AN INTERESTING PHENOMENON THAT I’M PONDERING
The phenomenon that I am pondering has to do directly with how missionaries and cross-cultural workers can be more effective in raising prayer and financial support, but I also am thinking about how it might have application for multiplying effectiveness in ministry. This pondering is described after the five points below, but I think these points will help “set the stage” for my musings.
The five points are part of an article I wrote for the Hesed.com website (which is focused on advocacy for world missions and helping missionaries build awareness) – https://hesed.com/reshaping-wineskins/.
THE FIVE POINTS:
1. I believe strongly that a public demonstration of authentic Christian community is the foundation of effective outreach (John 17:21-23). I also believe that the message of reconciliation has been entrusted to us as a community of believers rather than as individuals (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). This leads me to believe that outreach to unreached people groups is best accomplished through teams.
2. The teams that act to convey the message of reconciliation are ideally broader and more diverse than we might like to initially think.
3. Ideally, the public demonstration of authentic Christian community in a local geographic area will involve unity across traditional dividing lines (ethnocentric, political, socioeconomic, multinational, etc.).
4. If our communities do not involve a breaking down of such barriers, how will the love of God actually be demonstrated to the unbeliever? Love expressed within groups of similar people is easy – it’s the love of God’s people which crosses lines which will impact the unbeliever and convince him/her of the love of God.
5. This paradigm of community and biblical teamwork reflects the pattern established by Jesus when He sent out the seventy in groups of two – he “sends our teams out” as micro-communities which reveal the love of God to those who observe us (Luke 10:1-12).
HERE’S WHAT I’M PONDERING:
I am acquainted with a team of twelve different people who are preparing to return to their country of ministry to live among an unreached people group. They have previously been involved in ministry among that group, but I believe their decision to live among them as a community of believers represents a pivoting – or even better, a deepening – of their ministry to that unreached people group.
Recently, the team launched a private Facebook group and started inviting their friends and acquaintances to join the group. While launching a private Facebook group is fairly common these days for missionaries who are trying to raise support, the “team” aspect of their launch was something I had not seen before.
In less than four days, their group has grown from 12 people to over 1,000 people.
That seems amazing to me. For any missionaries who are seeing this post and have a private Facebook group for their family alone, have you seen this type of dramatic growth? Perhaps it has to do with how large a missionary’s existing contact list is and how well they have maintained social media contact information for their supporters? Or is there something about working together as a team – beyond just the simple numerical aspects – that leads to exponential growth in effectiveness?
Pondering: how does working together as a team increase effectiveness, both in terms of raising prayer and financial support, but also in terms of ministry effectiveness “on the ground”? What are the lessons to be learned?
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