One of the key factors to a successful, life altering, and church invigorating missions strategy is focus. While at the Orange Conference a couple weeks ago I was shopping at the resource center ad came across a coaster with the quote, “It is your strategy, not just your mission that ultimately determines your success.” I really like that quote! Most churches have a relatively clear mission, but do they have a strategy? I think there is a misconception or even deception in the church that activity equals strategy. This transfers over to missions and outreach as well. I use the illustration of an air drop vs. a bridge.
Sending people on short trips all over the world to different places each year doing different things all in the name of Jesus is a strategy for missions. I would argue that it is not a very good strategy, but a strategy none the less. This is an air drop, we fly over drop off what we perceive to be solutions to problems, feel pretty good about what we have done and them move on to the next site to do the same. There is little relationship, little input from the locals as to what they really need, and little followup. It is a mile wide and an inch deep.
Imagine if a Church partnered with a community, church, or organization and focused it’s effort’s in going deep in that one place. Imagine all the needs that would arise if we really new the people we were serving and listened to them share about their issues. If we asked them what the solution is to their problems and then worked alongside them in a partnership to help them develop both physically and spiritually. What if the relationship was a true partnership and they not only contributed to the solutions, but shared their God given gifts and strengths with us. What sort of impact would this have over time? How would the church react to the opportunity to engage with another culture in deep sustainable development. To partner together to build a bridge.
