Missions and interfaith leadership development
“Building partnerships in mission is difficult. But it is one of the most practical ways to fulfill our Lord’s Prayer; that His disciples be one so that the world might believe”.
For centuries, Christians have dreamed that the world might really be changed if believers worked together rather than doing their own thing. Now, in hundreds of places in dozens of countries people from all kinds of ministries are working together in strategic partnerships. They are seeing that this Kingdom dream can come true. As you might expect, the results are amazing!
LISAC believes in Strategic Partnerships for Missions.
Looking at the whole challenge; identifying all the needed resources; then engaging those varied elements in a single lasting collaboration. Realizing a challenging goal that may be simple to state but complex to achieve.
Cameroon is a country in which people of many faiths live side by side, African tradition, Christianity, Muslims, and many others that are coming in new today. Bamenda, Douala, Yaounde, and the Northern Islamic Regions have increased in religious diversity in recent decades.
As we look towards the future, will it be marked by mutual learning, respect, and cooperation between the faiths, or do prejudice and conflict lie ahead? The choice is ours. Inter-faith relations at the national level between the leaders of different faiths have been developing well in recent years but, if links and connections are not made locally, good relations stand little chance of flourishing. In some areas, there have already been successes on which to build. In others, the foundations are only beginning to be laid.
The mission of God has no limits or barriers; it has been addressed to and has been at work within the entire human race and the whole of creation throughout history.
Our Commitments
a) Impelled by the love of Christ, we commit ourselves to work to ensure that all our neighbors in every place, near and far, have the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
b) We acknowledge that the primary responsibility for mission in any place rests with the church in that place.
c) Where the ministry team is sent to a place where there is already a Christian church, that will be done in a negotiated, mutually acceptable, respectful arrangement, with equal participation of all parties in the decision-making process.
d) We acknowledge that in our partnerships all partners have gifts to offer and all need to learn, receive, and be enriched by the relationship; so the relationship must allow for the reciprocal sharing of both needs and gifts.
e) We acknowledge that all the churches’ resources belong to God and that the wealth of the rich has often been derived from the exploitation of others.
f) We commit ourselves to make the relationship on all sides as transparent as possible concerning finance, theology, personnel, struggles, dilemmas, fears, hopes, ideas, and stories— and open sharing that builds trust.
g) We recognize that nearly every intercultural encounter between churches is marked by an unequal distribution of power. Money, material possessions, state connections, history, and other factors affect the way churches relate to each other. In entering into relationships in mission, we commit ourselves to guard against misuse of power and to strive for just relationships.
h) We believe that mission and unity are inseparably related. We, therefore, commit ourselves to
Encourage collaboration and structural unity between our mission agencies and partner churches. Where several churches already exist in a given area we commit ourselves to deliberately fostering a council of churches.
i) We recognize that mission and evangelism have been carried on almost entirely along denominational lines. We commit ourselves to undertaking missions ecumenically, both locally and abroad, wherever possible.
j) In developing international partnerships in mission, we commit ourselves to giving priority to building solidarity with excluded and suffering people and communities in their struggles for the fullness of life.