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Mission Journal
10
Current understanding of mission
must reflect the complexities of the
modern world, especially as the church
mission is becoming increasingly global.
Mission is a movement and as such it is
decentralized and based on personal
involvement. Mission teams often
bypass global mission agencies and
base their actions on their own
understanding of what needs to be
done. They often do not coordinate
their efforts and sometimes bump into
each other, getting frustrated with visa
issues and complex logistics, lack of
transparency and insufficient level of
local initiative. They may misjudge
matters of political instability, as well as
corruption. Consequently, results are
inadequate and the impact is dimin-
ished.
Effective global mission requires a
clear focus on local participation and
leadership from the very beginning. In
fact, it is based on the local people's
active engagement. It takes into
account what the participants can and
cannot do and measures their desires
against their capabilities. And the local
community's engagement and, progres-
sively, its leadership role is the fund a
mental measure of success.
More often than not, we come with
our own plan and try to adjust it to local
community needs. I've heard from
mission team leaders: "Yes, we know
about the problem, but it's not us. We
don't make that mistake." However,
when we look into their particular
situations, we realize that it's what
sometime shappens.
There are many reasons why this
occurs. We do it the way that is based
on our culture. We also put the blame
on the lack of local expertise, seemingly
weak links within the community,
corruption, etc. But the real reason is
that it's just easier to have it done and
come back with a swift result. It s often
longer and less rewarding to go with
the slower speed that local folks can
accommodate. And it's harder to
demonstrate the result to donors and
church members back home.
To illustrate, a few years ago a
church team was invited overseas
to help with an orphanage
renovation project. The team
came and expanded the
The Gift of Successful
Global Mission Partnership
Mr. Vladimir Shaporenko
Practical matters are very spiritual, and spiritual matters are very practical.
Holiness of heart and holiness of life are expressions of the same quality.
Hans Vaxby, Bishop of Eurasia Episcopal Area (retired)