The Methodist Church in Britain, from its earliest days, has been a movement of people keen to share the gospel and offer practical care for others. Today Methodism encourages its churches to play a full and active role in being part of the global fellowship of Methodist and Wesleyan tradition churches spread across 152 countries. This is done through the three main channels of prayer, people and money.
In today's world the 'people' element of the relationship is key to a fuller, personal engagement between churches in Britain and overseas. The Methodist Church still sends long-term Mission Partners overseas - not only to those countries that need the specific skills but also to places where having a person (or a family) from another country can be really helpful to the relationship between the sending and receiving churches. Short term volunteer placements and group visits add to the possibilities to make links between churches, circuits and districts, real, personal and rewarding for all.
However, partnerships between churches usually start on a much smaller scale and often begin with a church in UK wanting to 'do' something 'for' a church overseas. There is nothing inherently wrong with this starting position but it can be a recipe for disaster if careful thought is not given to the early stages of developing the link.
Having helped both C of E and Methodist churches (and their dioceses and districts) establish partnership links, I am convinced the secret behind a truly effective link is a good matching of expectations on both sides right from the beginning. The partnerships that fail to flourish are usually the ones where one side of the partnership has a different understanding of the aims, purposes and benefits of the link than the other church.
All too often the first thing churches in Britain see in a link is a physical need of the new partner. Here, in the material and financially wealthy North, it is often thought that most problems can be solved by sending money and goods out to the church school, hospital or junior church. Of course these material things can often be of real assistance, but I don't believe this is a good basis for real partnership and especially not at the beginning of a new link.
Do try and steer clear of forming a link around a 'brief encounter' that has happened when someone from your church has visited a place on holiday, seen a church, been shown a school or hospital etc. Promises made in the heat of the moment may be regretted later and may be hard to fulfil. Even more importantly the casual tourist cannot get a true sense of the real priorities for the church or community in such a short time. Unknown to the visitor are all the plans that the local, regional or national church may already have in place for that area. The bishop or regional minister will have his or her priorities for the church in that country and there may be other places in much greater need. In the same way that child sponsorship alienates individual young people from families and communities, so a link established on 'solving a desperate need' can do the same for a school, hospital, church etc.
A partnership link, as in any partnership between individuals, relies for success on openness, honesty, and trust - but most of all on the ability to be able to both give and receive. In the North (especially in our churches) we are very good at giving and often very poor at receiving. As you think about a possible new link, how much time does you church put in to 'what might we receive from our partner church' compared with 'what will we give from here'?
So what might a church receive from an overseas partner? Well of course that depends where in the world the link may be with. Partnership links don't have to be with churches in poorer parts of the world. I remember, about twenty years ago, a church linked with Germany received a large crate containing the German church's old, cast-off photocopier because they had felt sorry for the poor UK church!
More realistically, churches here can gain so much from the sharing of music, liturgy, evangelistic zeal, prayer and of course friendships - just as partner churches can gain from these same areas of church life. In a world that appears to be ever shrinking, it is more important that we understand how we best relate to those of other cultures, languages and traditions, as well as truly modelling this understanding in our church communities. We can only do this when we ourselves have an ever deepening relationship with sisters and brothers in other places, and of course in other churches.
So where do you start?
Firstly, draw a small group from your church together, preferably with your minister, pastor, vicar etc and discuss together:
- why you want a link
- what you expect to get from it
- what can you offer to a link
- whereabouts in the world would you like to link with
- whether / how the link will involve money, visits (hopefully two-way), prayer links
- whether there are any local issues that may direct a good place to link with
- how long would you like the link to last
- whether this will be your only overseas link
Then, if your national church has a mission department or mission agencies, do get in touch with them. They will know of partner churches they work with who are interested in forming a partnership or companionship link with a church, or groups of churches here in the UK. They may also have material available with guidelines and good practice for partnership links. Written guidelines (just like this article) will never cover every situation but they are all worth reading!
The next stage is to prepare yourselves for making contact. This may sound a bit dramatic but many a potential link has failed at this stage! There are the obvious preparations such as knowing what time it is in the other place and what language will be spoken when the phone call is answered. But it is also imperative that when first contact is made that you make no assumptions about what the partner may wish the link to look and feel like. It is all too easy to rush in, do all the talking, explain how you have thought through all about the link and what you want to receive as well as give ...
Hold on!!! Many other cultures are extremely polite and will let you talk and talk. They will not want to disagree with what you are saying - even if it is not what they expect from such a link. So take it slowly and begin by introducing yourselves to each other. It's a long time since I started going out with the woman who has now been my wife for 29 years. I didn't ask her to marry me, buy a home and start a family on our first date! Rather we slowly got to know each other over the couple of years before our wedding (and of course we are still finding things out about each other!) Hopefully you can see the analogy.
Nowadays contact can be so much easier via email, Skype etc. But be warned - there are many places around the world (including rural Norfolk where I live) where the internet connection is slow and unreliable. Consideration needs to be given as to who is communicating in the initial set-up stage of a link. Is it a minister to minister, bishop to bishop, conversation? Who in the partner church has the authority to discuss and agree ways forward with a link?
I am a great believer in personal visits being something that really strengthen links, but be careful that these are not only people from Britain going overseas. That skews the understanding of partnership and is rarely helpful for a link. Visas and immigration can be a real problem for people coming to Britain from some countries, but it is worth the hassle of going through the application processes. Do be honest about why people are coming here - and do make sure that there is consistency across all the official documents both here and overseas.
Partnership links can be a hugely important element in a church's life. They open eyes to a wider world, to see a greater depth of the global community. They offer real chance to share in prayer, worship and service with those we cannot encounter on a daily basis in our regular lives. They can be a basis on which God's Kingdom for all people can be built here on earth
