Saying YES to Mission and Evangelism

GMP faces a yes or no choice. What do you want to say yes to? We can become an agency with a strong Aid and Development program (COCOA) and no longer support evangelism and church planning, or not. This is the choice. GMP says YES to Mission and Evangelism or GMP says YES to Aid and Development. At GMP we want to say YES to both because it is about the whole of the Christian Gospel for the whole of the human person. We invite you to join with us in saying YES also.

In the past, local churches gave from their basic budget to overseas mission. This giving was not tax-deductible and represented a commitment to mission and evangelism overseas. This source of giving is almost completely gone. In keeping with other Churches of Christ agencies we receive little giving through local church budget allocations.

So, in this issue of In Partnership we launch a new project. It is a Personal Partner Programme.

Partners will commit to

• giving a gold coin a day
• praying for a particular project
• responding with encouragement to projects that interest them.

Through this programme Personal Partners will support, encourage and grow the commitment of our global mission partners in Mission and Evangelism.

Personal Partners will be introduced to stories of mission that are about real people in real places. Partners are also in real places of mission, places that are equally real and so it will become a means of being in a two way partnership in mission. There will be opportunities for you to pray, send letters of encouragement and receive news from our partners.

This mission journey will continue to be cross-cultural. Our settings of mission differ in language, context and culture. The challenges we face are different. Most of our partners are in a multi-faith context, and for some they are part of a minority faith. Through being Personal Partners we will all learn as we listen and discover insight for our own settings of mission. Like you, our partners are deeply committed to being the presence of Christ where they are. They want to show who Jesus is, share God’s love and invite people to experience this personally.

This is Gospel based. It makes evangelism and church development possible. The projects will be in Vietnam, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, the Sudan, Zimbabwe and India. Other opportunities are also emerging.

The need is great. The potential for the Church Partnerships of GMP to expand is exciting. Our partners are enthusiastic and our programme is ongoing. Yet we find ourselves in a difficult situation. While we can fully support the budgeted requests for COCOA we have a significant deficit in the Church Partnership Programme. It is a strange experience for our partners when we say yes to growth in Aid and Development and no to growth in Mission and Evangelism. Our hope is to become stronger partners in mission and evangelism. To do this is not difficult. Two hundred people in each state becoming Personal Partners, each giving a gold coin a day, takes us on this new journey. It means that we can say YES to mission and evangelism and provide revenue to real people in real settings of mission. Say YES with me and become a Personal Partner. It is a golden opportunity.

The partners for 2011 include Fiona Briers in Vietnam, Kiron Gaikwad in India, Yabru Jerry in PNG, Paulino Malou in Sudan, Elton Sidodah in Zimbabwe and Judith Vusi in Vanuatu. You can read their background profile in the attachment.

To sign up and receive their monthly prayer points and  further information contact the GMP Office info@inpartnership.org.au.

John Gilmore, Executive Director