Partnering With a Community

I have just returned from Peru.It was a delight to consult for Heartland Alliance Church (Edmonton) as they sent an exploritory team down to Lima. Their desire was to find both a community with whom they could build a long term relationship as well as an implementing agency through whom they could sustainably develop a healthy relationship. That’s a mouthful.So they worked through some foundational partnership principles.1. Why partner at all?2. What does a sustainable relationship include?3. Can we do it on our own or should we partner with a local NGO at the field level?4. How can our international efforts be integrated into what we are attempting to do in our own community?5. What should we be careful not to do?Working internationally isn’t so much about accomplishing a specific task as it is building specific relationships. The reality about most team initiatives is that if the task was the primary objective it is more efficient to send money rather than people. International partnerships however are not about fixing a community’s problems. They are about learning from and investing in each other.Sustainability comes only when a community’s thinking is challenged. Most view poverty as an economic issue, which it is, but not primarily. Primarily, poverty begins in a person’s mind. It is almost always a direct result of what people have come to believe about themselves.When your church decides to partner internationally, it usually is best to consider who may be available to represent your interests in your absense. Trying to build relationship based on one or two visits a year will not produce the transformation you are hoping for. When both time and distance separates a church from a partnering community, it is very important to have someone working with the community on a daily or weekly basis. They can more effectively coach, teach and encourage the community’s efforts to see transformation take place in the harshest of circumstances.Once your church begins to grasp the foundational principles of sustainable development, they will be able to apply those same principles to efforts they are making in their own community. Sustainable principles can be applied anywhere in the world. Once you learn them in an international context, they will become invaluable to you in your own community.It is important that you do not fall into the trap of replacing relationship for a task. Most anyone can complete a task if properly resourced. But few have friends who are willing to sacrifically invest in them. Teams bring to a community a sense of dignity and worth.The most enjoyable component of visiting a community is the transformation that takes place in your own soul.

David