Collaboration Defined
The author of Ecclesiastes affirms that “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work” (Ecclesiastes 4:9, NIV). In The Culture of Collaboration, Evan Rosen defines collaboration as “working together to create value, while sharing virtual or physical space.”
A Collaborative Process
The Cape Town Commitment, which is described in the foreword of the Didasko Files printed edition as “the roadmap for The Lausanne Movement over the next ten years,” arose from a collaborative process, and will be fulfilled through collaborative action. Theologians from all continents laid the foundations for the first half of the Commitment. A three-year listening process, with consultations in each of the twelve Lausanne regions, revealed six key issues that shaped the Congress progress and formed the outline for the second half of the Commitment. The thirty-three calls to action sounded in The Cape Town Commitment will inspire and guide targeted collaboration— at local, regional and global levels.
Collaborative Initiatives
The months since Cape Town 2010 have already seen numerous examples of cooperative action growing out of the plenary sessions, multiplexes and dialogue sessions, aligned with the calls to action in The Cape Town Commitment.
For example, section II C5 is entitled “Love reaches out to scattered people,” and calls for church and mission leaders to “respond to the missional opportunities presented by global migration and diaspora communities.” Sadiri Joy Tira, Senior Associate for Diasporas, together with the newly formed Global Diaspora Network, is laying foundations for a Diaspora Missions/Missiology Forum in Manila in 2015 through a series of regional consultations.
Section II A3, on “Truth and the workplace,” urges church leaders to “understand the strategic impact of ministry in the workplace, and to mobilize, equip and send out their church members as missionaries into the workplace, both in their own local communities and in countries that are closed to traditional forms of gospel witness.” Mats Tunehag, Senior Associate of Business as Mission, is planning with a global network for a second Business as Mission Think Tank, beginning this year and concluding in 2013.
Evvy Campbell, Senior Associate of Holistic Mission, is chairing a task force to prepare an MA level curriculum introducing The Cape Town Commitment to graduate students, with a sub-team developing a parallel small group curriculum for use in churches and workplaces. T his initiative intends to increase awareness of the issues raised in The Cape Town Commitment and to inspire strategic action.
Organizing for Collaboration
The Lausanne Senior Associates and the Special Interest Committees Chairs are designing new ways to catalyze collaboration between each other and their networks, and in relation to the International Deputy Directors and Working Groups. They are aligning their initiatives with the calls to action in The Cape Town Commitment. And they are broadening their leadership teams and networks for even greater global reach and effectiveness.
The Lausanne Movement has always held collaboration as one of its highest values. In the section on “Partnering in the Body of Christ for unity in mission,” The Cape Town Commitment says, “When we live in unity and work in partnership we demonstrate the supernatural, counter-cultural power of the cross… Partnership in mission is not about efficiency. It is the strategic and practical outworking of our shared submission to Jesus Christ as Lord.”
David Bennett serves as the Chief Collaboration Officer and Teaching Pastor for the Lausanne Movement.
This article was published as part of the Anniversary reflections one year after Cape Town 2010: The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization.