Category: Missions

What is a Missions Partnership?

Briefly stated, a missions partnership is a vehicle that enables missions engagement. When we choose to engage in a partnership with an International Worker (IW) and their team, we effectively bring their work from across the world into our world. Missiologist Dwight Smith called this “telescoping” – taking something that is far away and making…
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Where Have All The _______ Gone?

If you’re over the age of 40, perhaps the first thing that pops into your head when you see this is “Cowboys”. Where have all the cowboys gone? You wouldn’t be alone. The song by the same name was released in 1997 by Paula Cole and went to number eight on the Billboard Hot 100…
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Leading an STM Trip Well

I probably don’t need to convince you that short-term mission (STM) trips have value. From coming alongside partners and providing a boost to long-term work, to being a tool that God uses to shape us into the image of Christ – including the call of many into full-time vocational ministry, there is abundant worth in…
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Leveraging Non-Partner Tours

As the C&MA has moved more toward partnership models of missions engagement, a question has arisen that I hear frequently: How do we handle an IW tour with a non-partner IW? This is a great question, and it expresses itself in various ways such as, “How do we stay focused on our partners when we…
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Missions Strategy: Part 5 – Partner Care

Missions Partnerships are one of the best vehicles a church can use to engage fully in missions. A healthy partnership will contain five elements, and the final element is Partner Care. Ironically, this is probably one of the most important of the five elements, but by nature, it is usually the last one we engage…
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Missions Strategy: Part 4 ­­– Going There

Missions Partnerships are one of the best vehicles a church can use to engage fully in missions. A healthy partnership will contain five elements, and the fourth element is Going There. After giving (Doing Our Share), this is typically the most common thing that people think of when they think of partnership. Due to the…
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Callers

Think back to the first time in ministry you were invited to do something that was a little bit out of your reach. The first time you were asked to preach; or lead a ministry team; or go on a missions trip. If we take just five minutes, most of us would have at least…
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Missions Strategies: Part 3 ­­– Doing Our Share

Missions Partnerships are one of the best vehicles a church can use to engage fully in missions. A healthy partnership will contain five elements, and the third element is Doing Our Share. Even though financial support is the first thing many people’s mind jumps to when they consider missions partnership, we’ve intentionally placed it third…
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Missions Strategies: Part 2 ­­– Strategic Prayer

Missions Partnerships are one of the best vehicles a church can use to engage fully in missions. A healthy partnership will contain five elements, and the second element is Strategic Prayer. Any International Worker (IW) will tell you that prayer is their most coveted component of partnership. Sometimes on the church side of the partnership…
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Missions Strategies: Part 1 ­­– Staying Aware

Missions Partnerships are one of the best vehicles a church can use to engage fully in missions. A healthy partnership will contain five elements, and the first element is Staying Aware. If we are to be good partners, we must be intentional about staying connected and maintaining a good relationship with our IW counterparts. Staying…
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