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Sowing seeds driving change
Innovation comes in many different forms ! Here are two stories of missional innovation from two very different contexts .
Cam has been serving in rural , northern
Mozambique with Kath and their three children since 2012 . He has a Bachelor of Science ( Agriculture ) and a PhD in plant breeding .
One of Baptist Mission Australia ’ s core values is that we foster innovation – taking appropriate risks and encouraging creativity . These words sound great on a page , but what does that mean when the people we are walking alongside are from completely different cultural , education and socioeconomic backgrounds ?
For our context here , what is an appropriate risk for someone in rural Mozambique compared to me , a young ( ok … middle-aged ) Australian bloke ? It ’ s not an easy question to answer but one worth grappling with if we are to engage in the important issues of life together , as anything worth tackling is probably going to involve some risk , and therefore innovation !
For a few years our team has identified an issue with rapid deforestation in our local area . This is a problem on two fronts : economic and environment .
It hurts the local economy because in the near future , firewood and building materials will be more distant and therefore more expensive in either money or effort to get those same commodities . Additionally , the environment suffers in multiple ways through biodiversity loss , increased erosion , increased wind damage and the list goes on .
We could have launched any numbers of projects , but we waited until the time was right . In relationship with a local village , we have started a collaborative agroforestry project .
RESONATE ISSUE 42 | PAGE 17