Several years ago a church sent money to a “pastor” in Africa. It was told that he was building a new church for his village and buying food for his village. A follow up mission trip was planned by the church only to discover after two years there was no building and no records of food distribution. When the “pastor” invited the team to his house, the team entered the most luxurious house in the village with nice furniture, a big screen TV, and a nice car parked out front. Despite the sugar coated stories, it was clear where the money had gone.
Sadly, there’s no shortage of stories like this. And, even sadder there will continue to be more. In our last Returning Diaspora Network meeting, we attempted to tackle the giant question, “How do we trust the worker back home?”. In other words, what do we look for when we invest in a leader in a foreign country when we are here and they are there. If your church or organization is going to “partner” with someone, here are a few insights that might help us get the best return on our investment.
Prayer Driven Appointments
In Luke 6:12-13 Jesus spent the whole night in prayer before appointing his apostles. Perhaps Jesus, being man and God, had to defeat the fleshly temptations of choosing leaders by their looks or charisma. Who we partner with should be bathed in prayer. Choosing a leader solely because of charisma, achievement, or attractiveness can be deceiving. Let the Holy Spirit lead this decision. He sees way more than we can and confirms this by ones character not personality.
Your Partner’s Calling
It’s important to know that your partner has a clear call from the Lord and that it aligns with your ministry vision. When a person has a clear call they recognize they are accountable to God for their work. When God calls a person to a clear work they will not wait for funding, they work with what they have. There’s a difference between funding something and asking God to bless it, and funding what we or who we see God blessing. We want to partner with who God is using already, not waiting to be used.
Faithfulness Through Persecution or Hard Times
In an underground Morrocan Church I worked with years ago, membership depended on your marks of persecution. When a person is willing to continue the Lord’s work through times like that it is often a good indicator that a partner will be faithful to the work. A faithful partner continues although he’s at times in need, and does not own his own house, and struggles with transportation. Despite the hard times we still see his passion for the Lord. Such character shows a dedication to the work and not for comforts.
A Worthy Reputation
When evaluating a potential partner, a reference check is not a bad idea. It could be good to know how that person is perceived by others in the community. When you’re considering a long term partnership for the gospel, it’s worth it to take a vision trip and get a good feeling for who you are partnering with through the eyes of the local field. Do other’s from the country know him/her? How do others in the community see them? Do they have a faithful track record? Who do they surround themselves with? If people on the ground cannot trust them, neither should you.
Stewards not Owners
A faithful steward understands the difference between ownership and stewardship. Although our goal is to create “ownership” by the indigenous, we are really created “stewardship”. When a partner operates from the standpoint of “ownership”, they feel entitled to do what they want at the pace they want and at the cost they want. “Stewardship” welcomes opinions, seeks wisdom, and understands accountability. If someone is not willing to accept accountability and perform faithfully, red flags should go up! We want to partner with people who understand that the ministry they have is God’s and not their own.
Gospel Testimonies Not Money Pitches
A faithful partner always gets more excited about the gospel spreading than how much money they raise. We’ve seen partners in big cities raising millions of dollars and their ministries not expanding to unreached areas. They have nice facilities, high speed internet, and great mobility, but they have no gospel testimonies. A faithful ministry partner will not wait upon money to get started with gospel work. What kind of gospel testimonies does your partner have? Is their work confined to wealthy areas or do they have a planned for the unreached and poor areas? It’s ok to talk about needing financial support but not more than a passion for the lost. One of the most deciding factors of partnership should be knowing the difference between one who desires an earthly reward and one who desires a heavenly one.
As we are stewards of God’s resources (time, treasure, and talents) we should be careful who we partner with. It sounds good to say we’re building houses in Mexico, feeding children in Africa, and spreading the gospel in Asia. But, are we really? Depending on who we partner will make our testimonies valid. Trusting someone abroad can be a big risk. The Returning Diaspora Network always recommends partnering through the indigenous among us. Who better to know the foreign mission field but they.
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