Several years ago I was invited to join a small group of men to help lead the annual church planters retreat in Montana. I was apprehensive because our church did not have the resources to help fund the retreat in a significant way. Beyond that, I was not sure I had any particular wisdom or expertise to offer, since I was not a church planter. As I flew home after the first year much of my apprehension had disappeared. What I came to realize is that state-to-state partnerships have less to do with the amount of money invested and more to do with your willingness to make a difference. Whether you are on the fence or you are all in on our state-to-state partnerships, here are four ways you can make a difference.
1. You and your church have something to offer. No matter the size of your congregation or amount of available resources, you have something to offer. MBC currently has partnerships in Montana and Minnesota-Wisconsin, both of these conventions are considered “pioneer works”. While there are always churches and church plants who can use your financial support, do not overlook the absolute necessity for developing authentic relationships and friendships with pastors and churches in these pioneer states. Many of these pastors are isolated geographically and culturally so do not downplay the significance of intentionally building friendships with our brothers and sisters in other states. Your encouragement and accountability might just be the difference maker.
2. You have the opportunity to bring others along. I have personally experienced this blessing. As a pastor of a smaller rural church with a limited budget, I was invited to attend a vision trip by a pastor and friend of a larger church who covered most of my expenses. Without this opportunity I might never have engaged with this missions opportunity. If you pastor a church with ample missions resources, please consider inviting and paying for a pastor with less margin in his ministry budget to join you on your next out-of-state mission trip. Your investment in him might just be a difference maker.
3. You have the opportunity to deploy the unique gifts of your church in a new context. As you pray and strategize about what part you and your church will play in state-to-state partnerships I would encourage you to think about the people who have been a blessing to you in your church. Those same gifts that have blessed you in your ministry can be deployed to bless our partners in other states. Do you have a contractor you call when things break at church, who never seems to give you an invoice? I bet he would be willing to do the same for a church in another state. Do you have a person or a group of people who regularly write you a note of encouragement and occasionally slip a Starbucks gift card in your hand? I bet they would be willing to do the same for a pastor and his family in a different state. Your willingness to share and deploy the unique gifts of your church in another state might just be the difference maker.
4. You have the chance to develop a true partnership. Too often state-to-state partnerships are seen as a one way street where one state provides help and ministry to the other. It does not have to be this way. As you develop a relationship with a church in one of our partner states, encourage a reciprocal partnership. Invite them to come and be a part of your local missions week, host their pastor and family and have him preach a revival in your church, invite their youth group to come and go to summer camp with your youth. Partnership by definition is not a one-sided relationship. So don’t just think how you can minister to them, think how they can minister to you. Your out-of-state partnership just might be the difference maker for you.
Paul in his opening to the church at Philippi wrote of his gratitude for their partnership in the gospel. Their gospel partnership made a difference in Paul’s life, and history has proven it made a difference in the kingdom. May we as Missouri Baptists follow the lead of the Philippians and Paul as we partner to take the gospel to the lost and make a difference through state-to-state partnerships.