Talk to any business leader and they will tell you about alliances with other businesses across international borders. Talk to non-profits and they will describe the interconnected nature of what they do. Why? Because they realize that they can do more through strategic alliances and connections than they can alone. It is a very connected world.
Then talk to most denominational officials, local church pastors and mission agencies and they look at you with puzzled eyes when you ask them about their strategic alliances with others - or cooperative efforts. And they (we) work for the Lord of the universe whose Kingdom needs no competition but huge cooperation. Once again, the church and missions are decades behind the rest of society and poorer because of it.
The day of ministry brand loyalty to the exclusion of other brands should be over. The day of ministry brand cooperation needs to start. It is a connected world and those connections can make all of us healthier and more fruitful.
As in business alliances, this does not mean one loses their identity and certainly one chooses with whom they want to be connected but they do so for a higher kingdom purpose and are willing to set aside the lesser things that divide us for the greater purpose that unites us - the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the expansion of His Church and Kingdom.
In the old world, connection was hard and often impossible. That was in the pre-globalized black and white world. In the new world the whole world is connected - with the exception of most ministries. Yet today it is not only easy but necessary. No church or denomination can reach a whole city. We need connection. No mission can reach a city, region or country. We need connection.
How connected is your ministry - beyond itself: With other ministries in common ministry pursuits? How connected is your mission with other missions in common mission pursuits?
The advances of connection in today's world are a great gift to the church if the church will take advantage of it. The petty differences that divide many of us should be set aside for the sake of the Gospel and the advance of His Kingdom. Our own egos and ambitions need to be set aside for the sake of Jesus's name and reputation and Gospel.
I have 2600 friends on Facebook from all over the world (the introverts strategy of being an extrovert). When will ministries connect that way in a connected world? It is worth thinking about and praying about.
4 comments:
I agree with the principle, but it's very difficult in the application. Some reasons for being divided are valid reasons (doctrine, practice, guilt by association, etc.). How would you suggest to determine what reasons are valid and which are not?
As in business alliances, this does not mean one loses their identity and certainly one chooses with whom they want to be connected but they do so for a higher kingdom purpose and are willing to set aside the lesser things that divide us for the greater purpose that unites us - the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the expansion of His Church and Kingdom.
I also had the same questions as Carey. Alongside that, does the church/parachurch distinction enter into the discussion, and how? I'm aware of recent books by DeYoung/Gilbert and Horton on the mission of the church, but what I would see overall is a need to integrate evangelism with teaching/discipleship such that healthy churches can be planted to develop healthy believers.
Collaborative effort requires "buy in" from each partner, both in the vision and in the strategy. My experience is that most ministries do the visioning and strategy by themselves, and then invite others to join them. Unless there's already close alignment with the other partner's approach, the invitee likely won't have much ownership or passion for the effort. Better, it seems to me, is to form a team from the start with all the partners at the table, and develop the vision and strategy together. That approach remains all to rare in my experience. I don't know. Does this ring true to you? Would this approach help solve this "silo" issue, as you see it?
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