How to Create Mission-Focused Church Partnerships

We humans are designed to be in relationship, and all organizations should consider good, missional partnerships. Churches and nonprofits are all candidates for effective community partnerships. A missional partnership is when one organization decides to partner with other organizations because they understand that God’s mission is bigger than their particular entity. Captivated my mission, they realize that they could do much more good for their community and world if they broke down some silos and chose to partner with other organizations who are called to the same thing.

One of our great pieces of wisdom literature says, 

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” 

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Two together are stronger than one, particularly when in a partnership that welcomes the Holy Spirit, who is always among us, encouraging and strengthening us for the journey. If you are a church pastor or leader, a nonprofit leader, or an individual seeking to be more effective on mission, then perhaps a partnership of some kind might be for you.  

Churches often give money to or volunteer with other ministries, but they do not always establish the kinds of kingdom-oriented partnerships that lead to greater witness and impact. Partnerships can collapse when they encounter problems like a “do it ourselves” mentality that can create mistrust with other organizations or churches, or a shallow pneumatology that fails to take into account that the Holy Spirit is already out in front of us at work in the lives of all people.  

The Problem

All of our churches have an innate desire to impact the world in some way or another. But going through a process of discernment and experimentation to figure out how to serve our communities well can sound exhausting and intimidating. The thought of adding more activities to our already overcrowded plates may feel completely overwhelming, and we may question whether we have enough support from our congregations for this kind of community engagement.

And so, many churches decide to stop short of forging strong missional partnerships. In some cases, they decide to give money. While giving money can be a fruitful way to engage in mission, if it accounts for most of how your congregation engages in mission it falls short of the witness and gifts the church has to offer in mission. In other cases, churches simply send out volunteers. But without a robust partnership to undergird these volunteers, it is often haphazard and nominal, depriving both organizations of the real benefits of partnership. Finally, in most cases, churches adopt a “do-it-ourselves” mentality. They decide partnering with other organizations is too complicated and doesn’t bring them the benefits they’re seeking. So they override their hesitancies and limitations and they develop new mission projects on their own. While being the sole organization responsible for this mission project seemed like a good idea at first, the church burns out and is not able to sustain the project.

What if you could have greater missional effectiveness without recreating the wheel? What if you could join the Spirit on mission without designing a missional experiment from scratch? Have you ever considered forming good ministry partnerships with local non-profits or area churches who are already doing good work that is consistent with your church’s values? 

Theology of and Effectiveness of Partnerships

There is a discernible theology of partnership in the Scriptures. You see it all over Paul’s letters. Paul, in his letter to the Philippian Church, is grateful for the partnership that they have together in advancing the good news of Jesus Christ (1:7). 

Partnerships in Christianity exist to extend the kingdom of God, and a foundational question in the discernment of a potential partnership is this: Can we be more effective in ministry together than we can apart?

If you answered yes to this question, then partnerships may well be for you. The by-products of good missional partnerships can include the following:

1. Efficiency – Partnerships may demonstrate good stewardship as many goals for the Church are beyond what any one individual or faith community can accomplish alone. Partnerships are a great way for smaller churches to significantly increase their effectiveness in mission.
2. Equity – Partnerships can help overcome relationship inequities.  
3. Enlargement – Partnerships have the potential for expanding the reach of the Church.

Story of Partnership

There is an awesome non-profit in my community called Harbor House that exists to meet the needs of our most vulnerable neighbors. I am blown away by the effectiveness of this nonprofit that serves thousands of meals per month, provides case management, showers, laundry and more to our neighbors who are experiencing homelessness. Even more surprising is the size of their staff. They are tiny! How does this small team accomplish all of this work? Partnerships. They list over 60 partnerships on their website; from churches, synagogues, and mosques, to non-profit and for-profit businesses. It is their spirit of cooperation and partnership that helps make them so effective in our community.   

Developing A Partnership

Partnerships are highly relational endeavors and some churches may be struggling to conceive of other organizations that might be considered for potential partnerships. Churches can get so insular that the inside voices have become louder than the outside voices. To form good partnerships, we are going to have to get outside our churches and into our communities in order to listen better to those voices.  

What churches and organizations are inspiring your church with the work they do in your community?

So how might you go about developing a partnership? Here is a process that you might consider:  

Talk to community leaders, school district officials, local politicians, community organizers and local judicatories.  Ask yourself, who is doing great work in your community that is consistent with who your church or organization is or wants to become? You might do a Google search for organizations/churches that share similar mission, vision, or values with your church.

Reach out to leaders in those organizations and take them out to lunch to learn more about what they do to see if you might be able to come alongside them in their work.

Reflection

1. With what churches and organizations does your church currently partner? Name as many as you can.
2. Why do you choose to walk with these organizations, and how do you think you’re making a difference together?
3. What are the risks and hesitations for you and for your church of partnering with more churches and other organizations?
4. What other organizations are doing great work/ministry in your community that is consistent with your church’s mission, vision, and values?
5. How will you know whether they are a good candidate for a partnership?

Walking Together  

While partnerships are never perfectly equal, mutuality must reign. Mutuality suggests give and take and involves dialogue, the centrality of social justice, consciousness raising, education and joint action for change.  

In our rapidly changing and polarized world, we increasingly struggle to walk amicably with others. But the truth is, as Solomon said, two together are stronger than one. When our partnerships welcome and glorify the Holy Spirit, they expand the reach of the church and create changes that we could have never imagined alone.