ONE OF the most encouraging and challenging developments in the area of world mission in recent years has been the growing number of local churches who want a more 'hands on' role, rather than simply delegating to mission agencies like AIM the responsibility for the job. No longer are local congregations willing or prepared to sit back and let agencies make all the decisions and set the agenda and nor should they. This has inevitably focused attention on the relationship between the church and mission agencies and their respective roles. Let me briefly address two frequently heard statements and invite you to come back to me with your comments.

"Mission agencies like AIM are para-church organizations" The implication behind this statement is that agencies like AIM are outside of the church and are, by dictionary definition, something of an aberration. It is my firm conviction that the church of Jesus Christ is the primary agency for mission in the world. However, the Scriptural definition of the church is not limited to the local gathering of believers in any one place whether it be in Laodicea or Liverpool, but includes the worldwide fellowship of all who are truly in Christ.

What's needed is a synergistic relationship - one in which local church and mission agency work together to carry out the Great Commission more effectively.

It is true that mission agencies have all too often taken to themselves decision-making powers and responsibilities that should either have been the prerogative of local church leaders or at least worked through with them. It is equally true that many fellowships have delegated all responsibility for the enthusing, informing and even selecting of their members to mission organizations.

While it is true that many local churches still need to become more 'mission minded', it is equally true that agencies like AIM need to become more 'church minded'. 'An unchurchly mission is just as much a monstrosity as an unmissionary church.' (Leslie Newbiggin) As someone who has pastored two local congregations, I take this responsibility very seriously, believing it to be not only biblical but also practical, and we have in the last couple of years put in place a number of far reaching policies, which ensure we put our principles into practice. Our Europe 2010 Statement of Conviction and Intention says, 'We believe that the church is God's agency for mission and value our partnership with our sending churches, recognizing differing responsibilities and a mutual accountability'. The local church is the nurturing and training context in which overseas missionaries will be raised, recognized and from which they will be released. It is the local church's task to teach biblically about mission and to prepare their members for works of service - at home or overseas.

Missionaries who serve with AIM remain, first and foremost, members of their home church and we are committed to making no major decisions about them without fully involving their spiritual leaders.

"Mission agencies exist because of the failure of local churches to take mission seriously" - true or false? While it is true that the rapid growth of such organizations in the seventeen and eighteen hundreds arose at just such a time, time has, I believe, proved that, in the words of Patrick Johnstone, `Mission agencies are not a temporary expedient to be tolerated for the moment, but a vital component of the Church to enable the Church to be what God intended.' (The Church is Bigger than you Think p179). Generally speaking, agencies like AIM have cross-cultural expertise, structure and local credibility which the average local UK congregation does not possess. We are able to provide a framework through which local churches at home can invest their personnel in overseas mission work. It is interesting that a number of the newer churches which have tried to bypass traditional, interdenominational organizations are frequently finding that they are needing the experience that we have 'on the ground', and that 'doing their own thing' thousands of miles away is not as easy as it might have seemed.

Synergy

What's needed is a synergistic relationship - one in which local church and mission agency work together to carry out the Great Commission more effectively.

We, as AIM, may not be part of a local church, but we are certainly part of the universal church and have, I believe, been called of God to work with local churches - both here and in Africa - to enable congregations of Christians to do what a tiny minority can do on their own reach the world for Christ.