India has about 4635 people groups. Many are yet to be reached with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. One of the effective ways of reaching the unreached is through a People Group approach… In order to reach a particular People Group (like Marwaris, Sindhis, Lingayats) etc., a coordinated strategy to work together will be very useful. We call this working in partnership….
This is an attempt to do a biblical study of the word partnership and its derivatives (“partner,” “partners,” and “partnership”) from four predominant English versions of the Bible … Since biblical partnership is a concept broader than the specific application of vocational ministry, e.g., mission partnerships, I will seek to allow the Scriptures to speak for themselves on a broader basis (admittedly through my own personal grid), and then attempt to draw some theological and missiological implications from these observations.
There is a new spirit of collaboration emerging in the 21st century as opportunities for the advancement of the gospel multiply. Recognizing the enormous need for our Lord’s ministries of forgiveness, reconciliation, hope, and peace, some Christian leaders are overcoming historical rivalries and conceptual differences by working together to see God’s purposes accomplished in their generation.
I had a college friend who played basketball in prep school with Pistol Pete Maravich. My friend could also score with the best of them. Their prep school program had several other athletes who had been selected by major college programs. When I heard him list all the “stars” on his prep team, I asked if they ever lost a game. He smiled and indicated that they didn’t even have a winning season. How could that be possible? The answer was surprisingly simple. There weren’t enough basketballs to go around. They were all shooters gunning for their own stats, and no one truly valued teamwork.
Many words are written in an attempt to describe the next new thing. These days that list includes trust, authenticity, collaboration, holistic, personal, sustainability, engagement, and relationship capitalism. You could make a case that the “most likely to succeed” is collaboration.
In this video, Lynne Ellis talks about the importance of taking the time to build relationships and better understand potential partners before simply jumping into a partnership. Too many people approach partnership from the perspective of trying to get others to “partner” with them, by which they mean getting others to support their program or project. But partnership is more than that. Partnership is working together to accomplish something beyond the capacity of any one individual.
