Elders’ and deacons’ first duty is not to tend to the needs of the flock but to train, empower and send their fellow church members into mission. And one of the best ways to do so is to develop international mission partnerships.
When teaching elder Charles E. Colson (not to be confused with the Chuck Colson of Watergate fame) attended a 1994 meeting of Lehigh Presbytery, he had no idea of the seeds for church-to-church relationship being planted. Nor could he imagine the fruit that would be borne through six Kenyan and American trips (including youth), annual joint worship services by telephone and innumerable phone calls, letters and emails. Now these partners prepare for the latest chapter in their relationship, as five members of the Riamuikurwe Parish in Nyeri, Kenya, arrive in August.
It was 20 years ago that Colson – now pastor emeritus of Faith Presbyterian Church in Emmaus, Pa. – heard the Rev. Bernard Muindi of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, and quickly invited him to preach. Over the next four years, correspondence blossomed into a relationship sufficient to have Colson and other members of Faith invited to the Riamuikurwe Parish, an eight-church charge where Muindi served.
From the outset this was an unusual visit, as the parish planned for its American guests to stay in parishioners’ homes. “This was totally off the wall,” says Jack Decker, a Faith deacon and current co-chair of the partnership committee. “They were used to people stopping in for tea, blowing in and blowing out.” Security concerns only heightened mutual uncertainties, especially following the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.
But the years of connection had already changed Colson, and marked what the church now considers its “relational model of partnership.” Colson realized that while he worried about his safety and that of his companions, he also wondered “What kind of danger does our visit impose on Rev. Muindi and his people?”
Faith Church’s vision of being intentionally relational runs counter to the commonly held opinion that international mission partners are recipients, people who need to have things done for them. Rather, as Colson wrote in his journal before their first visit, “Can we enter into a partnership with our Kenya friends by being expectant of receiving from them?”
Writing from a youth work camp whose origins and energies are related to the church’s Kenyan experience, Faith’s current pastor, Tim Dooner speaks to the mutual benefits gained during this long-distance friendship:
“Thanks be to God for breathing this relational partnership into being. We trust that our communion across the world will be an inspiration to our leadership as to how God is calling us to grow the communities of Christian communion in each particular context. This is not about how one partner helps the other — this is about participating in God’s mission together as the church.”
For churches that are considering an international partnership, Colson suggests first inviting someone local with partnership experience. Be specific in what you want the speaker to do, whether to inspire your audience or give practical advice. Or to help your congregation better understand what kind of partners they want to be.
Is this a matter of sending money, or, as Decker says, “Are you building a well? Or are you going to have a conversation with someone along with building a well?” If conversation is the goal, at the outset communications will largely be through church and committee leadership. But over time, Facebook, texting and Skype allow individuals to become more frequent conversation partners.
The easy part, according to Colson, Dooner and Decker, is finding a partner, whether through PC(USA) channels or previously established relationships. What is more difficult is making this an effort of the whole church and not just a group of likeminded individuals.
At Faith Church, for example, devotionals accompany each trip and Kenyan prayer concerns are common in Sunday worship. Biannual yard sales raise money for American and Kenyan plane tickets, provide opportunities for many church members to participate and are an instrument of community ministry. This, according to Colson, is the great reward, as “an expanding vision of mission worldwide affects the understanding of it next-door.”
Similarly, church leaders are affected as they meet or hear about Kenyan elders who frequently preach and lead the congregation both in extemporaneous prayer and in daily ministry. “It was an expensive way to train your officers, but it really has an effect!” Colson said.
Decker himself is evidence of that. He and his family had attended Faith only a short time before he went to a partnership presentation. He went on the second trip, and his commitment to the vision led to nomination for church leadership.
“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of Kenya, that I don’t think of these people,” he said. “I’m a part of something here that they are a part of there.”
STEVEN H. SHUSSETT is teaching presbyter and stated clerk of Lehigh Presbytery, and a 2010 partnership traveler to Kenya.
