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Mission Strategy I

Mission agencies need to take into account Biblical and theological considerations when they shape their strategies and goals. This is not a case of providing ‘proof texts’ to give a justification for what we are doing, but to consider our activities in the light of the broad message of Scripture. When there is an apparent conflict between a Scriptural position and ‘conventional wisdom’ or accepted ‘best practice’, we must be prepared to be guided by our Scriptural convictions, even though that might be counter-cultural or counter-intuitive.

This is the first of three posts on mission agency strategy (two, three).  

Mission agencies need to take into account Biblical and theological considerations when they shape their strategies and goals.  This is not a case of providing ‘proof texts’ to give a justification for what we are doing, but to consider our activities in the light of the broad message of Scripture. When there is an apparent conflict between a Scriptural position and ‘conventional wisdom’ or accepted ‘best practice’, we must be prepared to be guided by our Scriptural convictions, even though that might be counter-cultural or counter-intuitive.

Mission Is God’s Activity

  • We participate in mission at God’s invitation because he wants us to be involved, not because he needs us or can’t do it without us.
  • Our publicity, recruitment and fundraising must be careful never to attribute to human beings a role or significance in mission which belongs to God alone.
  • Prayer must be central both to the life of the agencies and to how we present ourselves to the public.
  • The broader work of mission and the ministry of Bible translation are more important than the success or even the continued existence of any agency.

Churches are God’s Primary Strategy

  • The agency’s role is to support churches in their participation in mission.
  • The agency’s interaction with individuals should be in the context of their church family. We should not seek to separate individuals from their church.
  • Churches must have significant and real opportunities to speak into the work that their members do.

Mission Is Centrifugal

  • Agencies need to go out to the churches we are working with; we should not expect them always to come to us.
    • We need to be proactive in building relationships with churches and leaders.
    • We need to be prepared to go to churches and meet them in their locations for things like member debriefs.

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