The session I attended was entitled Connecting the Local church to the Global Community, and it was led by a representative from CAM International, Voltaire Cacal.
Some of the key points from this presentation were:
Action Steps for the Local Church to Connect with the Global Community
1. Examine current missionary and outreach programs.
2. Before taking on new missionaries/projects, find out if there is someone already involved with that people group.
3. If you church "adopts a people group," find agencies that work with them (rather than on your own) and utilize the resources in your local church to support that people group through the agency.
4. Build upon existing work
5. Work with mission agencies
6. Send short-term trips through agencies or established missionaries*
7. Consider local implications of strategic partnerships (other local churches and ministries)
There was a great diagram about how this would look. My feeble attempt to illustrate it is shown below. Yes, I do know how to use Photoshop. No, it's not installed on this computer. So here it is in all its MS Paint goodness.
The basic idea is that a youth ministry should fit in with the other ministries working with People Group A. So, a mission agency that primarily focuses on, say, church plantning, should work strategically with the other ministries already working with that group so the church plants fit in with the other established ministries.
*Voltaire noted that some overt evangelism (street preaching, tract distribution, etc.) can be harmful to established missionary work going on especially in "closed" countries. Working with established agencies would help alleviate this concern.
What are some ways your churches coordinate with other local ministries? What are some ways you connect your local body with global community of missions?
I would love to get your thoughts on these ideas, so please leave a comment! After that, be sure to check out Voltaire's blog, too!
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