‘Too many cooks spoil the broth!’ That’s the cry of many church leaders and Christians when it comes to partnership and working with others. The thoughts of having to go to meetings and do everything by committee drives overworked and underpaid Christians crazy a lot of the time. Yet there are also many Christian leaders who cry ‘many hands make light work!’ They have discovered a depth of fellowship, achievement and purpose in working with others that has transformed the way they think about working with other people. The two seem to be completely contradictory – but which does the bible encourage?

Theology of Partnership
Well the stratightforward answer is partnership! Without it, Adam and Eve ran into a great deal of trouble! The twelve tribes of Israel worked best when they worked together. The commands for the building of the temple and its function, the transporting of the tabernacle and the construction of the ark – all of these demanded detailed and demanding partnership. Add to these examples the fact that Jesus commissioned disciples to work in teams, called twelve people to be the pillars of His church and that the Apostle Paul always worked in teams and you have pretty strong biblical support for partnership. The church is built on body ministry – and Scriptures like Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12 and Peter’s letters all make it really clear that working together is vital to the success of the church. And of course, God himself is a partnership of three personalities working in perfect harmony.  Perhaps the most poignant example of Scriptural encouragement to partnership is the deeply emotional and moving prayer of Jesus himself in John 17 – that the world might know that we are one. The evidence is pretty overwhelming theologically!  There are lots of other, more pragmatic reasons for working in partnership, though.

Opportunities and Benefits
When churches work together they share resources, avoid duplication and give one another mutual support. The lonely youth worker suddenly finds another lonely youth worker and the two support and encourage one another! You also discover a strengthened vision when working with others – after all two sets of eyes can see the same thing very differently – and one compliments the other. You also increase the chances of meeting the right people at the right time when you work with others because you open up more contacts from two address books than you do from one. The very fact that one church has a certain tradition and set of contacts whilst another moves in different spheres of influence is a goof reason for working together.

Not only that, but when you work with other churches, you can suddenly claim to represent much more of your community and your voice is strengthened by working with others. One person can shout, but 100 people can roar! This kind of joint working leads to strengthend credibility and a much more reliable reputation. Would you rather be known as someone who people can work with or someone who can’t work with others? How do you think Jesus would be described today?

Perhaps the most obvious benefit of partnership is the fact that you can each benefit from one another. Mistakes don’t have to be repeated and good lessons are always worth learning. Partnership gives you an opportunity to avoid the pitfalls others have fallen into and take the right decision at the right time.

Obstacles
Despite the theological and pragmatic benefits of partnership, it would be naďve to suggest that there are not a number of obstacles to working together.  The biggest obstacle is pride. We can fool ourselves into thinking that we are the only ones who know the answers, that God can only use our church, or that our theology is tighter and better than anyone elses. Of course, none of these are true, but ego is a powerful thing! We can dress it up as much as we like, but if we think that we always know best then there is a problem deep within our hearts or our church that we need to address.

It can also be really hard to build trust with people that we have been distanced from for years. You don’t overcome that kind of distance with one call and a coffee – but you can at least make a start. Sometimes initial contact with others can be a challenge, but we shouldn’t let that initial difficulty put us off. The challenges of committees, and teams and bureaucracy can also get in the way of partnering – but only if we let them.

The biggest obstacle to partnering is the fear that we will have a clash of culture or identity. But we need to learn that we do not need to agree with everything someone does to partner with them. I don’t need to weaken my Christian identity to work with non-Christian organisations. Instead I need to be sure of my identity and certain about when I can partner and when I cannot. Sometimes yo9u have to make it really clear what you can do and what you cannot do. There are things we can support and things we cannot support as Christians. But perhaps if we discover and live out our clear Christian faith and identity the only exclusion that will take place is when others decide they cannot accept who we are or what we stand for? That is a challenge that many of us need to learn to understand and live out.

You do not need to compromise to partner, but you do need to be open to learning, growing and changing through the input of others. Christians face discrimination because of our distinctives, but we should be the champions of distinctive faith and partnership meeting the diverse needs of our communities. Partnership challenges us to think through who we are, what we really believe and what is essential and what is not. We need to learn different language and customs and activities. But that is exactly what we ask people to do every time we invite new people to come to our church services!

	Quick Guide to Partnership Here is a quick guide to help you work out how you can partner effectively. It is by no means exhaustive, but it will start your thinking – all the best! 1. Work out who you are and what you have to offer. Churches have vision, experience, understanding of the community, commitment to long-term solutions, buildings and strong local knowledge. You need to work out what this means for you and your congregation and the community where God has placed you. Why has God placed you there? Who are the other people at work in your community? Ask yourself which of those groups you can work with and how you could help them. What are the non-negotiables for you as a church.  Be careful not to enshrine your preferences here – what are the essential and the non-essential things for you and your faith? Let them shape who you work with. You can bring a holistic approach to your community. You can be more relational than some other groups. You can offer more in depth and focussed support to individuals. You can reach people that others cannot – the traditionally under-represented and excluded people in your community. Also, don’t forget that you can bring the hope of a fresh strat, true transformation and real purpose and hope through what you do. All of those are pretty strong and unique contributions of the church to a community or a project. David Blunkett has said this: “Faith groups are a resource available to all areas of the country, even the most deprived, the least active and the most likely to be disengaged from the political process. This is a resource that every government regeneration programme cannot match.” 2. Focus on your strengths and areas of common interest. Partner on the issues you feel strongly about! Decide what resources you have, then target them in a thought through ands effective way. A small church cannot partner in hundreds of projects, but your contribution could make a real difference in one. So work out what you are really passionate about in your community and then make every effort to get involved in something that will make a difference in that area. 3. Signpost. One of the key elements of partnership is recognising that you do not have to do everything yourself! Learn  the art of referring people to others in your area. You may not be able to help a young teenage mum with a flat and food and clothes. But by partnering with others in your town, you can become part of a wide network of people who have a broad spread of resources. If you aren’t at the table, you don’t share in the feast. 4. Find mutual benefit. Partnership should be beneficial to you and to others – so find the common ground and the common benefit. But be careful! Always be ready to give yourself away. Partner because it is right, not just because it is good for you. Every now and then God challenges us to give away the best of ourselves in partnership – after all that is what he did.

Where to from here?
Well, the whistle stop tour of partnership has ended. Just one last encouragement – speak the right language! Learn to articulate hope in words that non-Christians understand.  We talk about the ‘poor’, the government talks about the ‘excluded. We talk about having a heart for our communities, the government talks about community cohesion. We talk about a prophetic role, the government talks about empowering others. We talk about loving our neighbour and the government talks about mutual support and social capital. We talk about helping people fulfil their potential in Christ, the government talks about supporting people!

Whatever you do as you think about partnering, in your head and in your heart, do it for Jesus.

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Rev Malcolm Duncan
Leader of Faithworks
1 Kennington Road
London SE1 7QP