Lately I’ve experienced or heard about churches and parachurches reaching out to one another to work together in a variety of smart, collaborative ways. It can be instructive to look at the failures that come from fractured relationships or the breakdown of communication. But it can be equally instructive to hear of concrete, positive examples. Here are just a few:
- A pastor and part-time parachurch staff member organised a meeting with a pastor from another denomination and me, a leader of a local campus ministry, to make the most of a visiting speaker. In addition to the events planned by the host denomination, we discussed making the visitor available to Christian schools, denominational schools and the home-schooling community; and began planning a non-denominational event for uni students and young adults.
- An Anglican pastor organising a lecture suitable for a Christian and non-Christian audience emailed fellow pastors from multiple denominations to make them aware of this event in case they would like to publicise it in their churches and ministries.
- A theological college and the organisers of a major conference talked together about synchronising their calendars in future years so that the conference would not disrupt college life.
- I met with a youth ministry leader from a local church, who also helps organise a youth conference, to talk about the challenges we are currently encountering with the Christian Union ministry at UTAS. They were very receptive and enthusiastic about collaborating on possible ways to ensure we can continue to invest in emerging adults in Tasmania.
Such a big part of working together well for the cause of the gospel is as simple as getting organised and communicating proactively. If we plan ahead, communicate with others and adopt a stance of openness, many of the tensions between churches, denominations and parachurch ministries evaporate; creative solutions can be dreamed up; powerful new initiatives can come into being.
