Church Partnership
A recent meeting of the Resource Mobilization Working Group of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelisation revealed the following about trends in mission today, especially as they impact giving to mission:
- the greatest shift is for people in western churches to want long-term relationships with mission identities and with the field
- partnership is the norm
- a primary focus is long term strategic impact
Here at International Needs NZ these are the core components of the opportunities we are offering New Zealand churches today. Some time ago we set about to build strong, long-term relationships with our supporters and with the churches in NZ with the goal of every Christian and every church being able to say that they were making a strategic impact in the nations.
Many churches in NZ have come into partnership with International Needs through our Integrated Mission Partnership model (IMP).This is a model which focuses on the best outcomes for the NZ church and the overseas partner. Each situation is different, but these partnerships focus on one community, to see it won for Christ in a holistic fashion. So in a slum area in Manila, for example, there would be elements like child sponsorship to provide education for families in poverty, support of a church planter who will be working with those families, medical interventions for the community in which these families live, sanitation, educational initiatives like community libraries and micro-credit schemes for employment creation.
The New Zealand church becomes a partner, through International Needs, of this community, seeking to help them with their goals for a better standard of living. So within the church, there are some who sponsor a child, some support a Christian worker, some give to library projects, some go on short term mission trips to the community and minister there, some host our national leaders when they visit the NZ church to build relationship.
The result is a strong relationship in Christ between the NZ church and the community in a nation. This relationship builds over time - the community begins to see its aspirations realised - the NZ Christians know they are making an eternal impact for Jesus - both are glorifying God.
International Needs is committed to building these sorts of relationships, because we want both the church in NZ and also people in developing nations to find fullness in Christ. Our current partner churches are seeing the fruits of this relationship.
Please contact Gradon Harvey (INNZ Executive Director) to further discuss building strategic, impacting partnerships which change the world for Jesus.