| UPCOMING EVENTS |
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OFF THE MAP LIVE Presents HEAR, LISTEN, CONNECT ... Creating dialogue in a world gone different
November 1-3, 2007
Eastside 4Square Church - Bothell, WA
Check your certainty at the door. Wonder again. Take time to wrestle with issues facing Christians today, including the definition of church.
Featured Speakers - Diana Butler Bass, Brian McLaren & others.
Register for this Conference
(To see For-Credit option click here) |
| For further information, including cost, and to reserve your place for any of the trips below, please call Shirley Akers at 800.935.4723x12 |
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LOS ANGELES - Urban Field Experience
January 6-11, 2008
Michael Mata, Andy Bales & Ray Bakke
With the Urban Rescue Mission hosting this immersion into the 2nd largest city in the U.S. you are guaranteed an upside-down view of the City of Angels. (To see For-Credit option click here)
SAN FRANCISCO - Urban Field Experience
January 30 - February 3, 2008 Plunge into the City by the Bay area with Ray Bakke & Keith Russell. Ray calls it exegeting the city ... interpreting and studying a city while immersed in it. (To see For-Credit option click here)
BGU in Africa - Signs of Hope in Nairobi & Addis Ababa
February 19-28, 2008
In this course, the two cities in Kenya and Ethiopia will become labs for understanding the socio-cultural dynamics that affect the quality of life and challenges facing the Church in Africa where Muslim fundamentalism is on the rise. |
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INNOVATIVE READING |
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This recommendation comes from Vinita Bhatia. (See feature article.)
 A Space of Her Own: Personal Narratives of Twelve Women
by Leela Gulati (Editor), Jasodhara Bagchi (Editor); SAGE Publication (2005)
Focusing on relationships between women of different generations in India, this book is comprised of narratives demonstrating how each contributor established her own personhood through engagement with a wider kin group.
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September 2007 |
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60 YEARS - HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED ... AND KEEP CHANGING!
 On July 25, 2007, a major milestone in India was laid when the people elected Mrs. Pratibha Devisingh Patil as their 13th President. She is the first woman to hold that post. A conundrum ensued when the word for President in Hindi, the national language, referred only to a male. We are certainly not in the India of 1947, as the statistics below reveal.
SOME COMPARATIVE STATISTICS FOR INDIA
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Category |
In 1947 |
In 2007 |
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Population |
300 Million |
1.13 Billion |
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Life Expectancy |
31.4 Years |
64.7 Years |
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Literacy |
14% |
67% |
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Telephones |
1.1 Million |
218 Million |
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Doctors |
50,000 |
554,000 |
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Infant Mortality |
146/1000 |
58/1000 |
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National Highways |
19,634 km |
65,569 km |
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Per Capita Income |
US$204 |
US$735 |
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Cheapest Car |
US$240 |
US$5,000 |
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Defense Budget |
US$744 M |
US$225 B |
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Forex Reserves |
In Debt |
US$229 B |
On August 15, 2007, India turned sixty. In 1947, when India gained its independence from the British, many noted scholars, writers and statesmen didn't give the young nation much of a chance of survival. The great Winston Churchill, known for his grasp of history, said: "India will fall back quite rapidly through the centuries into the barbarism and privations of the Middle Ages." Well, he was quite wrong. India not only survived but survived as a thriving democracy.
India has done what Europe has been attempting to do without success for the last 50 years. India may be slightly smaller in size than the European Union today but has twice the population and is more diverse with many more religions, languages and cultures. India has a common currency, a Central government. In fact, Indians have been practicing the motto of the European Union "United in Diversity" for the past 60 years. The currency note in India describes its value in as many as 17 languages. Although English and Hindi are the first two, the presence of 15 other languages is an acknowledgment of the country's multi-lingual status.
Undoubtedly, it has not been easy. We've had linguistic agitations, separatist movements, sectarian violence, divisive politics and some abysmally inept leaders. We've had to battle poverty, centuries old traditions and superstitions and also paid the price for decades of socialist style economic practices. We have endured one of the world's most stifling bureaucracies and suffered the deeds of truly venal and hugely corrupt politicians. Former US ambassador John Kenneth Galbraith aptly described India as a "functioning anarchy."
Now that India is seen by the world as a youthful, energetic, emerging 21st century global power and as the world's largest democracy, it is easy to forget the underpinnings of this country and the struggles to achieve it.
Even so, the church in India continues to struggle for its growth and visibility.
The above is edited from a reflection Vinita Bhatia compiled from various printmedia. It appeared in the August, 2007, Seek Partners International newsletter. Vinita's husband, Dr. Sukhwant Bhatia, is currently a BGU Regent whose focus is assisting with the establishment of the BGU Indian education network. |
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Bakke Graduate University (BGU) is the educational arm of a network assembled over a span of 30 years, around the values and practice of the whole church engaging the whole of culture with the whole gospel. Participants include church, business, government and non-profit leaders in 250 of the world's largest cities. BGU conducts city consultations and training programs, as well as offering accredited doctoral and masters degrees in theology. GlobalScape is an expression of this network.
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