A couple of weeks ago, I attended a breakfast meeting in central London. Seated on my right at the round table was a very distinguished-looking gentleman. Once he had worked out that I had something to do with the Church of England, 
he very quickly told me that he was an Anglican and had been a churchwarden for many years. In order to develop our conversation he asked me the question “What does Crosslinks do?” I was able to tell him that our primary purpose was to link Christians in the UK and Ireland with mission partners, study partners and projects around the world. He listened to me with increasing interest and obvious excitement – “How wonderful for people in this country to be really involved 
in world mission. I thought world mission was done by X.” X was the name of another mission agency which must remain nameless. He has now promised to raise mission involvement at the next PCC and has now asked for a copy of our new “Stakeholder” brochure.

That gentleman’s initial reaction reflects a very common view even within churches that world mission is done by mission agencies. This edition of the magazine focuses on a biblical view of mission and mission involvement and the launch of “Stakeholder” through which we offer the opportunity for churches, groups and individuals to take a real stake in the work of a mission partner, study partner or project.

For Christ and His Kingdom

Graham Sopp

Crosslinks magazine April 2004 index