Pre-Marital Counseling for Congregations in Partnership

-David Wesley

In earlier posts I have defined five patterns for healthy partnerships. I will be at a large church this weekend that invited me to speak to their congregation about aspects from my book A Common Mission that would help them as they begin a new partnership. I have chosen to re-frame the five patterns in terms of marriage counseling for congregations in two different cultures. There are many parallels since marriage is a cross-cultural partnership. Most important is the fourth pattern that reminds us that any successful partnership between congregations or individuals focuses on God and His mission. The following are some of my power point slides that I will be using:

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A Common Mission

By October 1 st A Common Mission should be available to order. I am excited to share the stories and the findings from the research that formed the book. This blog will be an on-going dialog for those who read the book. Five patterns of healthy congregational partnerships form the framework of this book. These patterns emerge from research derived in congregations heavily involved in congregational partnerships. The congregations vary from mega churches of 7,000 congregants, to small churches of fifty members. The congregations surveyed represent a variety of theological traditions. Furthermore, the congregations maintain different approaches to partnership. Other than their Christian faith, the common strand among these congregations entails a commitment to a long-term relationship with another congregation, or area, beyond their own nationality. This commitment is based on a common mission. ...

A Vision of the Other

by David Wesley A recent article in The Guardian questions how efforts to raise funds for Africa such as the recent Band Aid video often portrays the difference between Africans and those giving the funding in disparaging ways. Conducting research that supports A Common Mission led to some unexpected discoveries. One of these was the way that Africans perceived their partners in the U.S. and conversely how those in the U.S. perceived their partners in Africa. Beyond interviews I collected videos, articles and other information in which those in the U.S. described their partners in Africa. Relationships that are heavily dependent on donors affect how congregations frame the ‘other’. Stories that are told and images used for securing funds may frame people in the host country in ways that depict the enormous difference between the donor and the recipient demonstrating bleak situations through the use of pictures that emphasize the extreme poverty. An issue of the Int...

The Whole Church as Missionary

An important part of A Common Mission is the focus on mission as the very nature of the Triune God and thus the nature of the Church as the body of Christ. Mission is not a marginal program or activity of the Church, rather mission is the church's heartbeat. I am indebted to authors such as South African missiologist David Bosch, British missiologist, Lesslie Newbigin as well as Latin American missiologists Rene Padilla and Samuel Escobar for their great contribution to missional theology that recognizes that the church is missionary. For this post I have included an editorial by Rene Padilla that is well worth the time to read. I welcome your comments on this article. The whole church is missionary C. René Padilla To say that the whole Church is missionary is stating something that Christians of the first century would probably have considered a truism. Just read the book of Acts to be convinced that the apostolic gospel was spread largely due to the enthusiastic partici...

Misión en Conjunto

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