USA (MNN) — A lot of important trends emerged during the Missio Nexus conference in Florida, like short-term mission function and women in leadership. It’s actually hard to list them all!
But one–collaboration–rose to the top.
“Take that old African proverb: ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together’” says Pastor Bruce Huseby.
Great opportunities lie ahead for mission agencies and local churches that work together. The question is: how?
The challenge
Huseby handles missions at Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He’s also a voice for the local church on national platforms like Missio Nexus.
With a foot in each world, Huseby sees first-hand the challenges facing each side.
MNN staff and mission leaders discuss trends and topics at the Missio Nexus Leadership Conference.
“We, at a local church, kind of live in our own world, and the mission agency leadership live in their world; and it’s hard to bring the two together.”
Local churches “can tend to be very isolated and tend to think, ‘We’re going to do it on our own,’” Huseby has observed.
“We can think we’re going to go off and be the saviors of the world, do things that the mission leaders haven’t been part of.”
On the other side, “Agencies are dealing with some of the harsh realities of downsizing, how [to] figure out where their funding’s coming from.
“Neither way is the best way,” Huseby concludes.
The real question and challenge remains: “How do we as mission agencies and churches come together to celebrate each other–that we’re [both] part of the Body of Christ?”
Solutions pending
Big questions like this often aren’t solved overnight. It’s why Missio Nexus exists: to open dialogue between missions-minded believers who might not connect otherwise.
As each party pursues the same goal–the fulfillment of the Great Commission, God opens doors for them to collaborate. Would you pray toward this end?
I think there is much to be said for “micro-missons” or purposefully breaking down the work there is to do, and the donations that need to be made to bite-size chunks. The church needs to facilitate the communication of missions goals and missions organizations need to be better at communicating the needs in ways that churches and lay people can consume, feel comfortable with, and get involved. I believe the approach should be implemented with technology. Take a look at Watsi for a good example of doing this very thing, albeit in a more corporate non-profit way. It might require a independent proxy entity in the middle of all the players so everyone can be involved and not feel left out, as well as centralizing the leadership structure for the most low cost efficient operation of key missions initiatives.