Well Connected - Phill Butler
One of the things I’ve been wrestling with recently is how do you go about forming partnership, coalitions and other working collaborations? What are the principles and rules that people and organizations need to pay attention to? “Well Connected” by Phill Butler was recommended to me and I thought I’d troll through it again. It’s subtitled,”Releasing Power, Restoring Hope Through Kingdom Partnerships.”
I thought I’d include the following excerpts dealing with the glue that hold Kingdom partnerships together — Vision.
Key Partnership Principle:
Partnerships are durable, effective, and usually strategic when they are driven by a great vision — a vision that is clearly marked by the following characteristics:
- Greater Than anything that can be accomplished by a single individual or ministry.
- One all participants agree is a “God idea,” a high priority, and not someone’s private agenda.
- On that , in the early stages, can be broken down into high-value, achievable elements that will give participants experience working together, growing confidence, and a sense of achievement.
- Made up of objectives all participants see as highly relevant to their own ministry vision and mission.
The second item met a specific concern of mine…
The U40 group was to begin a dialog with the sharpest leaders today that will be future leaders of the “church in San Diego.” I’ve been approaching task with a paradigm of “city reaching.” This is a term coined by Jack Dennison, and describes an idea movement of 15-20 years ago which focused on reaching entire cities. I began my focus on cities within this framework.
At the beginning of thinking about U40, I was concerned about making my city reaching agenda a secret agenda of mine, that I’d eventually have to convert people to. But I think the better way to frame it is that “city reaching” is too narrow a focus, even though it has the whole city in mind. Subtly, while hopefully not intentional, it was that smaller narrow focus that didn’t square with a larger Kingdom view, and hopefully, triggered by concern of a private agenda of mine. The great vision probably always has to be Kingdom, that is a “God idea.”
How do we keep our eye on the Kingdom when, like me, our view of the Kingdom is skewed by the unique passions and burdens God has gifted us with? Well, I think that is what the U40 group can do. We need to hear from each other and learn how to see Kingdom in those places that we do not normally think. I need to hear from those working with university students just as much as I need to learn from Christians (or others) that are burdened with the affordable housing crisis in San Diego. I’ve begun to think green, almost in spite of a tradition within parts of the Evangelical church tradition I come from. We need each other to prevent our own smaller (but no less important) focus from being the only focus, or even the lens that distorts our vision of the Kingdom.
Butler continues on the topic of a vision that will truly motivate:
Hope of accomplishing something that seems impossible can motivate, supply excitement and anticipation, and provide great fulfillment when the vision is realized. Ultimately, it is this hope and vision that inspire individuals to come together and work through all the issues necessary to form and sustain an effective partnership.
Oh yes, in an effective partnership you may save money — be more efficient. Yes, you may meet new colleagues along the way and enjoy new levels of fellowship. True, the collective witness and service may be more credible and effective. But it is always the end vision that brings members together, that drives them on, and by which they measure their progress, month by month. And in the end, it is the vision that holds the potential for fulfillment — realization of hope. P. 95-96