Engineering as a Mission

About Engineering as a Mission

Abstract

The world mission of the church is a theme that runs through the entire Bible. In Genesis 12:3 God tells Abraham that through his faith “all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Jesus’ last words in Acts 1:8 say that we will be his witnesses “to the ends of the earth.” What does this mean for the Christian engineer? As practical people, engineers have used their engineering skills as a missions tool. However, most of the publications about this topic do not fully develop the concept of engineering as mission. This paper will take a broader perspective and examines the mission of the church, a Christian foundation for engineering and how they both impact engineering as mission. Instead of detailing particular engineering projects, the goal of this paper is to examine the various types of missional activities in which an engineer could engage. Emphasis will be on what Christian engineers can do to help advance the gospel message in cultures where there is either no church, a financially poor church, or a weak church. This would frequently be in other countries, but