The Church in Mission

As local congregations become involved in overseas mission projects, especially through on-site visits, they also increase their desire for a more relational approach to mission support. They want to do more than simply write checks. They desire a more personal involvement. The propriety of this desire merits it own reflection (perhaps on another occasion), but for now, I will assume the more noble motivations and consequences of the desire for greater local and “hands-on” involvement. Local congregations might consider the following criteria when attempting to establish healthy mission partnerships. The criteria are by no means exhaustive. They are the fruit of my conversations with the mission team of one local congregation. Other contributions to this reflection are welcome.

Generally, a relational approach to mission support implies an approach that is more “direct” and “personal”. It is important to consider who might be the recipients of that personal and direct relationship. These recipients can be among one of three groups of “partners”: 1) mediating parties in the local congregation’s culture (e.g., the mission organization, whether denominational or multi-denominational) and their staff both within the local congregation’s (originating) culture and also within the target culture; 2) Christian organizations and churches autonomous to the target culture; and 3) the people you ultimately want to reach through the project. The local congregation needs to consider their relationship with and impact on each of these potential partners. They especially need to consider the second of these partners: the Christian organizations and church bodies that God has raised up in those regions to reflect His grace and mercy. To focus on either 1) the mediating parties (including their staff, such as ourselves) or even 2) the people you ultimately want to reach, runs the risk of resorting to the old model of dominance in partnership. Such an approach does not adequately recognize and empower the body of Christians God raised up in the area where you wish to serve him to maintain and further the ministry which a local congregation from another culture may initiate. Local Christians are the ones who will remain long after the expatriate sponsoring congregation moves on to other projects years later. Although I realize this is not entirely an either/or choice, certainly the equipping of Christ’s body from the local culture to continue whatever task a local congregation from another culture may substantially enable, is fundamentally more far-reaching than the immediate gratification one might have from a “direct” involvement with some lost soul.

Think of the potential local mentors in the body of Christ already present in the context where ministry is sought. North American churches have traditionally conceived their role in a missionary situation as that of the primary agents, with national partners as adjuncts. Perhaps a more appropriate role for us is that of learners, mentors, and equippers of those faith communities we have all been privileged to birth.

Technorati: mission partnerships, missions, Christianity

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