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Where Does the Individual
Missionary Fit in the Model of
Church-Agency Partnership?

by Christina Lye (Director, Personnel, SIM East Asia)

A Partnership exists when there is a common interest and outcome that the parties can work towards.  In the case of the Church and SIM partnership, it is about fulfilling the Great Commission from God.  By working together, the church and SIM nurture, counsel, prepare, train, equip, send and care for the missionaries in the various mission fields. Together they enable the missionary to serve efficiently and effectively in whatever ministry he/she is engaged in.

 

Where does the individual missionary fit in this partnership?  In short, the individual missionary is likened to the egg in the baking process.  Eggs in a cake, as we understand, function as a binder for the other ingredients used in the cake. If there is no individual willing to ‘go’, then the partnership will not achieve its intended outcome. As such, the individual is a key ingredient in the church-agency partnership. 

 

One of the key steps in an individual’s mission journey is exploration.  This exploration can be facilitated through the PACE trips that SIM organises. It is refined through consultations with church leadership and the agency to determine the fit between the individual and the various ministry opportunities that exist.  Affirmation and endorsement of the individual’s ‘calling’ to mission comes as the church and agency together assess, agree and pave the way for the individual to enter the mission field. The individual as the focal point in the church-agency partnership brings unity to the relationship – like eggs binding flour, butter and sugar together into the desired cake mixture.

 

Beaten to give volume and texture, the egg enables the cake to expand and rise to the desired shape.  The individual, in offering himself/herself for mission, undergoes a series of assessments with the church and the agency to ascertain their physical, psychological and spiritual condition.  Through this process, the strengths and weaknesses of the individual are revealed.  This allows the church and agency to walk with and mentor the individual to build resilience and effectiveness in the mission field. 
 

Affirmed and endorsed by the church and agency, the individual enters the mission field with the prayer and financial support of the church, friends and family. In the field, the agency provides the necessary ongoing care and support to facilitate the ministry of the individual.  Supplementary care and support is provided by the church in collaboration and communication with the agency.  As eggs prevent the cake from being dried out by providing moisture and hence making it palatable, so the care and support of the individual by both church and agency strengthens the relationship between these two parties.  

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