A rationale for unrestricted discipleship resources

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. 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/)