Forging Meaningful Partnerships with Local Organizations

by Jason Locke

 

Several years ago, a prominent Christian man attended a gathering of church leaders from a particular denomination. On this occasion, the church leaders came together to discuss enormous needs in their major metropolis. They were aware of growing food insecurity, unmet mental health needs, and so forth.

Their prominent Christian guest had been active for years in civic and non-profit endeavors in the city. As he heard them speak, he could immediately call to mind dozens of groups across the city who were working feverishly with limited resources to feed, clothe, counsel, and provide support for at-risk people in the very communities where these churches were located. 

He was shocked, not by their sudden awareness of these needs, but that they had no vision for collaboration. Their rhetoric was all about how they alone needed to address these needs. They had no thought of coming alongside existing groups and organizations to multiply their limited resources. He left the meeting filled with sadness over their myopic thinking and the lack of meaningful results it would produce.

What if churches viewed themselves, not as sole owners of the Kingdom of God’s intellectual, social, and financial assets, but as caretakers for small slices of God’s abundant resources? What if the goal of churches wasn’t to solve problems on their own but rather to find partners with whom to put their pieces of the puzzle to most efficacious use? And if some of those partners wore the names of Christian or non-Christian organizations outside their own denominational world, would that somehow lessen the Kingdom efficacy of those investments?

Do not the cattle on a thousand hills belong to the Lord? In today’s landscape, it’s crucial for churches to stop thinking in territorial terms. How can you partner with others to put your limited time, energy, and resources to use with maximum effect? I dare say that, with few exceptions, you probably need to forge meaningful partnerships beyond your church or denomination to make that happen.

 

About the Author

Jason Locke has preached for the College Church of Christ in Fresno, California since 2009. His adventure in full-time ministry began in 1994. He worked first as a church planter in Prague, Czechia, and later as a campus minister at West Virginia University. Jason’s Doctor of Ministry and Master’s of Divinity degrees are from Abilene Christian, but he did his undergraduate work at Tennessee Tech in mechanical engineering. His current areas of interest are in congregational renewal and adaptive leadership, and he has led his church in Fresno through a remarkable journey of transformation. Jason is a curious adventurer and an avid reader who loves to travel, cook and follow his favorite sports teams. He has been married to Julie since 1992. They have two married sons. One lives in Fresno with his wife and their new baby. The other lives with his wife in Washington, DC, and they’re expecting a child in April.