Disconnected Visions and Mission Beyond their Means? The Negeri Sembilan Agro-Industrial Training Project, 1972 to 1987
In July 1972, Bishop Bertil Envall,the Swedish Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malaysia and Singapore, Datuk Mansor Othman, Chief Minister of the State of Negeri Sembilan, and Palayil P. Narayanan, Chair of the National Union of Plantation Workers in Malaysia, conceived the idea of a jo...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
ATESEA
[2017]
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| In: |
Asia journal of theology
Year: 2017, Volume: 31, Issue: 1, Pages: 21-40 |
| IxTheo Classification: | CF Christianity and Science KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history KBM Asia KDD Protestant Church RJ Mission; missiology |
| Further subjects: | B
Negeri Sembilan
B Visions B Evangelical Lutheran Church B Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malaysia and Singapore B Parish missions B Development B Malaysia B Bishops B Christianity B OTHMAN, Datuk Mansor B Mission (international law |
| Summary: | In July 1972, Bishop Bertil Envall,the Swedish Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malaysia and Singapore, Datuk Mansor Othman, Chief Minister of the State of Negeri Sembilan, and Palayil P. Narayanan, Chair of the National Union of Plantation Workers in Malaysia, conceived the idea of a joint agricultural and trade training school to provide vocational skills for Tamil and Malay boys and others from impoverished families. Christian, Hindu, and Muslim religious differences were set aside in an ambitious scheme supported by international donors, including the Church of Sweden Mission, the Lutheran World Federation, and the Government of India. Despite promising beginnings and some early success, the scheme foundered through failure to ensure a viable business model, a lack of engagement from the local church itself, and the difficulty of navigating religious sensitivities and developing adequate governance and management structures beyond the founders' personal involvement and tenure of positions of political and economic authority. If these factors were mostly underestimated rather than unforeseen, and some of the hazards were hardly unique, nevertheless, the risks to survival of a mission without secure and sustainable economic means and based on a politically sensitive vision disconnected from its major stakeholders have to be seen as considerable. They may also have been worth taking. This case study outlines the story and discusses the factors that helped make such a project feasible and contributed to its failure. |
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| ISSN: | 2815-1828 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Asia journal of theology
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