When that is what you want to do, what should characterize us?
We should have certain Values, if this is going to happen, and keep happening. We are going to have to work together as teams, because we need each other. For lots of reasons we need each other. Some of those reasons are easy to talk about (ministry synergy, for instance) and some of those things are hard to talk about (like we are all human beings, and he need friends that will keep us on track with the Lord). We are going to have to really look out for each other’s families, because its the right thing to do. Besides, if our families are doing poorly, so are we. We’re obviously going to be heavily involved in all kinds of ministry partnerships if we are going to pursue a strategy like that. We don’t need to have our name up in lights, better if our brothers and sisters that will be left behind when we have to go “back home”, better if they have their names up in lights. If we are going to work with such a strategy, then we are going to try to always leave addition behind, and go for multiplication. That means I might not get to do my favorite work, but I get to try and launch many others into that work. It’s not always as much fun, but we want to emphasize servanthood, not fun! The servant is there to make his master a great success; we are there to make our brothers and sisters on the field a success.
But since there is not clear cut and well trod path in front of us, aren’t we likely to make lots of mistakes? Sure, that’s why we need to guard the freedom to innovate. When we innovate and we fail, we learn from our mistakes rather than retreating to the stuff that worked somewhere else!
I am with an organization called One Challenge, at www.onechallenge.org.
