2014 October
29
Oct
What is your collaboration quotient?
- By Vision Synergy
Networks and partnerships are the future of world mission.
Nothing significant will happen among the unreached without greater collaboration among Christian leaders, churches, and mission organizations.
I recently learned about an unusual mathematician who can teach us a lot about the value of collaboration.
His name is Paul Erdős (1913-1996).
22
Oct
Tree of Life partnership training for oral cultures now available in Amharic
- By Vision Synergy
The Tree of Life (TOL) partnership training has recently been translated into the Amharic language of Ethiopia and is now available for free download.
With the Amharic translation, TOL is now available in 8 languages: English, Amharic, French, Hindi, Punjabi, Marathi, Odia, and Nepali.
Tree of Life was originally developed several years ago in partnership with Scriptures in Use and the Bridges Training Network South Asia. At the time, there was little partnership training material that would be appropriate for use among the grassroots oral culture churches in the villages of North India and Nepal.
TOL was developed to provide a Biblical foundation for partnership and practical principles that leaders of local village churches could apply as they worked together in evangelism and church planting, economic development, community and social development, and social justice projects. The TOL training format was designed to be easily replicated by participants in their home villages.
In the past five years, nearly 3,000 leaders have participated in TOL trainings in South Asia. Today, hundreds of oral Bible churches are working together to transform their communities through partnership.
After demonstrated success in South Asia, the Tree of Life training and partnership development program is now expanding to Africa.
Visit our media library to download the Tree of Life partnership training in all available languages.
16
Oct
Pocket Guide to Partnership: Now available in Spanish & Ukrainian
- By Vision Synergy
The Pocket Guide to Partnership is now available for download in Spanish, Ukrainian, and four additional languages.
The Pocket Guide is a 2-page summary drawn out of nearly 30 years of field experience around the world.
The Guide outlines the 3 main stages and 15 key principles in the development of effective missional partnerships.
Use the step-by-step process summary to reflect on where you are in your own collaborative initiative – and what pitfalls you might want to avoid!
Use the principles summary as a diagnostic tool to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your own initiative relative to the fifteen factors most essential for partnership success.
Visit our resource library to download the Pocket Guide to Partnership in all available languages: English, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian.
08
Oct
What can you learn from a boardgame?
- By Vision Synergy
The island was sinking.
Most of my team were separated from each other, trapped, surrounded by rising water.
Our diver was equipped to get to the exit point, but our helicopter was down, so there was little chance the rest of our team would make it.
The good news?
It was only a game.
02
Oct
Simultaneous Vision
- By Vision Synergy
Has God given you a dream to achieve? a vision to fulfill? a cause to conquer? a burden for breakthrough in some area of ministry?
Take a look around.
You are likely to find many others who share the same passion. Time and time again, we have seen that the dreams stirring in one person’s heart are the same dreams stirring in another person’s heart.
That is what missional partnerships are all about.
Whether your ministry context is a neighborhood or a nation, mission partnerships are born when the vision is too big, too complex, or requires resources too great for any individual or single ministry.
Vision is the driving force that shapes a partnership. Partnerships are not first and foremost about structure, or money, or theological statements. Partnerships are first and foremost about vision.
The phenomenon of multiples
We often think of great ideas, big dreams, and powerful visions as something rare and unique. But in reality, they are all around us. If we really start listening and looking around, we often find that multiple people have exactly the SAME vision, at the SAME time, in the SAME place.
It’s not a singular vision. It’s a simultaneous vision.