The Global Conversation

Andy, thank you for your personal and real example of a different way to understand "the table". I like the imagery provoked by your comment. It usggests a contrast between a board room table and a dining room table. Besiness can be conducted at a meal table, but it is not the reason for that table to exist. Out of relationship will flow more appropriate parnership.

1 Cor 8:1-2 talks about the fact that "Knowledge puffs up, but Love builds up"...Interesting how we choose our associations, based on the perception of "being more effective" and so bent on wanting to see results "for God". We need more space to "embrace" one another without "pay offs" or ministry rewards, not to say that those are not important. If the premise is different, we may still arrive at results, if not better...we need to stop suspecting our motives, fight to restore trust and stop "give and take" in our relationships.

Dear friends, I like the article and several responses. Yes, money is still important and necessary but it should not give the power to decide, we should look more to wisdom and listen to those who "only" have wisdom, faith and experience, and no tecnological or economical power. I very much like Becky Stephen's comment. May the Lord give us hearts willing to learn and to share... Tonica

I think we need to consider the nature of the "table" we are using in this conversation. We began a relationship/partnership with a Chinese congregation in our community a few years back. I clearly remember the Chinese pastor telling me one day, that before we can be partners we must be friends, and before we can become friends we must eat together. We began having lunch together regularly (which is good because I love Chinese food) and over several months we became close friends. Our partnership has grown to planting a church in China, and currently we are opening a Chinese school here in our community. His wisdom invited me to the relational table, money is just a tool, very far down the priority list, and decisions are worked out together based on a common bond in Christ, and mutual love and respect. The table is very important, but it is relational in nature.

Becky, you raise important points. 1) who sits at the head of the table and has to power to invite others? 2) ow much does the table really matter? I would love to hear you expand on those two items. You and other readers might appreciate an on-going dialogue concerning the prevailing mission paradigm and the need for it to be replaced with another that is easier to link with Scriptures. I invite you to check our the blog site www.sailingfriends.wordpress.com for a full discussion of this topic. Thank you for your comments. Alex

"…where wisdom is the ticket to the table…" Alex, I couldn’t have said it better myself. But I wonder if this can ever truly happen. The problems inherent in and at the “table” – can they be overcome before Christ comes to set all things right? After all, who defines “wisdom”? No one seated at the table thinks they’re a fool. And few are foolish enough to tell the truth to those who sit at the head of the table – to those who, whether they’re aware of it or not, have the power to invite, to promote, to fund, to ignore, to sanction, and even to destroy the reputation and work of others. Perhaps the problems lie deeper – not just with who gets to the table and how, but with the very constructs and beliefs that push us to think that the table matters. Maybe it’s the sisters and brothers who, unaware that the table exists, are the wise ones, doing the works of Jesus and speaking the words of Jesus in the world in ways that will matter the most in the end.

GRAÇA E PAZ Primeiramente desejo a todos um 2010 de Vitórias e Salvação! Gostaria de obter mais informações sobre o CONGRESSO DE EVANGELISMO de 10/2010. Saiba que existe um povo aqui em Penedo/AL/Brasil orando por vocês. Em Cristo.

I like Nigel's restatement of the money issue: it needs to be brought back way down the list of proprities. Currently money has too much say in how mission strategies and activites are shaped and implemented. This inevitably shifts weight to the opinions of those of us who have more of it, even in those situations when others with less money may have a better idea or insight from the Lord. We actually can, if we want to, restore the proper balance. Shall we do it?

I particularly valued the comments regarding Community vs Cooperation, the basis of true partnership being family, or personal relationship which builds and maintains trust. I don't agree that the last thing the world needs is money, but I do agree that money should come way down the list of priorities as we consider the future of our partnerships. At present, I am confronting the issue in relation to a cross-cultural partnership with friends in Moldova and Azerbaijan. It's only too easy to say money shouldn't be important when a partner is facing dire struggles in supporting a family and ministry at the same time. But the money given can poison the partnership rather than feed it.

Irish Mission Agencies Partnership www.imap.ie is made up of 25 mission agencies in Ireland working together to promote missions in Churches in Ireland.