Accelerating the Great Commission: Better, More Effective Together

Author - Umn ministry

June 07, 2021

Article 4 in a series of articles based upon the Lausanne North America Listening Call.

Question 3: In what areas is greater collaboration most critical in order to see the fulfillment of the Great Commission?

Christians have been told since the inception of the church they are to be unified. By our unity, according to our Savior and King, the world may believe that God sent Jesus (John 17:21).

Let us be clear upfront, unity isn’t attending church together. Unity isn’t Twitter shaming other believers for their social media posts. Unity isn’t you do your thing, I’ll do mine. Unity begins with the understanding of our mission, and it then moves to believing that our mission isn’t ultimately about us but about Jesus. As we focus on Jesus and his mission for us, we identify the roles and responsibilities that together build up the body to accomplish the mission.

An element of deep or thick unity is collaboration. The Apostle Paul called it partnership. Collaboration is simply the act of working with someone to produce or create something.

It does seem that deep unity—gospel partnership and collaboration—has waned in the West. This statement isn’t meant to say that gospel partnership and collaboration don’t exist, but that in general, it has waned.

Realistically, we don’t believe the church—in its current state—in the West is positioned in a healthy place to engage and reach a rapidly changing, secularly progressing culture. However, we believe for this is to change deep unity, gospel partnership and collaboration must be a part of the church’s strategy moving forward.

So, what does this look like? Based upon our listening call a couple of months ago, here are three key areas and ways that are most critical in gospel partnership and collaboration. ...