D&D Odd Jobs
Once upon a time, Dave Gray and I started a business together. We called it D&D Odd Jobs. Jointly, we designed business cards and promo materials. We collaborated on our core purpose, the responsibilities and the role descriptions. We shared the financial and operational aspects. Fully, it was a partnership and collaborating effort.
If you look through a partnership lens, reading through the NT, especially Acts & the Pauline Epistles, you notice the role partnering had in inter-church relationships. Likewise with church to missionary collaborations. Experientially, most of us would say that we have benefited richly from collaborations with other churches, leaders and organizations.
Over the past month I’ve been mulling over this newsletter article. During this time three colleagues pointed out to me how they thought that the Alliance doesn’t collaborate with other groups. Is this a fair assessment? I asked myself. It caused me to reflect on my own involvement with others over my many years of experience, personally. In your experience, is this a fair statement? As leaders, do we not “play well” with others in our communities and/or regions?
Just this week, one of our pastors told me of how praying with another local church pastor (from a different denomination) has been edifying for them both. As I write this, I’m remembering a conversation I had today with a peer who shared with me the deep conversations he was having with a group of men (from another “tribe”) with whom he had established a relationship. The interaction led to one of the men asking about becoming a believer! In the past month, what opportunities to collaborate with others have you encountered?
Meaningful Partnership involves:
A commitment to relationship building involves a willingness to invest time and energy to develop in-depth relationships across boundaries. Does our internal leadership and our congregation understand the prioritization that building meaningful relationships requires?
A willingness to assume the role of a follower, rather than the posture of a leader? It requires a willingness to listen well & be patient as the partners develop their own vision and plans. Are we willing to consciously reject the notion that our way of doing things is the best way?
Do we allow God to challenge us to go deeper in our commitment and involvement? This may require spending deep times of prayer, corporately and individually, as we allow God to amplify our hearts and level of engagement. Are we willing to divert our eyes from our own ministry, to invest time, people, money into a partnership as God leads?
Commitment of our leaders, at all levels, so that we personally and corporately “own” this collaboration. Are we eager to develop reciprocal relationships with our partners, despite the potential challenges and/or sacrifices?
All partnerships have a lifespan. Can we mutually agree to conclude, where we see the vision accomplished? Thus, avoiding unhealthy dependance and/or paternalism. The formal collaboration may cease, but our fellowship, friendships and God-honoring relationships endure.
The aforementioned components of partnership are a few of the aspects for good local church-to-missionary partnerships, tweaked just a bit. Perhaps our American sense of individualism and self-dependence, interferes with a healthy dependence upon others, upon God. Or maybe, last month my friend was right, we don’t collaborate well. Could shared goals and values be a missing component in the development of meaningful partnerships for Kingdom advance? …in partnerships with church planters in neighboring communities? …in collaboration with our diverse global family of IWs? …in effectively reaching the inhabitants of our own counties together with other Christian leaders?
D&D Odd Jobs wasn’t really a business — we never got it registered with the state. While we were friends for a long time, the partnership lasted only a summer. Our biggest job was excavating a hole three feet deep, five feet wide, with our foxhole shovels. Our biggest piece of equipment, my Red Rider wagon, went back into the garage. But, as two 8 year-old boys, it was a great summer, collaborating and partnering together with our neighbors. We even made a little money!
Dave Manske
Missions Mobilizer