During the month of November members of the Word Made Flesh team share reflections on partnership and challenge us to move beyond our current understanding of what it means to be partners with one another to the glory of God and for the advancement of the Gospel in word and deed.

Most of us want to be in partnerships and like the idea of it. It may have worked well for us in the past, and may still be a significant portion of our work. However, the pressing question for us is, are the partnerships liberating for those involved, and not just accomplishing the objectives of association? It’s obvious to all of us that partnerships are rooted in relationship, which is the base of this spirit-led initiative.

The gifts of partnership embolden alliances, inspire creativity and encourage collaborative progress, but its essence is nurtured in sustained egalitarian relationships, confessing domination, mutual empowerment and embodied love.

In light of the above, the critical challenge for us in the mission community is finding ways of how we can wade through the legacy of colonialism, keeping in mind how it has defined these basic relationships that are so essential to life giving partnerships. The distraught it has brought in relationships make firm the institutions of nationalism, militarism, patriarchy, and racism that stand as a stronghold working against the partnerships we hope nurture.

The legacy of colonialism challenges our “good and right” intentions. Those of us who find ourselves working tirelessly alongside the worlds most vulnerable can sometimes find ourselves living in tension – the tension of assimilating into the very systems of domination that maintain the status quo of poverty, racism, and war, or learning to live into a new, whole reality of flourishing life free from domination. What is the alternative that we alongside our most vulnerable friends can imagine? Do we still hold onto the “colonial image” of Christ as the one who lifts our friends up from the margins of society, who integrates them into mainline society, that they, too, can then find there place within the status quo and benefit from it?

Sustaining egalitarian relationships in love are challenging, and are continually heightened by our inability to place our story within the layers of stories that uphold power dynamics of oppression. The oppressions of race, sex, class, and privilege need to be rattled and undone to begin our work of confessing domination. Harry Brod makes a very important point regarding privilege which I think is applicable to understanding our role and place. He writes,

We need to be clear that there is no such thing as giving up ones privilege to be ‘outside’ the system. One is always in the system. The only question is whether one is a part of system in a way that challenges or strengthens the status quo. Privilege is not something I take and which therefore have the option of not taking. It is something that society gives me, and unless I change the institutions that give it to me, they will continue to give it, and I will continue to have it, however noble and equalitarian my intentions. (Work Clothes and Leisure Suits: The Class Basis and Bias of the Men’s Movement,” in Men’s Lives, ed. Michael S. Kimmel and Michael Messner, Macmillan, 1989, p280).

I point this out not to shy us away from the challenges of relating to strengthen partnerships, but to invite us to the other side of coin i.e. mutual empowerment. Mutuality removes from the equation hierarchy, and brings in solidarity. It not only empowers those who are beginning with lesser power, but also creates a greater sense of shared responsibility and trust in the act of confessing domination.

Partnership as a Spirit-led initiative is an act of embodied love, and it is only in this spirit -this posture - that we can find the space for whole partnerships. These are the spaces of inclusion out which partnerships flourish in the authenticity of the partners and not out of a dominating normative paradigm.

Caldwell Manners serves as the International Partnership Coordinator for World Made Flesh. Give him something to climb, he most likely will.

During the month of November members of the Word Made Flesh team share reflections on partnership and challenge us to move beyond our current understanding of what it means to be partners with one another to the glory of God and for the advancement of the Gospel in word and deed.

When God called me to begin serving with Word Made Flesh (WMF), I made my first visit to Romania.  It was my first trip outside of Peru, and I spoke almost no English.  I spent long hours, daily, speaking to God in Spanish. I saw many things, so many realities that not only filled my heart, but that also set my heart on fire. The best way to describe it is, I wanted to “burn” everyone! I wanted to return to my church and start a huge fire; I wanted my friends to burn as I did. I am thankful to God for the dream when Jesus nudged me along and spoke to me in ways I could understand. Jesus placed this message in my heart.

Now after many years in the WMF community in Lima, Peru, I have seen this same passion begin to burn in many people. This is how I see the process as we invite new people to serve with us in community:

Watching from the window: At first, one gets to know what is happening in the city. One begins to understand and say, “Wow!  Look at all of the things happening here.”  Themes begin to awaken inside the person: marginalization, abuse, lack of identity, poverty and injustice.  However, even with these profound themes the person is still only “watching from the window.” All the while, their heart is starting to burn.

Watching from the doorway: With time, one decides to come closer to the situation and responds to a call that God placed upon them.  One decides to do something, to love, to embrace and sometimes to speak out on behalf of those who have a voice, but are not heard.  Sometimes we call them the voiceless, but they do have a voice!  The problem is that they are not heard.  This is the second step, to be in the doorway.  The person may be part of a servant team or a local or national volunteer.  They are no longer watching from the window, they are standing in the doorway, watching even more closely and beginning to feel even more deeply.

Entering the room:  Coming into the room signifies the decision to live in close proximity.  One decides to let themselves be touched by others’ life experiences.  Sometimes this is painful and sometimes this brings joy. 

Those inside the room are a prophetic voice, and it is their voice that MUST wake up a national conscience and social action in our international contexts. It must come from those who know what they are talking about, who have felt the pain, who maybe have known hunger, who have felt the same joys as their fellow people.  Those who are in the room can best contextualize the message because they seek to understand those they serve, and who are choosing new ways of living with the assurance that the message will be shared and will stand the test of time.

How can we unite the communities?  How can we share experiences?  If there are nationals in our communities who do not have confidence in the worthiness of their voice, we should help them make it heard.  It is possible they are still afraid to speak up because of the presence of the foreigners, because the culture of the conqueror and the conquered is still present.  We can change this!  I believe we can!

Truly, we can do it!  If we want to have a truly shared experience, if we want to have a shared partnership of prayer, of staff members, of tools, and if we want to affect change, we must contextualize the message, understand the culture, and empower nationals, as we stand inside the room together.

Anna Monteviller serves in the Word Made Flesh community in her hometown of Lima, Peru, as Director of Programs and as President of the Board of La Palabra Hecha Hombre (WMF Peru).