wfn.org | Partnership provides taste of missional church

[Beth Hawn <bethah@mbm.org>]

Mennonite Board of Missions
<news@MBM.org>
November 21, 2001

Partnerships provide foretaste of missional church

ELKHART, Ind. (MBM) - While most computer spell-check programs 
reject the word "missional," it is a well-known model in 
Mennonite circles.  More than 20 leaders representing 11 mission 
partnerships gathered Nov. 6-7 at Mennonite Board of Missions 
offices in Elkhart, Ind., to evaluate a decade of collaboration 
during the fourth annual Partnership Leaders Consultation.

"The kind of work that you are engaged in is prototypical of the 
direction that the Mennonite Church is going," said Stanley W. 
Green, executive director of Mennonite Mission Network, the 
mission agency of the new Mennonite Church USA.  "The way 
congregations and conferences have already made operable 
partnerships encourages us in the new vision for the Mennonite 
Church USA.  We take hold of the vision, knowing that it is not 
fanciful.  You have made it real."

Dean Heisey, partnership consultant for MBM and director of 
ministry formation for Mennonite Mission Network, explained that 
any new initiative will need to happen as a partnership. 
Mennonite Mission Network will facilitate collaboration among 
like-minded people for a common ministry.

MBM defines mission partnerships as collaborative groups whose 
members form covenants with each other to accomplish specific 
mission objectives.  In one partnership, four members work 
together to bring revival to Mennonite congregations in North 
America and to plant churches in Patagonia, a region in southern 
Argentina.  The Mennonite churches in Patagonia, the Argentina 
Mennonite Church, a group of congregations in Illinois called Arm 
in Arm, and MBM are partners in this mission effort.

Mongolia Support Group was a pioneer partnership.  A group of 
congregations and individuals in eastern Ohio joined hands with 
the Commission on Overseas Mission, Eastern Mennonite Missions, 
and MBM to provide financial support and personnel for mission in 
Mongolia.  Through Joint Christian Services International, an 
umbrella agency for many Christian missions in Mongolia, this 
partnership relates to emerging churches in the areas of 
education, health, agriculture and economic/community development.

The partnership representatives were enthusiastic about what is 
happening in their own congregations and in the countries where 
they cooperate in ministry.  However, this form of mission 
presents some challenges.

Though a covenant is an important element in the development of a 
partnership, serving as a point of reference to keep focused on 
the original vision, many cultures find written documents to be a 
foreign concept.  "Some of our Argentine brothers and sisters 
felt like we were cramping the activity of the Holy Spirit when 
we insisted on putting things into writing," said Eldon Dean 
Nafziger, Arm in Arm representative.

"One of our challenges is to keep up interest over the long 
haul," said Matt Hamsher, speaking on behalf of the Mongolia 
Support Group.  The eight eastern Ohio congregations that make up 
this part of the partnership work at maintaining enthusiasm 
through monthly prayer breakfasts, two annual banquets, and 
visits to Mongolia.

 From the inception of the partnership endeavor, there have been 
questions about whether the participating congregations in North 
America will be able to meet partnership expenses in addition to 
their normal financial commitments to church mission agencies. 
Those concerns have proved groundless.  The energy generated by 
becoming more aware of the global church through partnerships has 
increased giving to mission agencies rather than siphoning off funds.

"Our experience is that if you keep people informed and 
challenged, they will give," said Wayne Toelke, Arm in Arm 
representative.

Charles Buller, pastor of Communion Fellowship in Goshen, Ind., 
and representative of a partnership focused on Senegal, said, 
"World evangelism is an immensely complex task that calls forth 
every available gift.  Everyone has a dynamic place and a role. 
The scary part is when you take that seriously, you hang on for 
the ride.  Often, we feel like we are just hanging on to the reins."

Mission partnerships are one way congregations and groups of 
congregations have become more fully engaged in God's mission. 
Participants know what it means to be part of the missional church.

Other ministry locations represented by partnerships in the 
consultation, some well-established and others in various stages 
of conception, were Benin, Dagestan, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, 
Ghana, Honduras, Bolivia, South Africa, United States and 
Northern Ireland/United Kingdom.

* * *

Lynda Hollinger-Janzen