Andy and Fonda Kline Ministry news and information for you... 
According to some researchers there are over 4000 patents for mousetraps, with applications for patents still coming in.
The mousetrap in the photo was designed by a west African tribal person. Though the trap is complex, it is built on principles which are different from the common spring & board trap you and I are used to in the U.S.
Underneath things as basic as mousetrap designs are worldviews. James Sire, in his book “The Universe Next Door” defines a worldview as a set of presuppositions (assumptions which may be true, partially true or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) about the basic makeup of our world.
What are the worldview assumptions underneath the design of a mousetrap? You may kill mice because you believe they are dirty and inconvenient. Tribal people might kill mice because the mice are consuming food which the tribal family needs to survive. Businesses design a mousetrap that is effective, cheap and easy to mass produce so it can sold at a profit. “Consumers” buy these mouse traps rather than build their own because they lack the skills, materials or time to build their own. The African trap is not designed to be mass produced and sold. It is made from local materials, it has no metal parts and it works on a different principle because of the paucity of available materials. .
If diverse worldviews are reflected in something as basic as mousetrap designs, imagine the complex situation a tribal church planter faces when presenting the Gospel in an animistic tribal context. All of the underlying assumptions about rational thought, science, man’s origins, sin, the existence of God, the purpose of sacrifices and other things we take for granted are either non-existent or entirely different than our Western, Christian theistic worldview.
This is why we have given our lives for training tribal church planters… the new NTM Missionary Training Center provides the essential, biblical and technical tools needed for a worldview-level ministry where the Gospel is clearly presented and clearly understood. Most of our teachers are tribal church planters and they teach biblical church planting principles from the wealth of their experience.
Someone (probably not Ralph Waldo Emerson) once said “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.” We believe we are building a better training program for tribal church planters. Pray that God’s people will beat a path to our door in order to expand the reach of the Gospel! Thank you for being a part of what God is doing around the world through the Missionary Training Center!
