Pioneering The Possible

Three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Dr. Scilla Elworthy, a realist with 40 years' experience at the sharp end of politics and conflict, presents a bold but realistic vision for the future in Pioneering the Possible. Human beings worldwide are anxious, afraid for their children's futures, dissatisfied by their lives, but unsure what to do. Our global ecosystems and supply chains are under threat and our leaders appear to have failed us. Pioneering the Possible addresses these anxieties head-on by envisioning a future that could work for everyone, rich and poor, demonstrating with real-life examples how that future is already emerging. Pioneering the Possible tackles the deeply embedded 20th-century values that get in the way of addressing global problems, and shows how these destructive values can be—and are being—reversed. We know the world is in crisis: we are spoiling our planet at such a rate that soon it may be unable to sustain human life. This crisis is in fact a vast opportunity, because a secure and satisfying future for all of humanity is perfectly possible if we make the right choices. But building such a future will require the leap in consciousness that Einstein indicated when he said, "No problem can be solved from the consciousness that created it." Pioneering the Possible investigates what this new consciousness is and takes us to meet the leaders who have learned to apply it. With profiles of individuals who exemplify transformative leadership such as Dr. Desmond Tutu and Aung San Suu Kyi, Dr. Elworthy demonstrates how anyone can develop the magnificent inner power to build their own personal contribution to the future and become a 21st-century pioneer of what's possible. The book then contrasts the value systems that underpin our current decisions with the kind of values that would enable us to make better choices—those that could get us out of the mess we're in. To envision the kind of future that is possible—a lift-off into life as it could be—Elworthy calls on some experienced specialists to look through their telescopes into the future, then brings in the pragmatists who know what to do in their fields, because they've done it, tested it, and made it work. Pioneering the Possible ultimately helps you find your unique way to be useful; as Dr. Elworthy says, "to discover your mission and put it into action—instead of worrying on the sidelines—is to find peace of mind and a heart full of love."

We have long been aware of the challenge of reaching the unreached peoples of the world. For many this seemed a daunting and almost impossible task. However, with a clear biblical model of church planting, which works in divergent cultural settings, it seems that this may in fact be possible. In A Vision of the Possible, Daniel Sinclair thoroughly covers practical whys and how-to's concerning pioneer church planting among unreached people groups, with applicable discussions from Scripture along the way. Its emphases include resistant environments and church planting in teams. It also includes the newly revised seven Pioneer Church Planting Phases which is widely used by mission agencies working among unreached peoples. Those on the field, and those in preparation, including those in Bible schools and seminaries, will find this book immensely practical. Senders on the homefront will also find it invaluable, as they seek to understand the biblical and concrete issues the friends they support grapple with on a daily basis.

Senseless school shootings, cure-defying epidemics, threats of environmental disaster: these are the kinds of headlines that riddle the news every day. The challenges we face range from the horrific to the heartbreaking. We wonder, when will it stop? Frustration and fear won’t bring about beneficial change. Passionate men and women are needed to step into the gap and serve as change agents even though many assume that there are few areas left in which to innovate. While many advances have been made, there is still a need for everyday people to create, innovate, and impact their spheres of influence to advance the common good. Motivated by curiosity, conviction, and a conquering spirit, they can move to fill unoccupied spaces to nurture, persuade, understand, and solve some of society’s lingering dilemmas. Those who do the initial significant work in these areas are the ones who bring about such needed change. They are pioneers. The Pioneer’s Way establishes a working definition of the pioneer, explores pioneering versus leadership, and offers essential characteristics of the pioneer. These are illustrated by colorful examples of pioneers both past and present—motivating readers with inspirational, frontiering stories, while equipping them with the journey’s essentials for moving forward to make needed, significant change. Readers will journey down a systematic path that will help them navigate unfamiliar territory so they too can respond to the pioneer’s call and answer it through effective, beneficial action in both their lives and the lives they touch.

Although much less well known than some other nineteenth century female campaigners, such as Florence Nightingale or Emmeline Pankhurst, Dorothea Beale is nonetheless deserving of wide recognition for her pioneering, and at times radical, ideas. Dorothea's work for the education of girls made just as significant an impact on the liberation of women as did that of Florence Nightingale in ennobling the nursing profession or Emmeline Pankhurst in drawing attention to women's political inferiority. Although very much a woman of her times, through her work as Principal of the Cheltenham Ladies' College, her writings, her speeches and her widespread involvement in societies promoting women's interests, Dorothea helped to show what women were capable of, providing them with greater confidence and self-belief. Drawing on a wide range of original sources, this book traces Dorothea's life and work. It considers the formative influences of her youth, her response to the disappointments of her early career and examines how her own educational ideas evolved, were put into practice and came to influence schools and colleges both at home and abroad. As well as an in-depth analysis of her pioneering work in Cheltenham, her many other interests, connections and involvements, including her contribution to the suffrage campaign are also explored. However this book is not just a story of one woman's achievements, great though they were. There is an attempt to understand Dorothea as a person with reflections on her character and personal life throughout and the book ends with an appraisal of the many contradictions to be found in this intriguing 'conservative reformer'. Dorothea Beale was a woman whose quiet and unassuming manner hid a strong sense of vocation, a fierce determination and an undoubted practical ability to achieve her ends. Dorothea would have been amazed at the changes that occurred in the position of women in the century after her death in 1906, and yet it was in no small measure thanks to her work that this breakthrough in female opportunities occurred.

This book delivers an in-depth analysis of Hercule Florence, who is virtually unknown despite being among the world’s photographic pioneers. Based on the texts of various manuscripts, letters, diaries, notes, and advertisements, this book answers numerous questions surrounding Florence’s work, including the materials, methods, and techniques he employed and why it took more than a century for his discovery to come to light. Kossoy’s groundbreaking research establishes Florence’s use of "photographie" to describe the product of his experiments, half a decade before Sir John Herschel recommended "photography" to Henry Fox Talbot. This book aims to change the fact that despite its cultural and historical importance, Florence’s photographic breakthrough remains largely unknown in the English-speaking world.

This work on the pioneering history of the Boers in the Cape Colony (South Africa) before the Great Trek (1835-1846) is primarily based on research in various archives and libraries. However, the author PJ van der Merwe (1912-1979) found it desirable to personally visit different areas mentioned in the book to get to know the country and the people better and to gather oral tradition and personal information. In carrying out this fieldwork during 1938 and 1939, the author covered 15,000 miles by car and questioned hundreds of people (old pioneers, farmers, teachers, magistrates, school inspectors, livestock inspectors, surveyors and police agents). This investigation not only enabled him to better interpret the sometimes fragmentary data found in the archives and old travel descriptions, but also served to supplement it.

Pioneering ministry sounds like something you do, something active, even something driven. However, prayer and contemplation are at its heart, paying attention to God, to the world and to oneself - a kind of being that goes hand in hand with doing. Pioneering requires a spirituality that will fuel a life lived beyond the borders of the church. In this collection, a range of practitioners explore the inner and outer dimensions of pioneering spirituality. Offering many proven and innovative ideas, they explore what resources, fuels and sustains a life of pioneering mission. What is the spirituality in the UK's wider culture and how do we connect with it appropriately? How might spiritual treasures such as the Eucharist, prayer, pilgrimage, spiritual direction and community rhythms of life be expressed to those with whom pioneers share life? And how might communities of disciples grow and be formed in this pioneering spirituality?

This collection of papers analyzes the Pioneer Forest, a privately owned 150,000-acre working forest in the Missouri Ozarks, on which the science and art of forest management has been practiced for more than 50 years. The papers discuss how this half century of management has contributed to forest restoration and sustainability on the forest itself and, through its example undergirded by a remarkable body of research, throughout the Ozark region and beyond.