Will Elphick, SIM-UK Associate Director
The purpose of SIM is to glorify God by planting, strengthening, and partnering with churches around the world as we evangelise the unreached, minister to human need, disciple believers into churches and equip churches to fulfil Christ’s Commission. Partnership is at the heart of our ethos.
We are convinced that God transforms the world by the gospel as it is expressed in proclamation and demonstration by His worldwide Church. Whilst mission agencies like SIM are part of that worldwide Church, its primary expression is through local churches. Where there are no churches, we are committed to evangelism and church-planting. Where churches exist, we are committed to strengthening them through teaching the Bible, developing leaders, and equipping them to fulfil Christ’s Commission.
SIM’s ideal relationship with churches is a dynamic interdependent partnership in which we reach out together to the unreached world. Our belief is that it is primarily the local church that sends people. Mission agencies like SIM are here to help local congregations fulfil what Jesus has commanded us to do (Matthew 28:18–20), particularly as it relates to cross-cultural mission.
We recognise that no two partnerships are the same. ‘One size fits all’ will not work. Some churches will want to work more closely with SIM than others, depending on what SIM is offering and what the church needs. We recognise that partnership is not about what the Church can do for the mission agency, but what the Church can do through the mission agency.
Examples of how partnership works out in practice
- Your church may be very involved in mission and have many years of experience in sending people from your congregation to different parts of the world. So, for example, you may wish to do much of the selection and administration of a team going overseas yourself, and need SIM’s expertise and contacts to help provide the connections and opportunities overseas, and some administrative support.
- We value churches being involved in the selection process of mission partners going out for longer or shorter periods of time. By working in partnership through this process we can work collaboratively in areas such as identifying the right training and placement, as well as pastoral care overseas and funding. We appreciate church leaders involvement in the debrief process of mission partners when they have returned from overseas. This not only helps people in the process of settling back in the UK, but can also be beneficial in encouraging more participation in mission by the church or other individuals, whether by going, giving or praying.
- We actively encourage churches to take the opportunity to visit their mission partners whilst overseas. This not only provides the opportunity for pastoral care but further develops relationships with the church overseas.
Our partnership aims
SIM shares with its partner churches a gospel ethos; SIM can help churches engage in sharing the gospel ‘to the ends of the earth’.
With over a century of experience, SIM can help churches strategically engage in areas of the world where there is the greatest need and the church has the opportunity to meet that need.
We aim to give the church as much flexibility and support as possible, customising the partnership to best serve the congregation’s needs.
We endeavour to develop and foster a mission commitment that a church congregation can ‘own’. Members of the local church congregation can get involved through training and short term trips, longer-term opportunities, projects and prayer. We see that it is important that people build relationships with those they serve in other cultures, instead of seeing mission as a ‘programme’, and that they grow in the process.
We seek to help churches in their mission outreach by encouraging the connection between local mission here and mission globally. Learning from what the church does globally can often encourage local outreach.
