Gospel Partnership is More Than Sending Money

This summer my family and I visited the U.S. to strengthen and be strengthened by our gospel partnerships. We made a full tour, even to some churches we hadn’t physically visited in over five years. Through these visits, I was reminded of some important realities of what faithful, gospel partnership should look like. 

Whether you are a pastor thinking about a missions partnership for your church, a faithful member who is sacrificially giving and praying for missionaries, or you are one who was sent out by the church, my hope is to encourage you to think biblically about what gospel partnership in the mission should look like. 

GOSPEL PARTNERSHIPS BEGIN WITH SHARED CONVICTIONS

Healthy partnerships begin with a shared understanding of the gospel, a common confession of sound theology (particularly about the church), and how to carry out the missionary task.

Paul’s letter to the Romans is deeply theological before it becomes missional. By the time Paul explains his desire to go to Spain and asks the Roman church to assist him, he has spent 15 chapters laying out the gospel and its implications for the church. His partnership with them was rooted in shared convictions.

This summer I was reminded while visiting many of our partners that our shared partnership is not built around a particular project or financial need. It is built around a shared conviction: Christ is worthy of worship among the nations and, and his church is the means through which he is pleased to accomplish that purpose.

GOSPEL PARTNERSHIPS RECOGNIZE OUR DEPENDENCE ON GOD 

A healthy partnership does not create two levels of Christians or two classes of churches—those who “send” and those who “receive.” Instead, Paul says this: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6). We are all in this together, seeking the same goal, and dependent on the same source. 

This is Christ’s mission for his Church, near or far, abroad or at home. And whether a church is praying, giving, sending people, teaching, hosting missionaries, planting churches, or laboring directly among unreached peoples, we are all dependent on God. None of us produces spiritual fruit by ourselves. God is the one who gives the growth.

The churches that partner with us have not treated us as a ministry that exists on a different spiritual plane from theirs. They have prayed for us, encouraged us, questioned us, counseled us, corrected us, sent people to serve with us, and shared their own wisdom and struggles with us. And we have had the privilege of doing the same with them. 

We are laboring together for the same King.

GOSPEL PARTNERSHIPS ARE BUILT ON TRUST

Paul could entrust ministry to men like Timothy and Titus. Churches could entrust people and resources to Paul and Barnabas. The Macedonian church could entrust their financial gift for Jerusalem to faithful men who would handle it appropriately.

Trust takes time to build, but it is essential in good partnership. And once established, it becomes one of the partnership’s greatest strengths.

Our partnerships have demonstrated this trust in remarkable ways. They have trusted us with resources, with people, with ministry opportunities, and difficult tasks. And I count it as a great stewardship before God to maintain and continue to build this trust. But more than that, to honor the Lord with what we have been entrusted with. We know our partners are with us and behind us all the way.

GOSPEL PARTNERSHIPS ARE GENEROUS

Generosity is much bigger than money.

Healthy churches generously pray for one another. They share pastors, teachers, and members. They send people to preach, teach, encourage, counsel, serve, and learn. They open their homes and pulpits. They share wisdom and experience. 

The book of Acts and the Epistles of Paul are full of these kinds of partnerships. One must simply read the greetings and salutations of these letters to be enamored with their generosity. 

One of the things I appreciated most this summer was seeing church members act generously (opening their homes, serving food, organizing events, sharing their time, their vehicles, their clothes, and their kids’ toys) all to participate with us in what Christ is doing through us among the nations. 

That is the spirit of Philippians 4. Paul rejoices not merely because the Philippians gave him something, but because their generosity demonstrated spiritual fruit in them. Their giving was evidence of their participation in the gospel.

GOSPEL PARTNERSHIPS ARE ROOTED IN LOVE

Romans 16 is striking because Paul closes a deeply theological letter by naming people. He greets them. He remembers them. He loves them. 

Gospel ministry was never merely a theological system or a missionary strategy to Paul. It was people loving people because Christ had first loved them.

The love of Christ compels us to do this ministry of reconciliation. This is ultimately what makes gospel partnership different from a business relationship, an organizational network, or a fundraising arrangement. We are not merely joining resources to accomplish a task. We are members of Christ’s body, his family, laboring together because we belong to Him and to one another. 

My family and I came away from visiting many of our partners this summer saying: “They really love us, don’t they?” Yes, they do; they really do. And we love them too.