Global Mapping International (GMI) will close on 30 June - three decades after it began as a two-year global mapping project. ‘We thought we’d get it done in two years,’ GMI president and CEO Jon Hirst said. ‘Then we realised that the nature of gathering information for the Great Commission was never-ending. That led to us becoming an independent research organisation supporting the global Church.’ Its publication Operation World and other resources have helped foreign missionaries become more effective, with custom maps, infographics, etc. Hirst said that a changing approach to mission and funding structure has forced GMI to close. The need for independent mission research hasn’t disappeared, and he hopes a new group will step forward to take it up. He said, ‘God blesses causes and people, He doesn’t bless organisations. The structures of the 20th century won’t always be able to withstand the changes of the 21st.’ Before closing, GMI will give away all its research.