Community is central to our mission.
At 8K Research, we built a research foundation on the idea that the churches should be central to mission practice. It’s what we care deeply about. Mission is difficult enough without adding isolation from a community that cares for you. We love studying deeply and nuanced missionary training. But we’re more than just ideas. We are a community of friends who love being connected by our urge to pursue mission excellently. We are a community of independent thinkers and friends whose lives are connected by our common love of the gospel. Our community is devoted to exploring our gospel passion and challenging ourselves to minister with excellence for the sake of Christ among all the peoples and hardest places of the earth.
In the early 2000s, while living abroad, leaders of 8K Research watched as missionaries and their families returned home exhausted and burnt out. These missionaries had received the best mission training available and planned to live for many more years abroad. Despite this investment, their time overseas was cut short by frustration and fatigue within just a few years of arriving in their new homes. The leaders of 8K Research refused to accept this result as “normal missionary attrition” and spent another decade leading international missionary teams, while pondering what had happened. Somewhere along the way, they realized that the missionaries could have been helped in simple yet profound ways and they devoted their lives to pursuing a passion for helping missionaries remain fresh while living abroad. One thing was for sure: the status quo in missions must be challenged.
8K Research is founded on the idea that community is a great gift. We hope this core shapes our legacy for generations to come as we think well about current global trends and mission practice. Our goal is to expand the community of people who share our belief that church is central not just to mission practice but a key to mission expansion and missionary health.
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Scott Logsdon
Executive Director