Part 4
The Importance of Partnership
Feature
5 minute read
Throughout this year we have been exploring different aspects of Deeper Waters, the initiative to double the number of Unreached People Groups (UPGs) and places whom we’re engaging over the next ten years. Having considered the importance of prayer, teams and media, we conclude our series with a look at the importance of partnership.
Partnership is doing something better together than you can do by yourself. It can be with anybody.
I think there needs to be a common vision and clear parameters of how you’re going to work together. As Christians, there’s something to be said for having a covenantal relationship rather than something that’s only a Memorandum of Understanding. The mindset needs to be bigger than a contractual type document.
I think about some of the partnerships we see in Scripture, like Paul’s journeys when two of them travelled together or when Jesus sent out the disciples two-by-two or when they meet as the Council of Jerusalem to discern the word of God – all expressions of partnership. Partnership can be between people, but it can also be between us and God. It talks to heart position and attitude. Vision is important. What are the key objectives that we’re trying to achieve so there is no mission drift? Are the implementation plans clear for everyone? And being able to say to one another, this is working or this is not.
There’s a new initiative coming to bear fruit in the Gulf. A number of individuals and organisations, like-minded in terms of what we want to achieve, have seen a gap, and we’ve been praying over it, asking the Lord to speak into it, to lead us on, and then we take a step of faith to do something better. I think about Yemen, and how the Lord used multiple organisations to come together to support the humanitarian relief effort. It can be different organisations on the field partnering together, or a church in the UK partnering with a team on the field to do something specific. Or even partnerships with local churches in the Arab world, where there is a church, of course.
We live in a fallen world, and we are all sinners saved by grace, and every now and again, we don’t get enough sleep! When you’re partnering across cultures, there are subtle cues that occasionally you can miss, especially if you’re under pressure, or the partner’s under pressure. If you’re working across time zones, first thing in the morning, last thing at night, and whether you’re relying on email or instant messaging, sometimes people misread between the lines. I remind myself that nature abhors a vacuum – so if people don’t have the information and clarity they need, the thoughts that fill the gap are assumptions which can lead to misalignment. We need to be careful to work closely together where possible, have regular check-ins and invest time with people to ensure that we remain on the same page, committed to the vision and the fruit. This means that when things aren’t going well, we are already positioned to work on solutions together.
Partnerships work best when people are friends in the first place, then they tend to do something together; there’s a relational glue – an MOU is not glue enough. Sometimes, where trust has been eroded, a partnership starts breaking apart. Trust is at the heart of a partnership – even if I don’t see you, I trust what you would have said. If there’s no clarity, no agreement on what we’re trying to achieve, there are challenges. Please constantly pray about relationships, clarity and intentionality about these things.
The core thing is to build trust, of course, and then the next thing is to resolve friction before it becomes a harmful conflict. Sometimes, as Western Christians, we think any sign of conflict’s a terrible thing. I’ve been reflecting on this a little bit in recent years – conflict is a naturally arising thing, and sometimes it’s even, dare I say, a helpful thing. We tend to look at the word very negatively, but actually we’ve got to say, ‘There is a difference here. How do we resolve it?’ Trying to be nice is not necessarily good. So the sooner we identify where the problem is, we can work towards resolving it as soon as possible. We need to have a mindset that holds each other accountable, but we have to be open and vulnerable in the first place. I need to give you permission to hold me to account, rather than demand accountability. Then focus on the fruit and celebrate that success together as partners.
I think there needs to be a common vision and clear parameters of how you’re going to work together.
Deeper Waters is all about engagement. What does it mean or take to engage a UPG? Engaging with a UPG is a long-term thing. Currently I’m looking at how many more people we need to mobilise for UPGs because our current workers are already pretty busy with UPGs. If we want to go to a new group, say the Mahri of Oman and Yemen, we have nobody in that area. So who is the Lord sending to that place? Partnership enables us to multiply our own efforts.
Pioneers Media has a wider scope than Darren’s region; we have our own teams and we coach teams that coach teams – with myriad partnerships we’re currently impacting over 60 UPGs within the Middle East Region and far beyond. Media in and of itself is powerful for outreach, for making connections between those yearning for Christian community and disciplers, as tools to assist disciplers and as resources for the spiritually hungry but media on its own isn’t the whole answer. By God’s grace, it’s by us working in partnership that he is producing the hundredfold fruit.
We are praying through certain unreached peoples and places. As we do so, we’re asking the Lord, is what you placed on our hearts for these people? How is the Lord leading us in order to take next steps? In the Middle East region we’re engaging roughly 81 people groups. It’s a bit up and down – as soon as there’s a war, then we get pushed away. We’ve started engaging one UPG four times and every time something happens and we’ve been pushed away. Hence roughly we’re engaged with 81, and we are looking to add another 40.
*Names changed for security purposes
