Pedro Villa made a very good comment on yesterday’s post; I hope you’ll take the time to look at what he had to say.

I’ve talked some about the concept of partnership in terms of local outreach, but it’s a concept that I think needs to be expanded internationally. There is an undeniable shift in today’s world, as belief in Christ shifts southward. We can fight that tendency, or we can work with it. I think a shift in our world perspective can help us see this trend as a very good thing.

Churches in the north (particularly Europe, Canada, and the United States) tend to have more material goods. Churches in the south, at the moment, seem to be showing a greater evangelistic fervor and a better concept of community building within the church. If we let each group provide what it has, both talents and resources, the resulting work can be far greater than either can do alone.

The problem is, our world tends to associate money with power. If you are paying the bills, you feel that you have the right to decide how things will be done. And decide who will get your money. There is a fine line between showing good stewardship and using money to manipulate people.

That’s where partnerships come in. Churches in wealthy areas need to look for churches in less privileged areas that would be willing to work with them. Not be controlled by them. Not be dictated to. Churches to partner with.

This is a healthier model than funding an individual. Our support of preachers has hindered the development of other leaders in many situations. The preachers are beholden to their supporting congregations; they feel no need to listen to the local church. One preacher told a group of us that he had no desire to see elders named in his church; elders, he explained, would want to know about his finances and question how he used his money. That attitude is exactly what has weakened the church in many areas.

The key, as all good leadership, is to find people you can trust, then trust the decisions they make. In missions, that means an acceptance of the fact that they will at times do things differently than we would. Sometimes they’ll be right; sometimes they’ll be wrong. But they are the ones “on the ground,” the ones living out their faith in that context. We can offer advice and guidance, but it must be seen as exactly that. It must never be, “Here’s what you’re going to do or you won’t get any more money from us.”

More thoughts coming on this. I’ll take a breath and listen to your reactions.