Partnership or Dependency? (Intro)

This is a topic that I will introduce today and add different chapters to it. Feel free to weigh in on this topic.
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Missionary efforts are best achieved through partnership relationships bound in Christ. Even missionaries who are taking the gospel to a new people group need partners in order to minister effectively. Lone ranger missionaries are not very effective; all missionaries need cooperation from others who complement their strengths and weaknesses. These partners may come in the form of other Great Commission Christian missionaries, national missionaries, or local new believers. However partnerships are formed, they help facilitate the missionary task.

In the past, partnerships have tended to be one-sided, with financial support flowing from mission boards to national churches, pastors, and conventions. Effective partnerships include dialogue and participation from both parties. Partnership is the cooperation to realize common tasks, not the provision of financial support.

Cultural understanding and language skills suggest that a discipled national believer is innately better equipped at communicating the gospel to people in his own culture than is an outsider. Because the national is a better communicator within the cultural context, it is beneficial for missionaries to include nationals as part of the team or partnership. When missionaries are beginning new works, this might not be immediately possible. Where national believers are already present, it is priority to include some existing national believers as intimate partners on the church planting team from the very beginning. If new believers are not already present, new believers should be brought into the team as soon as possible (preferably even before they accept Christ). The second option is preferable so long as it does not entail compromising the vision of indigenous church planting.

(Check back tomorrow for the next part of this article)