Mission Priorities

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Accelerating the progress of the Gospel among the unreached

Our priorities are focused on critical regions in world mission where ministry collaboration is essential to achieving real breakthroughs. These are areas where the situations are too complex, where the challenges are too big, and where the resources required are simply too great for any one organization.

The primary emphasis of our work is identifying collaborative strategies that will be most effective in advancing the progress of the Gospel among the unreached peoples of the world.

Priority Areas

Over the past three decades, members of our team have worked with dozens of multi-national networks and multi-lateral partnerships cooperating in a wide variety of ministry contexts.

Our current work is concentrated in a few key geographical areas:

MENA (Middle East and North Africa)
Local, National, International Coordination

In an average year, VisionSynergy serves 6-8 networks and partnerships involving hundreds of organizations focused on inviting Muslims, with deep love and respect, to follow Jesus. These range from national partnerships in the Middle East and North Africa to large regional networks with a shared vision to reach unengaged Muslim people groups. Members of our team have worked in the Islamic world since the 1970s and have a wide-ranging network of significant relationships. We are the primary advisors to multiple networks seeking to coordinate church-planting efforts on-the-ground, as well as evangelistic outreach through internet and mobile strategies.

Learn more about our MENA emphasis >

South Asia
Pioneering & Developing

VisionSynergy serves new networks in several South Asia countries involving dozens of organizations seeking to coordinate their ministries. We provide advising, coaching, and training for nationals who want to influence the leadership of ministries in their country and create greater collaboration.

East Asia
Exploring & Responding

Over the last few years, VisionSynergy has enthusiastically responded to increasing requests for advising and training people involved in several emerging partnerships, primarily in China.

Want to leverage the power of partnership?

We believe that God is always at work around the world, moving His people toward community and collaboration. That’s why we so often find that the dreams stirring in one person’s heart are the same dreams stirring in another person’s heart. If you want to learn more about how to leverage the power of partnership in your own ministry context, or how to get involved in the work of bringing others together to advance the Gospel, contact us!

Ministry Partners

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Multiplying ministry impact

At any point in time, we advise the leadership of about a dozen international ministry networks and partnerships which, collectively, involve hundreds of Christian organizations. Through these groups, we are privileged to work with some of the most amazing ministries on Earth – ministries which are changing the world and making history.

One of the great joys in our ministry is to see the powerful multiplying effect of working in partnership with others. An investment in a strategic network impacts not only the collective outcomes of that initiative. It also impacts the participants themselves. Once they have experienced the power of collaboration, many partner organizations are changed in their entire attitude and approach to ministry.

Working as trusted advisors

In our role as coaches and consultants, our own contribution is not to the direct ministry of the groups we serve, but to the effective formation and operation of the partnerships and networks themselves. We serve as trusted advisors, helping these groups move toward significant and successful outcomes.

The work we do in catalyzing, coaching, and consulting with ministry partnerships and networks is a low-profile, behind-the-scenes, and often invisible job. Ultimately, our own success comes only in the success of our partners.

Our fruit, as we say, grows on other peoples’ trees.

What Ministry Leaders have said about our work

*

Tim Taylor
Mission Pastor & Initiator
Nepal Unreached Peoples Network

“I’ve told you many times, thank you, for helping me with the partnership formation meeting to engage the 10 UUPG’s [unengaged unreached people groups] in Nepal. ALL 10 UUPG’s of Nepal are now engaged! Obviously, not all ‘reached’ but all of our groups are now engaged! As we know, all of the credit goes to Jesus, but all of my thanks goes to you. I want to reiterate how much I appreciate you taking the time and the risk to invest in an unknown guy in Fort Worth, TX. Your investment is yielding eternal fruit in Nepal.“

*

Jim & Carla Bowman
Founders/Directors
Scriptures In Use
& Bridges Training Network

“[In our recent review of SIU’s history] we were quick to remember the significant contribution that you have made to our ministry. We are delighted that God allowed us to work along side of you to make a difference to so many who once were in darkness, but now have come to the light. We wouldn’t have been where we are today without you.“

*

Clyde Taber
Facilitator of the Visual Story Network, involving 170+ agencies & 1250+ people as a global community of visual storytellers leading a movement so everyone can
encounter Jesus and His Kingdom

“A big thanks to you …  Your input always keeps me mindful that we must engage the troops and give them opportunity to own the movement. It is extremely helpful when you are able to see the common themes that emerge in our discussions and then be able to isolate the priority issues. I appreciate your ability to call people to dream, but then translate the dream into tangible practice. Thanks to VisionSynergy for fanning the flame of movements!“

Want to leverage the power of partnership?

We believe that God is always at work around the world, moving His people toward community and collaboration. That’s why we so often find that the dreams stirring in one person’s heart are the same dreams stirring in another person’s heart. If you want to learn more about how to leverage the power of partnership in your own ministry context, or how to get involved in the work of bringing others together to advance the Gospel, contact us!

Prayer Supporters

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The power of prayer

VisionSynergy’s ministry activities are strongly undergirded by prayer. We are blessed to be supported by many intercessors who pray regularly. Our prayer supporters are “world Christians” with an earnest desire to see the Gospel go the ends of the earth. And they believe that this can only happen when Christians work together – rather than working in isolation, or duplicating ministry efforts, or even operating in outright competition.

Our prayer supporters know that Satan works to actively hinder the advance of the Gospel by creating divisions and discouragement among Christians. And they know that Satan’s influence is broken when Christian ministries align their strengths to work together in a way that brings credibility & power to their witness for Christ.

Fulfilling the prayer of Jesus

One of the keystones of our commitment to prayer is the prayer of Jesus himself, recorded in John 17, in the final hours before his death and resurrection:

“As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.“ (John 17:13-21)

In these moments, Jesus could have prayed for anything. Yet the focus of his prayer was that we would be one with each other and with God … so that … the world would believe. This is one of the inspiring points in the teachings of Jesus that energizes our own prayer ministry.

Multiplying the impact of prayer

One of the joys in our ministry is to see the multiplication of prayer in partnerships. Those who pray for us are supporting us in our work of building and strengthening ministry partnerships around the world. And, in turn, one of the most common fruits of those partnerships as they begin to work together is to mobilize yet more prayer focused on critical areas of world mission.

We do not publicly share specific information about the groups we advise or their constituent organizations, but here are a few examples of the very strategic online prayer initiatives that have recently come out of some of these groups. These specific prayer initiatives are focused on critical regions of mission – particularly North Africa, the Middle East, and the Arabian Peninsula.

Many times a part of the world that has been “closed” to the Gospel for hundreds or even thousands of years will – after the concerted prayer of many – suddenly open up with dramatic changes in a very short period of time. This is exactly what is happening now across North Africa, the Middle East, and the Arabian Peninsula. At these times, we also pray that Christians will approach people who don’t follow Jesus’ teachings with love and respect, not allurement or coercion or force. Thankfully, major prayer initiatives and the development of partnerships specifically focused for particular countries or regions or groups of people had already been years in the making … “for such a time as this.”

We invite you to join us and those who support us in praying, especially in these areas.

» pray4libya
» pray4tunisia
» pray4saudi
» lovesaudis
» pray-ap

Want to leverage the power of partnership?

We believe that God is always at work around the world, moving His people toward community and collaboration. That’s why we so often find that the dreams stirring in one person’s heart are the same dreams stirring in another person’s heart. If you want to learn more about how to leverage the power of partnership in your own ministry context, or how to get involved in the work of bringing others together to advance the Gospel, contact us!

Kingdom Investors

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Multiplying investor impact

Investing in Kingdom collaboration has a multiplying impact because it empowers not just one program or one organization alone, but many organizations working together.

VisionSynergy is supported by a group of generous financial investors who appreciate the leveraged power of collaboration.

Our financial investors are hundreds of individuals, churches, and Christian foundations who want their resources to have the greatest possible impact on critical areas of world mission. The majority of our funding comes through large grants from major Christian foundations and high-capacity individuals.

Duplication dilutes investments

Major donors often receive requests for grants from different Christian ministries who are working in the same areas, with similar goals, yet without any cooperation or even awareness of each others’ work. No Kingdom investor wants to see their donation diluted through inefficiency or duplication.

In fact, many philanthropic groups (both Christian and non-Christian) now include specific questions on grant applications wanting to know whether or not the ministry or organization is working in partnership with anyone else.

Collaboration maximizes investments

Partnership maximizes the use of resources.

For example, giving to one of 30 mission agencies working in a Middle East partnership initiative assures the donor that the resources of the other 29 agencies are coordinated for maximum effectiveness without duplication of effort. If donors give to a media broadcasting group working in partnership with others in the area, they know that the efforts of others doing local church planting, healthcare development, or education are all working together with the media ministry.

Investing in organizations who are working in partnership with others is a way to leverage the stewardship of resources. Likewise, investing in the partnership itself is a way to multiply the impact even further.

Those who invest in the work of VisionSynergy are giving not just to the work of one organization, but to the building of collaborative work that impacts numerous organizations.

What Kingdom Investors have said about our work

*

Hugh Maclellan Jr.
President
Maclellan Foundation

“For years I have believed in and supported Kingdom partnerships. Partnerships that clearly define roles and outcomes increase effectiveness and reduce duplication. To conserve resources and get the most effective results, it is increasingly important that ministries work together. Because of this, we strongly support the work of building effective partnerships for evangelism and church planting.“

*

Fritz Kling
President
Kling Philanthropy Group

“Next week, I’ll be speaking to a group of missionaries, and I’ve been told that one of the main topics for the conference will be partnership. It occurred to me what progress has been made, for partnership to be a central theme and one which everyone recognizes as a priority. For many years, you were leading the charge on this topic, and receiving only blank stares or even resistance.  How things have changed!

I felt then, and feel more strongly now, that you were ahead of your time in seeing the importance of partnerships, or what I call “mutuality” in The Meeting of the Waters. I’m often asked which one of the trends I wrote about is the most important, and I think it may be Mutuality. It’s invisible, it slows efforts down, it’s frustrating … but it’s God’s way and impossible to ignore. Thanks for sounding the alarm so broadly, loudly, consistently and insistently.  The good news is that reinforcements have arrived!“

*

Rob Martin
Director
First Fruit Institute

“For more than 25 years I have been engaged in granting to Muslim outreach and I can say without equivocation that the most impactful granting I did in the area of Muslim evangelization and church planting came from our foundational granting to VisionSynergy and its predecessor organization, Interdev. It was this granting that made possible so much of the direct field granting that I later was able to accomplish.

The model is familiar to you: put all of the ministries interested in a certain Muslim people group in a room, give them some basic guidelines and training in partnership, nurture their nascent efforts towards cooperation, and the result is that you will see incredible God-led results occur. I witnessed VisionSynergy, from its beginning, take that model and grow another powerful version of partnership – that of networking ministries’ individual models into effective forces to help drive the results of partnership towards even greater impact.

The grants were hardly ever easy to make. My board, like yours, had real questions: Does this really work? How can we know? Why can’t it pay for itself?  For us, finally, the proof was in the results. In our case, seeing was believing. We witnessed the results in Interdev partnerships we had underwritten and in the VisionSynergy networks we had helped underwrite.

The granting to the ‘logistics’ of missions is hardly the stuff of legend – except to the missions who depend on mission aviation, radio, training institutions, and partnership facilitation for the success of their fieldwork. The funding paradigm of the logistics missions and the field missions has proved to be the single most effective way of getting the work to where the need is.

Let me sum up this, perhaps, overly long endorsement this way: Like any good investment portfolio, a certain amount of diversification is necessary for the overall success of the investor. The work of VisionSynergy is necessary so that the fieldwork, where the rubber meets the road, can be accomplished.“

Want to leverage the power of partnership?

We believe that God is always at work around the world, moving His people toward community and collaboration. That’s why we so often find that the dreams stirring in one person’s heart are the same dreams stirring in another person’s heart. If you want to learn more about how to leverage the power of partnership in your own ministry context, or how to get involved in the work of bringing others together to advance the Gospel, contact us!

Social Hub

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We are connected

The team at VisionSynergy regularly interacts with our ministry partners and other ministry leaders around the world through many online channels and platforms. We publish content and connect with others through public networks and platforms such as YouTube and Twitter. We also interact through a variety of private community platforms – especially for groups operating in security-sensitive ministry areas.

In our role as an advisor to ministry networks, we are often asked to recommend solutions for online communication and collaboration, so we are constantly evaluating new technologies. One of the exciting aspects of ministry in the “Internet-age” is to see how many of the groups we work with have produced a wide variety of innovative sites for online evangelism, social media outreach, mobile ministry, prayer mobilization, and more. We are endlessly inspired and energized by their collective work.

The following are some of the sites we ourselves host in addition to social networks and social media platforms where we are actively engaged.

Synergy Commons

The Synergy Commons is a learning community, training center, and resource library curated by VisionSynergy. Our resources are free and include books, courses, articles, guides, and other publications. Members can interact with other practitioners, utilize resources, and receive training on partnership and collaboration. We launched it but work with collaborative leaders from across the world to power it with their insights!

Commons >

Articles

As pioneers in the area of partnerships in mission, we publish key insights on collaboration through our blog and newsletter. Network leaders from around the world have subscribed to our newsletters and content updates.

Articles >

Newsletter >

YouTube

Our YouTube channel is where we collect and curate “stories from the field” covering the ins and outs of partnerships – as told from the personal experience of mission practitioners from around the world. Our channel currently offers dozens of video stories from experienced ministry leaders in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North & South America.

YouTube >

Twitter

Twitter keeps us connected to the pulse of what so many others in mission are thinking and doing right now. A number of our team are active on Twitter, following and contributing to various conversations.

Twitter >

Slideshare

Visit our Slideshare channel to check out dozens of presentations from our keynotes, workshops, seminars, or other speaking engagements. We have spoken to thousands of mission leaders in dozens of cities around the world.

Slideshare >

Leadership Team

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Staff

We are a small staff of dedicated people who are passionate about the global mission of Jesus Christ and helping Christians work together to fulfill that mission. “Synergy” means that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and that is what we seek for our ourselves as we blend our individual strengths into a high-performance team.

Kärin Primuth
CEO

In 2011, Kärin became CEO of VisionSynergy, succeeding her father (and VisionSynergy’s founder), Phill Butler. According to MissioNexus, Kärin is one of only a handful of women in North America who currently lead internationally-focused mission organizations. Kärin’s vision for collaboration has grown out of a wealth of international ministry experience, having worked in South Africa, India and China, and traveled to more than 25 countries. As coordinator of a cross-cultural mentoring program for eight years, Kärin has developed a passion for equipping mission leaders with effective ministry skills. Prior to that, Kärin spent eight years working in the inner city of Los Angeles. Kärin has an M.A. in Urban Planning from the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA), and a B.S. in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University. She is married with three young adult children.

David Thoresen
Senior Director of Operations

David’s passion for learning about and experiencing other cultures began in high school through his friendships with many exchange students from around the world. He’s traveled to over 30 countries as a student and while working in international business and missions. 

In his role at VisionSynergy David gets to use his skills and experience from both the business and missions worlds. He has worked in banking, international operations management, consulting, finance, and quality management.  On the ministry side, David volunteered in missions at Pantano Christian Church for six years before he joined the staff and served as Outreach Pastor for 13 years, learning missions strategies and best practices while gaining valuable experience developing partnerships with indigenous ministries around the world.    

David has a B.A. in Economics and Management from DePauw University and a Masters in International Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management. He and his wife Lisa have three children: Amelia, Luke and Nate. David enjoys hiking, running, playing games with the family and serving teens through Tucson Refugee Ministry.

Kevin Mason
Senior Director of Global Programs

Michael Kaspar
Director, Global Initiatives

Michael serves as Director of Global Initiatives for VisionSynergy, Lausanne Catalyst for Ministry Partnerships and Networks, and Catalyst for the Vision 5:9 Network. Following his completion of a BS in Business Systems at Taylor University in 2003, Michael was based in London with Operation Mobilization International as Travel Assistant for George Verwer, traveling and ministering in 26 countries on 6 continents, handling logistics, and coordinating local volunteers. Following that, he served for nine years with Operation Mobilization USA as Director of College Mobilization, then as Vice President of Mobilization, and later as Senior Director, sending over 800 short-term and 80-100 long term workers each year in partnership with over 2,000 churches. Since 2014, he has chaired the board of directors for Mission Data International, which partners with 115 organizations and mobilizes believers through the internet through the following sites: shorttermmissions.com, askamissionary.com and preparingtogo.com. Since 2015, he has served as Catalyst for the Vision 5:9 Network, comprised of 180 global, Christ-centered mission organizations, denominations, and churches focused on disciple-making movements among Muslim peoples. In 2017 he began serving the Lausanne Movement as Catalyst for Ministry Partnerships and Networks. Michael enjoys strategically serving others with his skills and experience in strategic planning, communication, networking, facilitating, coaching, and developing collaborations and partnerships.

Daniel Dow
Director, Leadership Learning Communities

Dan’s passion for mobilizing and resourcing people through transformational learning experiences came into focus during college while teaching business English in Sri Lanka for a year as part of a mission team. He has a B.A. in Liberal Studies (Psychology, Mass Communications) and a Masters in Library and Information Science (MLIS) from the University of Washington. From there, his career moved into web development, web team management, and eBusiness in the biotech, pharmaceutical, and insurance sectors. In 2006, Dan put his IT career on hold after he and his wife Shellie adopted a six year old boy with significant needs. During this time, Dan had the opportunity to join the Perspectives team as the Northwest Regional Director from 2007 to 2013. This opportunity combined his passion for mission mobilization, networking, and transformational learning. In 2010, Dan earned his coaching certificate with the International Coach Federation (ICF) and started New Territories Consulting to leverage his passion for catalyzing transformational learning and change. In this capacity, he provided strengths-based leadership and clean coaching, facilitated board retreats, and conducted training workshops for small business leaders and work teams. Dan joined VisionSynergy in 2015 as the Online Community Manager for the Synergy Commons, a global learning community of network leaders engaged in world mission. In what can only be called a God-fit, his role allows him to integrate his passion for creating transformational learning experiences with his technical, training, coaching, and graphic facilitation skills.

Board of Directors

VisionSynergy’s Board of Directors is an engaged and energetic group who provide oversight and strategic direction for the ministry. Each member of the Board brings a wealth of experience to our team and a strong commitment to our central purpose – accelerating the mission of Jesus Christ through the development and strengthening of strategic Christian networks.

Scott White
Pastor of Global Outreach
Lake Avenue Church

Scott White came to faith at Lake Avenue Church (LAC) and has called it ‘home’ for 40 years. During that time at LAC he has served on the College Department Staff, Genesis Adult Community, and the Twenty Something / CrossRoads Community. For over 20 years, he operated a contracting business. In 1999, Scott joined LAC pioneering the role of Missions Mobilization Coordinator and in 2003 became their Pastor of Global Outreach. In addition to that role, he currently serves as the Associate Pastor of Mission and Evangelism. He has served as National Chairman of the Executive Coordinators Council for the Perspectives Movement, served as a founding trustee for The Marketplace Foundation and served two terms on the Board of Global Opportunities. Scott holds a Masters Degree in Global Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Dan Voetmann
President
Destination Marketing

Dan launched Destination Marketing in 1984 and quickly developed a reputation as one of the leading branding experts in the Northwest. With his “Category Domination” philosophy Dan has helped many North American companies such as Sleep Country, Penguin Windows, Sono Bello, Car Toys and ListenUP! Canada achieve category dominance. The latest evolution of this tremendously effective strategy combines the relational power of Internet marketing tactics with the best brand building techniques of invasive media. As a “Missionary Kid” who grew up in Africa, Dan also brings to the board personal experience in international missions.

Debbie Slavin
Global Facilities Director
Bluebeam

Debbie Slavin has been on a career adventure for 35+ years in the corporate world. She has held numerous positions including administrative assistant, customer service leader, director of business development, to her current role as Global Facilities Director at Bluebeam. She has worked for both large Fortune 100 companies to small tech start-ups, leveraging opportunities via learning and a willingness to tackle the unknown. She has built teams and organizations along with a variety of mergers and acquisitions. Raised Catholic, Debbie rededicated her life to Christ and was baptized in the mid-80’s. In ministry, she has served as a children’s Sunday school teacher, the planner for women’s ministry events, women’s bible study table leader, an usher, member of the Christian Assembly retreat team, and participated on the Christian Assembly missions trip to Tanzania to work with Wild Hope International and the Maasai. Debbie had her world rocked after taking the “Perspectives on the World Christian Movement” class and is now one of the lead coordinators for the class at Christian Assembly. Debbie is an avid runner having run more than a dozen marathons and more half marathons than she can count. She loves reading, learning and experiencing new things. Debbie loves walking her very social golden retriever, Sunday.

Milo Arkema
Consultant
Chima Consulting, LLC

Milo Arkema is a business consultant with Chima Consulting, LLC. He serves on the boards of several corporations and non-profit organizations. Prior to 2007 he was a partner with Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP, an accounting and advisory firm. Milo advises CEOs and shareholders of emerging and family-owned companies around business and growth issues including exit planning. He also leads transaction due diligence teams for acquisitions by private equity as well as strategic buyers. Milo is a Certified Public Accountant earned a bachelors degree at Dordt College. He and his wife Jentine live in Minneapolis, MN.

Doug Gamble
Pastor of Mission Partnerships
Crossroads Fellowship

N. Doug Gamble (douggamble.org) has served as pastor in small and large churches since 1976. He is currently Pastor of Mission Partnerships at Crossroads Fellowship in Raleigh, NC, where he concentrates on local outreach. Doug has traveled more than two million miles in his work with multiracial and international groups, in and out of the country. He conducts a highly popular networking event every March where government agencies, churches, schools, and nonprofits collaborate on solutions for a wide array of needs in the Raleigh-Durham area. The event has grown each year. Doug’s writing has appeared in various publications. Following up on his self-published book, The Heart Attack That Saved My Life and Ministry, Guideposts covered the habits and stresses that led to Doug’s heart attack at age 49, along with his recovery and the enlightenment that redirected his ministry. His experience on several nonprofit boards, along with years of partnership with more than 80 organizations, equipped Doug to counsel and help launch many different outreaches. Doug is currently working on a new book, Bored Again Christians, which helps people imagine and launch the kinds of outreach appropriate to their church or neighborhood. Many of Doug’s clients are pastors and other individuals who are tired of monotony and irrelevance in church life. Doug helps them find a biblical sense of fulfillment in ͞creating the community their church’s neighborhood longs for. Doug and his wife, Kathy, have two adult children, a few grandkids, two cats, and a sneaky beaver that gnaws on their trees by the pond.

Holly Kirkpatrick
Territory Business Manager
Intercept

Holly has enjoyed a career in biopharmaceutical sales, training, and account management, consistently ranking as a top producer for Eli Lilly, Roche, Genentech, and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America. She is currently a Territory Business Manager for Intercept, helping patients and veterans with non-viral liver diseases. Holly has a lifelong commitment to seeing unreached people groups know Jesus. This passion took root during an ethnographic Joshua Project in North India following graduate school. She has served on the board of Mbeya International Ministries and her homeowners association. Holly has recently mentored Haggard International Scholars for Azusa Pacific University, taught English to Asian immigrants and a class for new believers at church. She holds a B.S. in Christian Education from Biola University and a M.A. in Social Science, Higher Education Administration from Azusa Pacific University.

Want to leverage the power of partnership?

We believe that God is always at work around the world, moving His people toward community and collaboration. That’s why we so often find that the dreams stirring in one person’s heart are the same dreams stirring in another person’s heart. If you want to learn more about how to leverage the power of partnership in your own ministry context, or how to get involved in the work of bringing others together to advance the Gospel, contact us!

Tools & Training

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Equipping Christian leaders for effective collaboration

VisionSynergy is committed to equipping the leaders of the networks we serve – as well as the broader Christian community – through practical resources, focused training, and strategic consultations emphasizing the best practices of ministry collaboration. We want to help leaders get a firm grasp on the key principles and specific skill-sets for building collaborative initiatives that can have a significant impact on the world.

After nearly 30 years of developing strategic mission partnerships and networks, we know that simply getting people around the table together is not enough to power real collaboration.

Effective collaboration
depends on
effective leadership.

The world is changing rapidly. Ministries that have no value or skills for partnering are destined to failure at worst, or isolated impact at best. It is essential that the ministry leadership paradigm for the next generation is firmly grounded in collaboration.

Practical resources

We provide a range of useful tools to help leaders develop the vision and skills they need to build effective collaborative initiatives. Our resources are free and include books, courses, articles, guides, and other publications.

Synergy Commons

The Synergy Commons publicly launched in 2015 and replaced the PowerOfConnecting resource site which we’d hosted for seven years. Members can interact with other practitioners, utilize free resources, and receive training on partnership and collaboration. The Commons is a global learning community for Christian leaders who want to build effective missional networks in their ministry fields. We launched it but work with collaborative leaders from across the world to power it with their insights!

Learn more about the Commons >

Handbook

We provide free online access in multiple languages and multiple formats to the definitive partnership handbook – Well Connected (written by VisionSynergy founder and mission partnership pioneer, Phill Butler). Thousands of ministry leaders around the world have purchased print copies or downloaded the free e-book.

Download the Book >

Courses

We have developed a unique, university-level course on the topic of partnerships in mission. The course is available for free use in Christian seminaries, colleges, and Bible schools, and has already been used at the master’s and doctoral levels in more than a dozen programs in six different countries. The course is currently available in English, Spanish, and Russian, with more translations on the way.

Learn more about Courses >

Social Media Sites & Blog

As thought leaders in the area of partnerships in mission, we actively publish through SlideShare, Twitter, our blog, YouTube channel, and other social media sites.

Visit our Social Sites >

Focused training

We offer a variety of face-to-face and online training events through interactive workshops, keynote presentations, webinars, and other facilitated discussions. Most of our face-to-face training events are highly customized and offered primarily to the networks and partnerships we serve as advisors. We do also provide periodic online learning opportunities open to everyone.

Face-to-Face: Workshops, Keynotes, and Presentations

We offer intensive, introductory workshops covering the entire process of partnership development. We also offer keynotes, lectures, and other presentations to inspire and inform Christian leaders on the power and potential of ministry collaboration.

Online: Webinars, Tele- conferences, and Forum Discussions

We offer periodic webinars and teleconferences addressing specific issues that commonly arise in the operation of ministry partnerships and networks. In addition, we facilitate interactive discussions in our online forums including book clubs, Q&A sessions, topical dialogues, and more.

Strategic consultations

Since 2013, we’ve hosted a biennial, international, and invitation-only consultation designed to give in-depth insight into the state of collaboration in global Christian mission.

Synergy Summit

This consultation will provide a connecting point for leaders from the networks and partnerships we serve, along with major Kingdom investors and others who provide resources and mobilization in missions. The consultation will be an opportunity for peer leaders to learn what works – and what doesn’t work – in the broader context of mission collaboration. Attendance at the Summit is by invitation only.

Synergy Summit >

Want to leverage the power of partnership?

We believe that God is always at work around the world, moving His people toward community and collaboration. That’s why we so often find that the dreams stirring in one person’s heart are the same dreams stirring in another person’s heart. If you want to learn more about how to leverage the power of partnership in your own ministry context, or how to get involved in the work of bringing others together to advance the Gospel, contact us!

Advisory Services

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Developing missional networks is our expertise

VisionSynergy specializes in the work of empowering Christian organizations to collaborate in ministry by developing and strengthening strategic networks and partnerships in critical areas of world mission.

At any point in time, we advise the leadership of about a dozen international ministry networks and partnerships which, collectively, involve hundreds of Christian organizations. Through these collaborative initiatives, partners work together to share information and resources, and ultimately, accomplish significant shared goals.

The basis of our work is not just theory or theology. Over the past 30 years, members of our team have formed, facilitated, or advised more than a hundred multi-lateral and multi-national networks and partnerships which have achieved major breakthroughs in their various areas of ministry.

We know from experience that God’s people can actually work together in tangible ways to make real and lasting changes in the world.

• Why collaborate?
• Our mission priorities
• Our history & impact

We serve as a catalyst, coach, and consultant

We function in three key capacities as we help Christian leaders maximize the effectiveness of their missional networks, partnerships, and other collaborative initiatives:

Catalyst

Through a wide circle of connections with global ministry leaders, we identify priority areas of world mission where collaboration has the potential to create genuine breakthroughs. We assist networks to identify and connect with potential partner ministries and to identify and recruit potential facilitators or coordinators for the group. As initiatives move forward with their plans, we guide them through the initial stages of launching their strategic network or partnership.

Coach

We work with the leadership teams of networks and partnerships to strengthen their ability to effectively direct and coordinate the activities of their groups. We serve as a “sounding board” for leaders, providing timely and relevant advice so that they can successfully form and facilitate their collaboration. Through an executive-style coaching relationship and customized training, we guide leaders in goal-setting, key decision-making, and building internal capacity within their groups.

Consultant

After the networks or partnerships are up and running, we offer guidance on how they can address a wide variety of operational issues in order to avoid major pitfalls and become more effective in accomplishing their shared goals. As appropriate, we facilitate key meetings, make strategic recommendations, and participate in hands-on work with major projects. Some of the key common issues we address include: meeting management, assimilation of new partners, conflict resolution, mobilizing effective workgroups, funding and budgeting, evaluation and reporting, communications and technology, etc.

What Ministry Leaders say about our work

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Tim Taylor
Mission Pastor & Initiator
Nepal Unreached Peoples Network

“I’ve told you many times, thank you, for helping me with the partnership formation meeting to engage the 10 UUPG’s [unengaged unreached people groups] in Nepal. ALL 10 UUPG’s of Nepal are now engaged! Obviously, not all ‘reached’ but all of our groups are now engaged! As we know, all of the credit goes to Jesus, but all of my thanks goes to you. I want to reiterate how much I appreciate you taking the time and the risk to invest in an unknown guy in Fort Worth, TX. Your investment is yielding eternal fruit in Nepal.“

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Jim & Carla Bowman
Founders/Directors
Scriptures In Use
& Bridges Training Network

“[In our recent review of SIU’s history] we were quick to remember the significant contribution that you have made to our ministry. We are delighted that God allowed us to work along side of you to make a difference to so many who once were in darkness, but now have come to the light. We wouldn’t have been where we are today without you.“

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Clyde Taber
Facilitator of the Visual Story Network, involving 170+ agencies & 1250+ people as a global community of visual storytellers leading a movement so everyone can
encounter Jesus and His Kingdom

“A big thanks to you …  Your input always keeps me mindful that we must engage the troops and give them opportunity to own the movement. It is extremely helpful when you are able to see the common themes that emerge in our discussions and then be able to isolate the priority issues. I appreciate your ability to call people to dream, but then translate the dream into tangible practice. Thanks to VisionSynergy for fanning the flame of movements!“

What Kingdom Investors say about our work

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Hugh Maclellan Jr.
President
Maclellan Foundation

“For years I have believed in and supported Kingdom partnerships. Partnerships that clearly define roles and outcomes increase effectiveness and reduce duplication. To conserve resources and get the most effective results, it is increasingly important that ministries work together. Because of this, we strongly support the work of building effective partnerships for evangelism and church planting.“

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Fritz Kling
President
Kling Philanthropy Group

“Next week, I’ll be speaking to a group of missionaries, and I’ve been told that one of the main topics for the conference will be partnership. It occurred to me what progress has been made, for partnership to be a central theme and one which everyone recognizes as a priority. For many years, you were leading the charge on this topic, and receiving only blank stares or even resistance.  How things have changed!

I felt then, and feel more strongly now, that you were ahead of your time in seeing the importance of partnerships, or what I call “mutuality” in The Meeting of the Waters. I’m often asked which one of the trends I wrote about is the most important, and I think it may be Mutuality. It’s invisible, it slows efforts down, it’s frustrating … but it’s God’s way and impossible to ignore. Thanks for sounding the alarm so broadly, loudly, consistently and insistently.  The good news is that reinforcements have arrived!“

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Rob Martin
Director
First Fruit Institute

“For more than 25 years I have been engaged in granting to Muslim outreach and I can say without equivocation that the most impactful granting I did in the area of Muslim evangelization and church planting came from our foundational granting to VisionSynergy and its predecessor organization, Interdev. It was this granting that made possible so much of the direct field granting that I later was able to accomplish.

The model is familiar to you: put all of the ministries interested in a certain Muslim people group in a room, give them some basic guidelines and training in partnership, nurture their nascent efforts towards cooperation, and the result is that you will see incredible God-led results occur. I witnessed VisionSynergy, from its beginning, take that model and grow another powerful version of partnership – that of networking ministries’ individual models into effective forces to help drive the results of partnership towards even greater impact.

The grants were hardly ever easy to make. My board, like yours, had real questions: Does this really work? How can we know? Why can’t it pay for itself?  For us, finally, the proof was in the results. In our case, seeing was believing. We witnessed the results in Interdev partnerships we had underwritten and in the VisionSynergy networks we had helped underwrite.

The granting to the ‘logistics’ of missions is hardly the stuff of legend – except to the missions who depend on mission aviation, radio, training institutions, and partnership facilitation for the success of their fieldwork. The funding paradigm of the logistics missions and the field missions has proved to be the single most effective way of getting the work to where the need is.

Let me sum up this, perhaps, overly long endorsement this way: Like any good investment portfolio, a certain amount of diversification is necessary for the overall success of the investor. The work of VisionSynergy is necessary so that the fieldwork, where the rubber meets the road, can be accomplished.“

Want to leverage the power of partnership?

We believe that God is always at work around the world, moving His people toward community and collaboration. That’s why we so often find that the dreams stirring in one person’s heart are the same dreams stirring in another person’s heart. If you want to learn more about how to leverage the power of partnership in your own ministry context, or how to get involved in the work of bringing others together to advance the Gospel, contact us!

About Us

• By Lucas

Advancing collaboration
in global Christian mission

VisionSynergy helps Christian organizations work together for maximum impact by developing and strengthening strategic ministry networks and partnerships in critical areas of world mission.

We play a unique role in the worldwide Christian movement as one of the few mission service organizations specifically dedicated to empowering ministry collaboration.

What we do

We act as a catalyst, coach, and consultant – providing advisory services for numerous multi-lateral networks and partnerships of Christian mission organizations. We empower these groups to accomplish together what they could never do alone as they seek to advance the Gospel in every part of the world where Christ is not yet known.

We also provide a variety of tools & training to equip collaborative leaders both within the specific networks we serve and in the broader Christian community as we encourage Christian leaders everywhere to adopt a partnership approach to ministry in their own contexts.

• Advisory Services
• Tools & Training

Why it matters

Our priorities are focused on critical areas in world mission where ministry collaboration is essential to achieving real breakthroughs. These are areas where the situations are too complex, where the challenges are too big, and where the resources required are simply too great for any one organization.

The primary emphasis of our work is identifying strategies for collaboration that will be most effective in advancing the progress of the Gospel among the unreached peoples of the world.

• Why collaborate?
• Our Mission Priorities
• Our History & Impact

Who we are

We are one of the few organizations specifically dedicated to advancing strategic collaboration in global Christian mission. Over the past twenty-five years, members of our team have formed, facilitated, or advised more than a hundred missional networks & partnerships which have collectively involved thousands of Christian organizations.

• Leadership Team
• Kingdom Investors
• Prayer Supporters
• Ministry Partners

Want to leverage the power of partnership?

We believe that God is always at work around the world, moving His people toward community and collaboration. That’s why we so often find that the dreams stirring in one person’s heart are the same dreams stirring in another person’s heart. If you want to learn more about how to leverage the power of partnership in your own ministry context, or how to get involved in the work of bringing others together to advance the Gospel, contact us!

Why collaborate?

• By Lucas

The Problem: Division & Duplication

After more than 200 years of modern missionary efforts, we have much to celebrate! Many people groups that had previously never heard the name of Christ now have a thriving, indigenous church. The global picture of the Christian movement today is astounding:

• more than 2 billion Christians worldwide
• 5 million churches
• 43,000 denominations
• 12 million workers

‘Come follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ (Mark 1:17)

Sadly, in spite of the tremendous resources of the worldwide Christian movement, the facts remain:

• thousands of people groups – including more than 300 million people – have no missionary among them
• thousands of languages still have no Bible
• millions of villages, towns, and entire cities have no church
• billions of people are oral learners who can’t or don’t read
• billions of people are Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists who don’t know Jesus

‘It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known’ (Romans 15:20)

Although there are hundreds of mission-sending organizations in the world and thousands of missionaries have given their lives, the goal of world evangelism remains largely unfulfilled.

The question is:

Why?

One of the main reasons is that Christians simply do not work together.

Over the centuries, one of the most significant barriers to the advance of the Gospel has been the division and lack of unity in the church.

Clearly, a task that is so great cannot be accomplished by one mission organization or church alone. Only a collaborative, unified commitment will enable the global Church to work together to reach those yet unreached with the love of Christ.

The Solution: Collaboration

VisionSynergy has seen over and over that when God’s people work together in partnership, God’s Spirit is unleashed in remarkable ways that catalyze spiritual movements in parts of the world where individual missionary efforts have had limited impact on those living in darkness for generations.

We are convinced that Christians are called to work together, and after 30 years experience with more than a hundred major ministry partnerships around the world, we can confidently say that collaboration is the single best strategy for addressing the most pressing needs in the world today.

Collaboration is the key that reduces the duplication of our efforts, maximizes the impact of our ministries, and strengthens the credibility of our witness for Christ.

The Challenge: Effectiveness

The real challenge, of course, is not that people are opposed to partnership in principle. Few people we have ever met would say that Christians should NOT work together. The message of the Scriptures in support of practical collaboration is clear (1 Corinthians 3:4-9; John 4:35-38; 1 Corinthians 12:12-26; Romans 12:3-21; Ephesians 4:1-16; 1 Corinthians 1:10-17; John 17:20-23; John 13:34-35). The real challenge is that there is a gap between the stated values and the actual practice of Christian organizations.

While Satan and sin are certainly barriers to Christian collaboration, one of the main reasons we have seen for this gap between stated values and actual practice is that most Christian leaders simply do not have the hands-on skills to collaborate.

Merely calling a meeting and getting people around a table together is not enough to energize real partnership (in fact, calling a meeting too early is a great way to kill a partnership). Building an active and engaged network or partnership that involves many individuals or organizations working together toward significant shared goals requires specific competencies and processes.

Collaboration is not rocket science, but none of us is born knowing how to tie our own shoes, much less how to build high-impact teams and partnerships. Just as sailors or scouts learn how to tie particular knots for different purposes, there are certain steps to follow and certain configurations that work best when it comes to launching something as complex as a multi-lateral, multi-national, high-impact network for Christian mission.

As we work with leaders from around the world, one of the primary aims of VisionSynergy is to discover and share the processes, principles, and best practices that enable effective collaboration.

Want to leverage the power of partnership?

We believe that God is always at work around the world, moving His people toward community and collaboration. That’s why we so often find that the dreams stirring in one person’s heart are the same dreams stirring in another person’s heart. If you want to learn more about how to leverage the power of partnership in your own ministry context, or how to get involved in the work of bringing others together to advance the Gospel, contact us!