Comments for AGORA Newsletter

Comment on Partner-ships on troubled waters by Stephen Baba Panya

Stephen Baba Panya — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 18:48:38 +0000

This is an excellent metaphor.

I recall that at the height of Nigerian oil rich Niger- Delta militant uprising, the most difficult places to deal with the militant insurgency were the creeks for one simple reason – inaccesibility except by small boats and canoes driven by experts drivers. Most mission agencies dream of being big boats but most of the remaining unreached areas need expert small boat riders who can navigate the very dangerous waters. Most often, this means indegenous believers who know the local terrian very well, going out to reach peoples which missionaries from even big mission agencies with all their resources, especially financial resources cannot reach.

The big boat best role in such a situation is to serve as a feeder base to many small boats!

Comment on Partner-ships on troubled waters by Steve Moore

Steve Moore — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 15:53:52 +0000

In the North American (US and Canada) context we at Missio Nexus are emphasizing this simple truth: The Great Commission is too big for anyone to do alone and too important for us not to try to do it together.

Bertil, than you for giving us a useful metaphor for understanding how we can relate better to each other.

Comment on Partner-ships on troubled waters by Decio De Carvalho

Decio De Carvalho — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 17:37:26 +0000

I was watching a TV series last week. In the scene, two police detectives, who are often in situations in which they have to protect one another, begin a dialogue about trust. They end the scene by doing the familiar exercise in which one closes his eyes and falls backwards, trusting that the other will catch him.

True partner-ships are more than just plans to do things together. They are relationships, with some kind of binding between the two ships. Trust is the bond.

I have found over the years that the shared efforts and initiatives that function well and are productive are those in which there is mutual trust, and it grows over time. I have had the experience of attempting to ‘do’ things together because there was some area of common interest. Some were painful, some just not effective. Experiences of true partner-ships are few and rare! Let’s change that!

“Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. John 17.17 – 21

Comment on Partner-ships on troubled waters by Timothy Halls

Timothy Halls — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 18:48:41 +0000

When we talk about partnerships, it would be helpful to speak of the kinds of entities we are thinking of. That is, we should be clear about if we are talking about a partnership between a church and an agency, between an individual and a church or agency, or about a partnership between two agencies–or something else. Perhaps it is a partnership between an entity in the USA and one in Europe, or between one in Zimbabwe and one in Singapore. What difference does the composition of the partnership make?

What kind of differences between the entities make the partnership you are thinking about important? How is this partnership the same as other partnerships, or different?

These distinctions might make our conversation more meaningful.

Comment on Partner-ships on troubled waters by Jim Harries

Jim Harries — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 06:41:23 +0000

Fascinating way of considering Christian mission as it is going on today.

Comment on Partner-ships on troubled waters by Peter Tarantal

Peter Tarantal — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 23:52:07 +0000

We are in the process now of partnering in South Africa as church leaders on how to respond to the leadership vacuum in government and how to do it appropriately. We have come to realize that expectations need to be clearly defined and responsibilities fully understood. Often the sticky point can be financial responsibilities, so it is good to be upfront about these. A verse that has been meaningful to me in the last few days as I have read the NLT One year bible is Gen 11:6 where God says,” look , the people are united and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them!” May this be true for us as MC!

Comment on Partner-ships on troubled waters by Wondimu Mathewos Game

Wondimu Mathewos Game — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 19:19:24 +0000

Our calling and its urgency is greater than our any interests. Its nature urges us to collaborate together. Also partnering each other is the answer of Jesus’s prayer. May God help us to stand together.

Comment on Partner-ships on troubled waters by Antonia Leonora van der Meer

Antonia Leonora van der Meer — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:50:21 +0000

I have had very good and also some painful experiences. The painful ones were when I was working with the Evangelical Alliance in Angola and some organisations came to offfer their service, after leaving the church on her own in much suffering for years. Those people came to serve but did not want to listen to anything the Angolans had to say (I was always present as a translator), they knew best what the Angolans needed and how things should be done.
But I had many positive experiences, in the context of IFES, of Interserve and of the Missions Commission, working alongside people with a much broader experience and training but who were willing to listen, to really work together, to allow my little boat to have its function. Actually this started much earlier when I served as a secretary with SIL/Wycliffe for a few years, and was very young and inexperienced, but those wise and committed brothers and sisters were willing and desirous to listen to me. So it all starts with the desire to really work together, and not just a paternalistic kind of service.

Comment on South-South partnerships announced at COMIBAM General Assembly by Decio De Carvalho

Decio De Carvalho — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 00:58:12 +0000

During the past three years COMIBAM has strategically and intentionally worked to build on the long term partnerships with sister organizations from many regions of the world. New partnerships have also been developed and we will continue to work very intensely in the coming years to expand those connections. This is paving the way for deeper dialogue, information and resource sharing and specific mission initiatives. At the practical level this means that we provide the platform and facilitate the development of mission agency contact and relationships with other mission agencies from different regions of the world, as well as national mission entities connecting with the global mission community. I am observing a new and greater sense of a shared call and responsibility for the task of the Great Commission and an invigorated commitment and dedication in our own mission community. Exciting!

Comment on Streams under an oak … Musings about the legacy of missions in Africa by Antonia Leonora van der Meer

Antonia Leonora van der Meer — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:05:51 +0000

Dear friends,
Having lived in Angola and partially in Mozambique for 10 years I do agree very much. Missionaries have been used by God to bring the gospel, to heal many diseases, to create schools were there were none, etc. But, at the same time they (or we) have been too slow in empowering nationals, in doing what they consider priorities and in doing what they want us to do, but always seeking to give them the right and the possibility to do their work, and surely, they know it much better. I learned somehow to sing and dance the African rhythms, but in a rather clumsy way, though I enjoyed it…
Tonica