Mission done best by invitation
By Sara Alvarez
During these first months on the job, I’ve appreciated Mennonite Mission Network’s emphasis on partnership. We don’t presume to understand another’s culture, and we don’t assume we’ll do better than local organizations.
Instead, we wait for churches or organizations to ask us to join them. They come with the connections and vision, and look to Mission Network’s resources and decades of experience to help them be more effective.
David Boshart illustrated it best in a letter to Mission Network that praised Linda Shelly’s work as director of Latin America: “Rather than ‘taking’ the floor, she is most influential at the table of fellowship. She understands that it is more important to get the issues named so that work will be done on these areas, than it is to be a problem solver.”
This example represents how Mission Network directors work. Although this model can take more time and energy, their role as counselors helps churches and other organizations maintain their independence.
Stronger congregations develop from this model that uses outsiders as guides rather than leaders. Local churches grow in the confidence that they’re fulfilling their God-inspired vision of mission while they’re still connected to a larger base of support.
William Valencia, an international partnership associate with Mennonite Mission Network, wrote this about the Ecuador Partnership: “The partnership’s support has been instrumental so that each community can be the salt and the light in their respective contexts.”
Mennonite Mission Network supports each church to be the light they are called to be for their context. Each light may be different, but they’re all reflecting God’s love to their communities.