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Partnerships reflect a reconciled humanity
For those who want to take Jesus’ concern for the harvest to heart, the job seems bigger than ever. We cannot do it alone. Partnership with sisters and brothers in Christ and with other Christian communities is imperative if we are to reach the world with the healing and hope of the gospel. As the stories in this issue will show, partnership makes it possible for Christians to collaborate and work together in tangible ways, which is an essential part of the witness of the church. Christians working together is not only an incidental strategy that gets more accomplished; it also honors God’s purposes for a reconciled humanity reflected in the new community created by the kingdom. Indeed, it is a fulfillment of Jesus’ high-priestly prayer in John 17 that anticipates unity in the body of Christ as prefigured in the Trinity. In partnership, we reflect the character of God. In a world saddled with the scandalous global economic inequity where Western nations have 20 percent of the world’s population and 86 percent of its wealth, partnerships help to address this global disparity and demonstrate good stewardship. Often, our partners, for whom language and culture are less of a barrier and who bring complementary gifts, make invaluable contributions to the effective witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Someone once said if you want others to buy in, you’d better first let them weigh in. International partners not only weigh in, they give leadership, and partnerships are able to achieve more effective and sustainable results than other initiatives that are either packaged and promoted or imposed. Partnership creates the space for joint discernment and shared commitment, which invites all participants to the table as subjects and agents rather than as objects. This ownership and agency by all involved makes for buy-in and ownership, without which mission projects cannot be sustainable or beneficial. Sadly, many ministry relationships have tended toward dominance by those with either the money or the expertise. This dominance undermines the building of genuine and effective relationships, and often creates dependency and passivism. Partnerships presuppose equitable relationships between actors in a mutually respectful and beneficial collaboration. Our commitment to partnership is undergirded by the conviction that all participants are essential to successful outcomes. In other words, our embrace of partnership is predicated on the conviction that every participant has a valuable and important contribution that is essential for effective outcomes. This requires that we fully understand and respect the strengths, capacities and constraints of all the participants in the partnership. Our experience has shown that partnership is not the easy way, but it is the “Jesus way.” As such, it is the only way. Partnership is not easy because it requires vulnerability, transparency and openness. Since the partners have unequal power, transparency and vulnerability require explicit communication between the parties about their motives, interests, objectives, strategies, plans and relationships with other partners, along with a willingness to admit mistakes and an openness to change. We cannot just do it “my way,” because trust is an essential element for healthy partnerships. Partners who distrust each other are unlikely to achieve synergy, especially on complex or long-term mutual undertakings, because lack of trust will undermine their capacity to work effectively together. For partners to trust each other, they need to respect each other, share deeply-held goals and relate openly with each other. I commend to you the testimonies in this issue of Beyond Ourselves. I pray that they will show that partnership is more than good strategy; it is also good stewardship and sound discipleship. Because the mission is God’s, who, by the Spirit, blesses various parts of the church with differing gifts, we cannot go it alone. We must walk together and work side-by-side. There is no other way! In this issue: Features Additional Articles Viewpoints |
