and the copyrights that protect them are biblically legitimate ("the worker is worthy of his wages") but can inadvertently create an obstacle to the equipping of the global church to grow in discipleship, for two reasons:

1. The global church, frequently found in less-affluent parts of the world, is often economically unable to pay for discipleship resources.
2. Even free discipleship resources need to be translated and adapted for use in a target language and culture, neither of which are permitted by default copyright restrictions.

Why "free & open" discipleship resources provide an answer

The creation of unrestricted or “free & open” discipleship resources is an effective and strategic approach to equipping the global church to grow in discipleship because it...

...extends the reach of the resource

Unrestricted discipleship resources allow anyone to effectively “own” the resource (subject to the conditions of the license under which it is released) and use it for any ministry purpose, including creation of better resources built on the foundation of the original. Why is this important? It is important because a discipleship resource that is full of solid Biblical instruction and is extremely effective in a Western culture may have moderate to no impact when simply translated into a different language. This is not because the resource is inherently lacking or inadequate, but because the content may need to be adapted, re-purposed or combined with other resources to create a tool that is effective for the discipleship need of the church in that particular language and culture. The freedom to do this is legally restricted unless the creator of the resource allows it.

...promotes freedom

By releasing discipleship resources from restrictions, the reach of the resource is extended to people groups and languages that might otherwise never have access to the resource. Believers in that people group are given the freedom to create, translate, adapt, distribute and use the discipleship resources in whatever way they need for the advance of the Kingdom in their people group.

...promotes humility & self-sacrifice

Releasing a discipleship resource from legal restrictions so that others can effectively “own” it is essentially saying to any believer, organization or ministry “You may be able to use these resources in more places for more ministry and with more people than we could, and you are free to do so. For free.” Extending the reach of discipleship resources by letting others use and build on material that they did not originally create requires humility and a commitment to sacrificial partnership.

...puts the global church in the driver's seat

The global church is rising to the challenge of taking responsibility for training and equipping their own people to grow in discipleship. Putting them in the position of creating and maintaining their own discipleship resources (instead of trying to do it for them) is a good thing because:

• There are not enough people to do the work of creating, translating & adapting discipleship resources if we try to do it "for" them instead of training and equipping them to do it for themselves.
• The best people to create discipleship resources for use in a particular people group are often believers from that people group. They are able to incorporate the natural communication methods and techniques that are appropriate to their language and culture in the resources in a way that "outsiders" are usually not able to do. Working together with local leadership and providing assistance and discipleship training through the process tends to result in solid discipleship resources that are translated and adapted for effective use in their own people group.
• Creation of complex discipleship resources (e.g. a Bible translation, training course, etc.) is often approached as a "project" with an end date, at which point the project is completed. In many situations it may be more appropriate to approach it as a "process" with ongoing objectives. This is especially important for smaller language groups where language shift can occur very rapidly, making revision of discipleship resources a necessity. By giving the local leadership responsibility for the creation and maintenance of their own discipleship resources from the outset, they are already in position to maintain them and improve them over time. This increases the likelihood that the resources will continue to be used long after the organization that started the work has moved on. Unless discipleship resources are owned (or legally "ownable") by speakers of the language from the outset, we will continue to encounter situations where people do not have the legal permission to revise and update the translation of the Bible in their own language.

...encourages more people to create better resources

Discipleship content that is unrestricted from the outset is not intended for commercial benefit and so the need to keep it hidden until it is "published" is removed. Consequently, there is no longer a hindrance to making the work open for review and input from anyone who is interested throughout the entire process (i.e. a "wiki"). With more people working together in the open to review and improve the work, the potential for broader reach of the resources and improved quality of the content is increased.

Conclusion

The global church desperately needs access to discipleship resources that enable them to grow in spiritual maturity. By removing legal restrictions, discipleship resources that might otherwise be limited in their effectiveness can be used for ministry in more places, by more people, in more languages than would be possible otherwise.

Photo: babasteve

1. 1. Note the distinction between what is unrestricted (e.g. access, redistribution and use of a resource) and the conditions placed on the creation of other resources from that work, in keeping with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

Within the last few years, the growth of the Internet and the increase in the number of mobile phones in use worldwide has significantly changed many aspects of life for billions of people all over the world. As more people in every nation, tribe, language and people become connected using these technologies, the potential for the advance of the Kingdom of God is significant, especially as we work together to make the most of the opportunity.

The digital divide is being bridged

Even in parts of the world that do not yet have electricity, use of mobile phones is becoming increasingly common. People in rural parts of Asia and Africa that have never owned a computer are bypassing the "personal computer" phase of technology use and jumping straight to the "mobile phone" phase, and often the "mobile phone + mobile Internet" phase. This growth in number of mobile phones and use of mobile Internet creates a context for new ministry opportunities worldwide.

Increasing numbers of mobile phones

Recent reports state that the number of mobile phone users worldwide has surpassed 4.6 billion1. In some parts of the world, mobile phones are already more prevalent than radios and will soon surpass the number of televisions.2

Much of the growth in the mobile phone market is taking place in parts of the world that have had only minimal technological opportunities until recently. Some companies are bringing mobile phone technology to these new markets and are making mobile phones available inexpensively to people that could not otherwise afford them.3 Other technology, such as solar powered mobile phones4 makes it possible for mobile phones to be used in even the most remote parts of the world.

Mobile Internet

The number of people worldwide accessing the Internet on their mobile phones is predicted to surpass 1.7 billion people by 2013. Given current growth rates of traditional broadband access (predicted to reach 2 billion people by 2014), 50% of people accessing the Internet will be doing so from a mobile phone within 3-4 years.5 Not surprisingly, the growth of Internet access on mobile phones is concurrent with the increased use of more capable smartphones.6 Some predictions suggesting that within 3-4 years, half of mobile devices will be smartphones and within 6-7 years the number of smartphones worldwide may increase to 90%.7 Part of the reason for this growth, especially in developing markets, is because smartphones provide more access to more information than traditional mobile phones and have significant advantages over a traditional computer, including lower cost, portability, lower power consumption and ease of use. Simple services (e.g. text messages) are still important, but use of mobile Internet will continue to grow.

"...simple services based on text messages are likely to predominate for some time to come, for several reasons. All mobile phones, however cheap, can send text messages. Mobile-web access requires more sophisticated handsets and is not always supported by operators. And users know what it costs to send a text message.

As countries work their way up the development ladder, however, the situation changes in favour of full mobile-web access. Jim Lee, a manager at Nokia’s Beijing office, says he was surprised to find that university students in remote regions of China were buying Nokia Nseries smart-phones, costing several months of their disposable income. Such handsets are status symbols, but there are also pragmatic reasons to buy them. With up to eight students in each dorm room, phones are often the only practical way for students to access the web for their studies."8

The gap between those connected to the Internet and those not yet connected continues to close. Increasing numbers of people around the world are using mobile phones that are increasingly becoming Internet-connected. While this connectedness creates opportunities for education and business, it also creates unprecedented opportunities for the advance of the Kingdom of God.

Making the most of the opportunity

There is no replacing the importance of personal interaction in ministry, especially cross-culturally. The command to "Go and make disciples" is not invalidated by technology in any way. That said, technology and media can be used effectively to compliment and extend discipleship ministry. As more people around the world become connected over the Internet, it creates an opportunity for the creation and delivery of discipleship content (text, audio & video) to people that otherwise might not get the discipleship teaching they need to grow as disciples of Christ.

Distant Shores Media has started the Door43 project (http://door43.org) to provide an Internet-based platform for the creation and distribution of discipleship resources in any language. Door43 content is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License (see "Free + Freedom" below) and content will be available in open formats that are accessible to anyone, on any Internet-connected device. The content is intended to be used and re-mixed in any way for any ministry purpose.

One of the distribution mechanisms planned for Door43 content is multi-format podcasts that include audio, video and text content, optimized for mobile phones. Standard podcasts use MP3 audio files which can be very effective but require more bandwidth to download. We recently tested a multi-format podcast in Thailand over an EDGE mobile phone connection with encouraging results. The podcast contained over 30 minutes of audio in the AMR mobile-optimized audio format9, a ~5 minute video in the 3GP mobile-optimized video format, a couple of HTML rich-text web page documents and a standard JPG photo. The entire podcast was a little over 5MB in size and downloaded in just a few minutes on the data connection we were using. Given the affordable pay-as-you-go data rates in countries like Thailand and many others, this approach to distributing discipleship multimedia content has a lot of potential.

Free + Freedom

Giving away discipleship content free of charge is a good thing, as many who need the resources most are not able to pay for them. Giving discipleship content away with the freedom for others to "own" it and use it in any way for any ministry purpose exponentially expands the usefulness of the content because other believers are legally able to translate it into other languages and adapt it for effective use in further ministry. Instead of being just consumers of discipleship content, they are given the freedom to use the content as a foundation to create discipleship resources that are unique to their own languages, cultures and context.

Conclusion

The growth in numbers of mobile phone users connecting to the Internet provides a great opportunity for the advance of the Kingdom. We can make the most of this opportunity by working together to create discipleship content that is both free of charge and given away with the freedom for other believers to take and use it for any ministry purpose. The mobile networks to distribute this new generation of discipleship content to mobile phone users all over the world are already in place, or will be very soon.

1. 1. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/15/business/main6209772.shtml
2. 2. http://blog.taragana.com/n/phones-outnumber-radios-among-poor-in-south-asia-99765/
3. 3. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0811/072.html
4. 4. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/08/21/solar.cellphone/
5. 5. http://www.cellular-news.com/story/32026.php
6. 6. http://www.cellular-news.com/story/43139.php
7. 7. http://in.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idINIndia-39711520090518
8. 8. http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displaystory.cfm?STORY_ID=11999307
9. 9. Depending on the compression settings used, AMR files are only 1/10th the file size of the same file in MP3 format, making them ideal for distribution of audio over low-bandwidth mobile networks.

A few years back, some friends and I watched part of a high school football game at a crowded stadium. We were only there for a few minutes but one play in particular stood out. The offense was backed up against their own goal line and were having a hard time moving the ball forward. As they prepared for the next play, one of the wide receivers ran towards the sideline as though he was going to leave the field, but he didn't. He waited by the edge of the field where some of the coaching staff stood near him, making it look as though he was no longer in the game.

As soon as the ball was snapped, he started sprinting downfield, waving frantically to get the attention of the quarterback. The defense never saw him. He was so wide open that all the quarterback had to do was lob the ball in his general direction and he could have jogged all the way to the end zone for an easy touchdown.

But the quarterback never saw him.

Whether he was too preoccupied with the defense coming against him, or had his attention confined only to what he was expecting and had planned for according to the play he had called is unknown. What is known is that because the quarterback did not step back, see the big picture and change his plans accordingly, he failed to see an unexpected opportunity and so he missed a chance to blow the game wide open.

Making the most of unexpected opportunities

God is raising up the global church, calling people to Himself from language groups all over the world that were unreached as little as a few months ago. We have an opportunity to serve the global church, by training and equipping them to grow in discipleship.

Making the most of this opportunity for the advance of the Kingdom of God requires three things:

• Trusting the global church
  
• Freedom-promoting missiology
  
• Staying current with a changing world

Trusting the global church

An unfortunate assumption: Effective cross-cultural ministry depends on our direct involvement & continued oversight.

The inevitable result: The global church is crippled and is not able to learn reliance on the Holy Spirit and dependence on the Word of God without the mediation of the missionary.

Although there are wonderful examples to the contrary, the last 200 years of missions have often displayed a disappointing lack of trust in the global church. There is often a lack of an exit strategy or a plan beyond remaining indefinitely to "serve" the young congregation. By contrast, the Biblical model is more along the lines of leaving the church before they feel they are ready, so that they learn to rely on God and on His Word instead of the missionary.

When [the believers in Ephesus] asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus. –Acts 19:20-21

Paul eventually did return and stayed with them longer and when the time came for him to leave (though they still did not want him to), Paul committed them to God and His Word so they would be able to truly grow and flourish, moreso than if he stayed with them:

“And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” –Acts 20:32 [ESV]

Paul's approach requires a willingness to take the risk of trusting the global church, and ultimately trusting that God truly is Sovereign and will accomplish His purpose in the church. Paul knew what it was like to be disappointed at the lack of growth and rapid slide into error of some of his congregations after leaving them (e.g. Galatia and Corinth, to name two.) But he also knew that the alternative was worse – creating a church that was dependent on him and anemic in its faith because it had never been tested or had the opportunity to grow and learn from its mistakes.

Paul's context for ministry is not the same as today (for instance, he likely did not have language learning considerations to deal with due to a common language in use in the Roman Empire) so a direct comparison may not be possible. But at the conceptual level, it is notable that his missiological strategy assumed that he was not going to be in any one place for extended periods of time and because of it, he was well-positioned to avoid many of the dependency-related and lack of growth problems that can plague strategies that adopt (or default to) an “open-ended presence” approach.

And he stayed a year and six months [in Corinth], teaching the word of God among them. –Acts 18:11

Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. –Acts 20:31

There may be situations where longer periods of time are necessary (e.g. resistant people groups, some translation projects, etc.), but it seems that the Biblical model is specifically designed to not create missionary-dependent congregations (or, by extension, ministry projects). It also makes it so that the Good News gets spread farther, to more people groups, in less time.

What if the default assumption for cross-cultural ministry was that it was for a shorter duration of time, in more places, with follow-up visits as needed, instead of necessarily assuming that "real" missions is spending dozens of years in the same place?

Freedom-promoting missiology

An unfortunate assumption: God gave us our Intellectual Property to advance the business of our own mission.

The inevitable result: Restrictions of Intellectual Property Rights and copyright law are allowed to hinder sacrificial partnership and the equipping of the global church for ministry.

Paul demonstrated what it means to care more about the advance of the Kingdom than that the Kingdom be advanced with our own name in the footnote:

Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice. –Philippians 1:17-18 [NLT]

Paul knew he had the right to make his living from the preaching of the Word:

Do we not have the right to eat and drink?... Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? –1 Corinthians 9:4,7-12a [ESV]

But Paul also knew that the advantage of giving the Gospel away for free were so significant that no price was too high to make it happen:

Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ... What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. –1 Corinthians 9:12b,18

What would happen if every church, mission organization and person adopted this model? What if we all assumed that God gave us our Intellectual Property to advance His Kingdom at all costs, even if someone else got the credit for it?

Staying current with a changing world

An unfortunate assumption: The way we've always done things will continue to be as effective on into the future as it was in the past.

The inevitable result: Missed opportunities to advance the Kingdom in new ways, to a new generation, in new people groups.

Like the quarterback that failed to see the big picture and recognize an opportunity that was outside of the play he had called, it is easy to get stuck in the rut of "we've never done it that way before." This can lead to unfortunate situations where one can wind up on the wrong side of a new opportunity.

The Internet and mobile phone technology may be the greatest opportunities for the advance of the church in recent history. But because every device on the Internet is a copy machine (i.e. making verbatim copies of any digital content, instantaneously), it is easy to see the very technology that is the road into the future of ministry as a threat to the preservation of a business model dependent on leveraging copyrights for further ministry. If anyone can give copies of the ministry content to others for free (and as soon as the ministry content is on the web, they can), then the owner of the content has a decision to make: they can either promote and facilitate the free distribution of the discipleship content (and, we would encourage, with the freedom to translate and adapt it for effective use in any language and culture), or they will find themselves on the other side of the opportunity, trying to find ways to limit the free distribution of the ministry materials.

This is not an indictment of any ministry or person who chooses to sell their discipleship resources to make their living. Doing so is, as mentioned above, a Biblical model and is not being criticized. The point here is that:

1. Even the secular world is finding that "Free" (or possibly, "Feels like free") is the inevitable price of an online world.
   
2. The global church is not economically able to pay the "wages" of workers in relatively more affluent cultures.

Being able to respond well to a changing context for global ministry calls for thinking outside the box (which, as a colleague pointed out, requires not having the "box" in the same room while it is being thought outside of) and developing strategies that make the most of the opportunities before the global church – even if it requires significantly altering the way ministry is done.

An open door

The opportunities before us today for the advance of the Kingdom of God are significant. From the rise of the global church to the free & instantaneous electronic distribution of discipleship resources over the Internet to the 4 billion mobile phones in use in the world, there is an open door for ministry before us. By trusting the global church (and that God is Sovereign in His church), adopting freedom-promoting missiological strategies and being purposeful about making the most of the changes occurring in the world today, we put ourselves in the best possible position to advance the Kingdom of God around the world.

As we consider ministry models and the rise of the global church, it quickly becomes apparent that they face a dilemma when it comes to the acquisition of materials and resources to help them grow in their faith. That dilemma can be summed up as follows:

• The worker is worthy of his wages
  
• The global church is not able to pay the wages of the worker

The worker is worthy of his wages

Those who create discipleship tools (materials, resources, software platforms, etc.) are biblically within their rights to receive monetary compensation for their work.

The global church is not able to pay the wages of the worker

Many in the church around the world come from developing communities, far removed from the relative affluence of many Western cultures. The global church is not economically able to pay the “wages” of workers from more affluent societies who have created (and are creating) many of the excellent discipleship resources in existence today. Consider someone in the following context:

He is from a minority language group of 10,000 speakers located in the foothills of a mountain range on the other side of the planet. He lives in a small village with his wife and two children where he keeps a garden and sells the produce to try and pay for his children's schooling. His entire family lives on less than 4 U.S. Dollars a day.

In many ways, his life is very different from ours, but in one way it is very similar: He is a follower of Jesus Christ with a call from God to reach his people with Good News of Jesus Christ.

He wants to translate the Bible and provide discipleship resources to teach his people "to obey everything Jesus has commanded." His dream is to be able to understand and apply the Word of God in his own life, but he struggles to understand the only Bible he has, which is in the trade language and not the language he grew up speaking. He needs access to discipleship tools that provide Biblical teaching in his own language, adapted for use in his own culture, possibly in audio format (if he is primarily oral in learning style, as many in the global church are), that he can freely use, improve (as he grows in his understanding of God's Word and how it applies to his culture) and redistribute.

The challenge of acquiring discipleship tools

Existing discipleship resources are often out of the reach of believers in contexts such as these, simply due to the cost. To pay retail prices for existing tools could cost more than half a year's total income, making them completely inaccessible.

In some cases, maybe some people in some language groups can afford the resources or donors provide funding to give them discipleship tools, but there is still the problem of making the tools effective in the target language and culture.

The challenge of making the tools effective

Many existing discipleship resources are available in some common languages. But without translation and adaptation of these resources, they are still completely ineffective for many in the global church who come from thousands of different languages and cultures.

For larger language groups, some copyright holders may fund a translation project or other donors might pay for the project. But what about for a language group of 10,000 people? According to the Joshua Project, 52% of least-reached people groups are under 10,000 in population.

If we allow economic factors to shape missions strategy and we assume that the cost for a translation project of discipleship resources for a language group of 10,000,000 is comparable to a project for a people group of 10,000, it follows that it is more cost effective to target only the largest language groups, so as to reach the most people with the same amount of money. But even if that was the best way to approach the problem, there is another factor to consider.

The challenge of maintaining the tools

What about when a revision of the discipleship tools is needed?

Some languages – especially oral cultures without a corpus of literature to preserve it – can change very quickly. If we approach ministry from an economic model (or a "scarcity" mentality – producing a one-time-shot printed book is an expensive undertaking and resources are scarce), who is going to pay for the revision project and, more fundamentally still, who determines when a revision is necessary? The people writing the check who do not speak the language? The speakers of the language who are not providing the funds?

These are complicated questions but there is something happening around the world that may change everything.

We have an opportunity to serve

God is raising up people from people groups all over the world and calling them to ministry. Brazilian Indians are going into the depths of the Amazon rainforest to make disciples for Christ among some of the most remote people groups in their country. Papua New Guinean villagers are rising up with a call from God to translate the Bible into their own language and teach their own people to obey "everything that Jesus has commanded." Thai believers, in the face of a population comprised of 99.9%+ Buddhists, are reaching out to the orphans & widows in their communities and crossing borders into neighboring countries to bring the Good News to the lost. Countless other examples from people groups all around the globe suggest the same thing: God is at work in the global church.

The global church needs to be equipped with tools and resources in their own languages that enable them to grow in maturity as disciples of Christ. Many are coming to the point where they are no longer waiting for things to be done for them, they are doing the projects themselves. This creates an interesting situation for copyright holders because translation of a resource is restricted by copyright law. We are likely to face a growing number of scenarios where the global church wants access to discipleship tools so that they can translate and adapt them for effective use in their own language group.

Many copyright holders are hesitant to relax the copyright restrictions necessary to allow the people to translate and adapt discipleship for themselves. This is understandable when their ministry model – which is biblically sound – depends on the income from selling the resources they create.

Some creators of discipleship tools have graciously made them available for free use and sometimes even translation, as long as the content itself is not changed in any way. This is a huge step in a good direction and addresses some of the challenges listed above (though we maintain that as soon as permission is given to translate into a language you do not speak, you have to trust the translator's motives and work completely – and this is a good thing – so we may as well give them the permission outright to not just translate the content but indigenize it so that it can be truly owned by them and used with the greatest effectiveness. If we can trust them to translate the original content well then we can trust them to adapt, re-purpose, improve and re-use it well too.)

We propose that a third approach addresses all the challenges: the “Free & Open” approach to ministry.

Why "Free & Open" is the answer

The “Free & Open” approach to ministry states the following:

• Ministry is most effective when anyone can use, translate, adapt, improve and redistribute discipleship tools, legally.
  
• Monetary compensation for discipleship tools should be neither categorically required nor forbidden.
  
• What was intended to be free, should stay free.

From a licensing standpoint, we consider the Creative Commons “Attribution-Share Alike” to best reflect this approach.

Here's why we think the “Free & Open” approach is the answer for the global church:

• It “teaches them to fish” – Instead of being in a constant position of needing to acquire their discipleship resources from others, this approach allows anyone, in any people group, speaking any language to take the discipleship tools and make them their own, building on them and increasing their effectiveness.
  
• It provides a foundation for reproducible ministry – Because the discipleship resources can be legally reproduced and redistributed without any licensing fees or copyright restrictions, the global church is able to function without dependence on outside resources or goodwill.
  
• It puts the global church in the driver's seat – When the global church is responsible to create, maintain and distribute their own discipleship resources, they learn to make their own decisions, guided by the Holy Spirit instead of outsiders, who move into roles of providing training and assistance where needed.

By adopting a "Free & Open" approach to the creation and licensing of discipleship tools, the global church is equipped for reproducible, effective ministry.

When we talk about "free & open discipleship tools", what do we really mean?

Many ministries give away their resources for free, in the sense that they cost no money. What we mean by "free & open" is not just free of cost but free as in freedom. The best explanation of the difference might be to compare some differences in licenses used for ministry materials. Note that this comparison is intended to highlight the differences and explain why we are going this direction with Door43. It is not intended to suggest that one approach is better than another, as there are valid and biblical reasons on each side of the conversation.

Simplicity

License agreements can tend to be lengthy, confusing and full of legal terms that are unclear to people not trained in copyright law.

One of the reasons Door43 uses a Creative Commons license is because Creative Commons has already done the hard work of making human-readable summaries of the Legal Code (the full license). Simplicity and clarity becomes increasingly important as discipleship content gets used and re-used in other cultures and languages around the world where good communication is paramount and legal advice may be limited.

Making copies

Many licenses for discipleship content require permission before making more than a set number of copies of the content.

We have no commercial interests in any of the Door43 discipleship content and there are no limits on the number of copies that people can make of the Door43 content.

Posting on other websites

Many licenses for discipleship content prohibit the posting of their content on other websites.

We encourage anyone who is interested in doing so to copy and paste as much Door43 content on their own website as they so desire. We only ask that they include a link back to http://door43.org when they do.

Modifying content

Many licenses for discipleship content prohibit the modification in any way of the content.

We realize that effective use of discipleship content within another language or culture necessarily involves translation of the content and that effective translation necessarily involves a certain degree of adaptation (aka modification) of the content. This is just the nature of cultural differences and effective cross-cultural communication. Rather than limit the use of Door43 content to a Western mindset, we encourage believers around the world to not just translate the content but to "indigenize" it and make it theirs. We would rather see the global church equipped for discipleship within their own cultural and linguistic paradigms than retain the content rights on the Door43 discipleship materials. Note: in order to ensure that free & open discipleship tools remain free & open, we do require that new content made from Door43 content be released under the same license.

Electronic duplication

Many licenses for discipleship content do not allow the electronic duplication of discipleship content or copying to devices such as CD/DVD without written permission.

We see the Internet and the rise of New Media (MP3 players, mobile phones, web applications, etc.) as one of the greatest opportunities for the advance of the Kingdom of God in history. Every computer device is essentially a digital copy machine and we don't want to limit the creation of copies of Door43 content. We encourage anyone, anywhere to create copies of Door43 discipleship content as often as they want. We want to see creative uses of Door43 content in ways and capacities we have never imagined.

Bundling content with software

Many licenses for discipleship content do not allow the content to be bundled in a software application (such as a Bible reader program) without written permission.

As with the previous point, we want people everywhere in the world to re-use, re-purpose and extend the Door43 discipleship content. So we pre-clear the use of the content in any way, including bundling it in a software application.

The Door43 License

This is the current draft of the license for Door43 (the final version will always be available at http://door43.org/legal once we put the website on-line):

All content in The Door43 Wiki is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

This means that you are free:

• to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
• to Remix — to adapt the work

Under the following conditions:

• Attribution — You must attribute the source of the original work to Door43 (with a link to http://www.door43.org) but not in any way that suggests that Door43 endorses you or your use of the work. Derivative works that conflict with the Door43 Statement of Faith are strongly discouraged and should not contain any reference or attribution to Door43.
• Share Alike — If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.

What we want to accomplish with this license is, fundamentally, giving people everywhere in the world the freedom to own the Door43 content and make it their own. This will also be included on the license page for Door43:

So what does this mean? It means you are pre-cleared and free to do just about anything with any content on this website, for any ministry purpose, including (but not limited to):

• Posting as much of it as you want on your own website
• Printing thousands of copies and giving them to anyone
• Adapting the content for your own ministry needs — need to change some paragraphs around? Add additional content (maybe to improve relevancy or clarity for your target audience)? Take out some pieces that aren't needed (or could miscommunicate) to your target audience? Go for it!
• E-mailing, text messaging, Twittering, blogging, podcasting, etc. as much of it as you want, anywhere in the world, in any language
• Creating applications for mobile phones, computers, gaming stations, etc. that display the content of the Door43 website
• Want to bundle the Door43 content in your iPhone application? Please do! Want to read the content over-the-air directly from door43.org? You are welcome to!
• Be creative in the use of Door43 content for ministry...

The only requirements of this license are listed above: point a link back to Door43 and release what you create with Door43 content under the same license (so that free content stays free).

Our goal is to see the global church equipped for ministry and we think the best way to do that is to give them the freedom to build on the discipleship tools we are creating.

Please see the Frequently Asked Questions for answers to some of the questions that arise from this approach to ministry.