Missionaries and Partner Churches: A Symbiotic Relationship
Joel and Rachel grew up in Champaign-Urbana, IL, but met at Lincoln Christian University. Rachel took many short-term mission trips and served in her local church, while Joel invested himself in students through church camps, youth programs, and coaching. For several years, they have served as missionaries with CMF, but even as they transitioned from life and ministry in the States to life and ministry in Kenya, they hoped for a true partnership with their supporting churches in the US.
Their Conviction
The word they use for it is "symbiotic." The idea is that two or more organisms thrive because of a mutually beneficial relationship that strengthens and enriches each other's lives - and that true partnership is symbiotic in nature. As they started their missionary journeys and looked at the traditional church partnerships that filled their memories as life-long members in the church, and their experiences on church staffs, the word partnership was used, but it looked more parasitic to them.
Joel says that “As I observed, missionaries received funds for the ministry, but churches were going relatively unimpacted, missionaries largely unsupported, and as a result, most of the relationships and impact seemed precarious and ambiguous at best.” This dissonance was unsettling to Joel and Rachel. If the nature of partnership is symbiotic, then the life, ministry, and mission of the churches should have been being radically impacted and moved forward by their partnerships with missionaries.
As a result, Joel and Rachel’s goal of symbiotic partnership radically changed the way they engage in developing partnerships with churches. Rather than a traditional “fundraising and reporting approach”, their goal when with their US churches, is to continue the ministry they practice in Kenya alongside their US partners.
Kenyan Church Impact
Over the last 8 years, Joel and Rachel have helped to establish a network of over 7,000 DBS groups in Kenya. DBS, or Discovery Bible Study, is a simple tool that is being used around the world to help people find answers to life’s big questions in the Bible. A group reads a passage from the Bible, retells it in their own words, and then asks what the text might tell them about God, Jesus, God’s plan, and about humans. The group then encourages each other to put it into practice and share it with others. Through the efforts of the Williams and those they have trained, over 12,000 people have been discipled and baptized, and over 100 churches planted. Currently, there are 34,000+ non-believers regularly attending their groups and being actively discipled. They have also launched14 disciple-owned businesses to transform communities and fund disciples' ministries for years to come.
US Church Impact
This is the same process they have dared to attempt among their US church partners. Over the last 10 years, they have taken on four disciples at partner churches, facilitated 12 trainings, and currently have five partner churches using DBS as their primary device for spiritual formation. As a result, they have over 75 DBS groups among their US partners and partner churches, four new house churches, and have even seen two of their disciples start one disciple-owned business together (Mad Goat Coffee, Champaign, IL).
One partner church adopted and adapted the disciple-making method last April, after Joel started training their Women's Pastor and Spiritual Formation Pastor in the disciple-making method. Joel shares that “The church started with just three groups in their women's ministry, and they have now adopted the method church-wide and now have about 50 groups.”
Rachel reflects, “The results show this approach to partnership is elevating the life of our partner churches and furthering their mission, and as a result it is simultaneously moving our team’s mission, “Unhindered Disciple-Making”, forward. That’s what it’s all about!”
Your Church
Joel and Rachel are passionate about redefining what partnership between missionaries and their supporting churches looks like. Giving new, practical tools like Discovery Bible Studies to their churches is bringing life to this new paradigm.
How can your church and the missionaries you support have more of a symbiotic relationship, where both can serve and learn from each other, growing the impact of all involved? Reach out to us at partnerships@cmfi.org and we can explore, together, how to connect to God's global mission.