This video is session #7 of the YWAM IWT playlist, a series of videos including more than 12 hours of in-depth training in collaborative partnerships by Phill Butler.

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Kingdom Partnerships Video Seminar

Phill Butler, visionSynergy

SESSION 7:  Summary, Quotes, Questions

Summary:

Session 7 works largely on personal relationships—who YOU are and who the other people in the potential partnership are— and how you, by God’s grace, facilitate their working together. Based on God’s design and Scripture, we must grow in maturity in our relationships. Phill emphasizes that you first have to check your heart, attitudes, mind-set toward God and others, and your integrity and consistency. Satan is set on destroying relationships, and whenever he can divide the Body, he is winning.  So we should not be surprised by anything that people do to advance themselves at others´expense—even believers.  But we have to prepare ourselves to deal with the damaged relationships that will surface in our partnerships. We must not ignore them.

Phill goes into great detail about the building of relationships in the early partnership for Mongolia, partly because it illustrates how much personal time and effort must be invested in building the initial relationships of ANY partnership before ever calling the first meeting. But it is also an extreme example of how much distrust, animosity and brokenness it is possible to find among ministries and leaders we had hoped to unite for a work of the Kingdom— and what extreme measures must be taken to break through. Nothing is more important than a base of prayer. It  is not casual,  but a solid, constant network inside and outside the partnership to break through Satan’s walls.  Then it may be necessary to employ mature people skilled in reconciliation, restoration and counseling.  At the very least you can expect suspicion and skepticism when you first arrive in a place and when people arrive for their first meeting. They already have investment in their ministries in this place and they don’t know if you and your ideas will prove trustworthy.

And that brings us to where the “rubber meets the road.”   You can’t tell them you are trustworthy.  You must demonstrate it over time. With total and complete integrity, keeping personal confidences and proving that you do what you have said you will do. With a process that is transparent and inclusive. Where everyone knows what is being proposed and has a chance to give input.  Where goals and objectives are agreed on together, communicated, measured, celebrated and revised together as needed.   Such consistency will produce trust, motivation, commitment—-and ultimately results for the Kingdom—but slowly and sometimes painfully. 

Notable Quotes:

1. The historic Church has had an emphasis on personal holiness, growth, and relationship with God, which is absolutely essential. But, man was never designed, as we saw in Gen 1-3, to live in isolation, but always in relationship. Therefore, a critical component of spiritual maturity is to be in conscious, fulfilling, productive relationship with other people, first in the Body, then in world.
2. So we’re not first talking about methodology, but first, about mind-set and personal journey. Who you are. How you see God. How you see others. How you conduct your affairs-no matter what your [YWAM] job—your mind-set toward God and other people.
3. In Genesis 1-3  we saw that Satan’s primary mission is to destroy relationships—with God, each other, the created order, and eternity.  You don’t have to commit sexual sin or abscond with the money— just not trust God or your brothers.  As long as he can keep the Body divided, he has won. The war is lost.
4. Ephesians 2 in modern translations, says   “You who were far from God (Gentiles) and we who were close were at war…. Then He sent Jesus to tell us that the war was over.”
5. Your team must be known for absolute, total integrity. Eyes wide open, ears wide open, hearts wide open, and mouths shut. You must, must, must keep the confidence of God’s people.  As soon as you betray a person’s confidence, the relationship is over.
6. What is your legacy in the cities you serve? An event?  A few thousand people who have come to Christ?  Or a community of believers who, for the first time, have a vision of the future and the confidence they can transform their city’s future by working together.
7. Don’t call a meeting unless you know why you’re having a meeting and what you want to accomplish. The clearer the goal, better chance of hitting it.

Questions for Reflection:

1. Did you feel any challenges in this session’s material?
2. Where do you need to pray about your OWN personal integrity and consistency?  ( Maybe just in your ability to “keep your mouth shut” as Phill said so bluntly).
3. Could you really believe and understand the extremity of Satan’s attack on the very first Mongolia meeting?  Have you ever experienced directly Satan trying that hard to prevent you and others from disrupting His plans? 
4. Do you have any previous experiences in trying to get people to work together that you can look back on now with new insights? Talk about that a little bit.  ( remember we  learn  much from our failures)