We celebrated and signed a partnership... now what?

In the middle of an Annual Meeting focused on the beauty of partnership, the BCNE formally entered into a plan to cooperate with the IMB’s Western European Affinity. It’s our hope to connect churches in New England to Kingdom workers on a mission field that looks and feels an awful lot like home.

There are countless reasons why this partnership makes sense for New England. The big public one is that we understand what it means to try and reach a post-Christian culture. We walk daily past empty church buildings that once were staging points for championing the Gospel and sending missionaries to the ends of the earth. We know what it’s like to challenge secular world views with the truths of an otherworldly Kingdom. And so, in many real ways, New England has something to offer to Western Europe. But there are other reasons that this partnership makes sense for us. And in my opinion, the biggest among them is that it is high time for New England Baptists to be senders rather than merely receivers.

Maturity

To be clear, receiving is a good thing. Some of the best things going on among Gospel work in New England were either initially started by, or are currently being propped up by the faithfulness of others who have lovingly poured into our region. God has done a mighty work here, and He is continuing to do so through both old partnerships and new ones. We are here, and we are growing because we have received well. And the future growth of Gospel work in New England will be dependent upon that too. But every church planter dreams of the day when they can transition from being propped up, to being self sufficient. They dream of the day when they can stand on their own feet rather than needing some bigger church to hold their hand. But if I could press the metaphor a little further— maturity is not simply being able to walk without help. It’s being able to walk in a way that helps others.

The goal of maturity in our churches is not independence from help. It’s a posture that takes the next step and does what it can to contribute. It goes looking for responsibility to assume even before it’s fully self sufficient. And this is why we need this partnership with Western Europe. Not only do we have a similar contextualized Gospel culture, but we also have some very important things that we still need to grow in. The IMB is positioned right now to help us do that well, and I am excited about what our next steps will be.

Next Steps

So, what are those next steps?

• Start by checking out the BCNE’s Mission’s Resource Page. There, you will find several actions steps.

• If you are not already doing so, lead your church to participate in this year’s Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. This offering supports a large percentage of the IMB’s on-the-field Gospel work.

• Spend time praying with the leaders of your church about formally connecting with one of our Western European partners and then contact your regional coordinator or another member of the BCNE staff. They will send you the most current next steps.

• Begin leading your church to pray for your European partners regularly. Find creative ways to continually remind your church of the people and work going on.

• Get together with other churches and leaders who have picked the same teams and projects, then coordinate your efforts. Perhaps the thing that feels too big for just your church works pretty well when 2 or 3 churches are working together.

  As we work diligently to once again make New England into a staging ground for the championing of the Gospel, let us also work diligently to make it a place that once again sends missionaries to the ends of the earth. By God’s grace, we have been propped up. But let us also now walk in maturity by working to prop up our brothers and sisters across the sea.

Stephen Woodard is the president of the Baptist Convention of New England and senior pastor at Nashua Baptist Church in Nashua, NH.