Trialogue in raising good news agents: A case study from InnerCHANGE South Africa

Abstract

This article is a case study. It reflects on InnerCHANGE South Africa’s (ICSA) efforts to develop missionaries emerging from African neighbourhoods of poverty. ICSA calls those missionaries, good news agents. This reflection considers the concept of trialogue - a discerning interaction between church, culture and biblical narrative- to reflect on the ICSA leadership development approach. In the world of mission, people may be satisfied with nurturing leaders to know and live by biblical principles for personal wellbeing. ICSA challenges itself to pursue a missional model of leadership development that seeks to make a tangible impact in a local community. This is a work in process that this article seeks to reflect on. This reflection is guided by the following question: what is the trialogue that informs the ICSA model of leadership development? This article has discovered that the creation of spaces where people can learn to serve and lead would be a good way to incubate good news agents. It also discovered that tapping into the age group of children, teenagers and youth could raise leadership capacity in local communities of poverty. It also discovered that intentional discipleship that seeks to reverse an ingrained victim mentality found in communities of poverty into an agency to build from the inside out could be an asset to communities of poverty. It finally discovered that building communities of practices to sustain emerging and existing good news agents could sustain the ICSA efforts.

Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This is a missiological research that interacts with community development literature to reflect on a missional team efforts in the leadership development to the lowest level.