July 01, 1997 by Mats Tunehag

Development Moves Forward

The Gospel is all about restored relationships. And through partnership we can embody the message, by being restored not only to God, but also to one another. At one of the consultations at GCOWE ’97, two members of the Partnership Task Force spoke on partnership. It lead to people and agencies publicly asking others for forgiveness, thus creating the possibility for true partnership for the Kingdom. GCOWE ’97 was an event, but partnership development is a process. The Consultation played a significant role in this process. The Partnership Task Force, consisting of 14 people from 4 different continents and headed up by Mats Tunehag and Phill Butler, was invited to 6 consultations, speaking in plenaries and doing workshops. We can see three aspects that will give short, medium and long term results:

1. Awareness The majority of GCOWE’s 4,000 delegates heard about the concept of partnerships. Thousands of brochures and booklets on partnership were distributed and the Mission Frontiers issue, which dealt extensively with partnership, was included in the GCOWE ’97 registration package. Many speakers, apart from the Partnership Task Force, spoke on cooperation and stressed the importance of coordination.
2. Participation There is a growing desire and willingness to cooperate. Many people and agencies, with an interest or active involvement for unreached peoples, learned about the existence of partnerships throughout the 10/40 Window and how to connect. We’re convinced that as consultation participants return to their ministries, more churches and agencies will become involved in partnerships as a result of GCOWE ’97. One example: The AD2000 Partnership Task Force and the AD2000 Business & Professional Network will develop mechanisms for mobilizing and integrating businessmen into the international partnerships in and around the 10/40 Window.
3. Contribution Yet, the biggest challenge is to find men and women with the vision and the skills to develop partnerships for unreached peoples. The Mission Executives were especially challenged towards this end, not only to participate in partnerships, but to pro-actively identify, recruit, train and support partnership facilitators. This also relates to the theological training and was thus brought up at the Presidents and Academic Deans Consultation.

In addition, there was a positive response at the African National Initiatives Consultation. Some participants really took ownership of the vision for partnership, and initiated critical partnership efforts for countries on the African continent.

God has given the church the resources necessary to complete the task. But only by working together can we fully utilize them to fulfill the Great Commission. May we continue to partner with God and one another that the world may believe.

For more information on developing a field-based partnership contact:

Interdev P.O. Box 3883 Seattle WA 98124-3883 USA, Tel. (425) 775-8330 Fax: (425) 775-8326 E-mail: [email protected]

or

Interdev, P.O. Box 47, Ashford, Middlesex TW15 2LX, England Tel 44/1784/420 695, Fax: 44/1784-420 696, E-mail: [email protected]