“It is currently popular in some Christian circles to feel that mission agencies have had their day and that churches can fulfil their role. Certainly the local church is given the mandate to send out mission partners. However, mission agencies do provide real value and help. Whilst it sounds attractive to cut out the middle-man of the mission agency, it is easy to underestimate the work involved in doing so. 

Some churches try acting as mission agencies for their mission partners, and at St Helen’s we have struggled to do so. It is a huge amount of work with a knock-on effect of increasing others’ workload, such as our accountants. Within the church we just about had enough wisdom to send some of our own mission partners, but we certainly struggled with complex financial issues of secondment, pension, National Insurance and tax, both here and abroad. The further removed these issues are between the church and receiving country the harder it becomes to properly send and support its workers. 

Another problem can be cultural incompetence and offensiveness. This is a particular danger if a church does not invest time in understanding the local culture their mission partners are joining. This takes the time and experience that mission agencies have built up over a number of years. Without these a mission partner can be a liability to his receiving church and country. 

So, mission agencies often provide the wisdom and expertise we lack. They give the logistical support, ease the cultural adjustment and set up the placement in ways we could not do. This is not to deny the local church's responsibility in sending and supporting its mission partners, but to say that mission agencies play a vital role in helping churches fulfil their mission mandate.” 

Crosslinks magazine April 2005 index