The Art of Collaboration

Recently, I attended a roundtable event where leaders from area churches came to discuss the needs of foster families and how the church can meet those needs. The hard reality is that 50% of foster families quit within their first year because, let’s face it, foster Care is a big ask. It’s constant appointments, saying goodbye to kids you love, and navigating a confusing system. At this roundtable, the leaders recognized the hard reality that foster care isn’t easy. They also recognized that when the local church comes together, more needs can be met, and the possibility of foster parents being able to keep going is much higher. This roundtable recognized that when the body of Christ comes together, more can be accomplished than when we try to do things alone! One church offered to hold a Kids' Night Out event so that foster parents could be refreshed. Another offered to train the attending churches in how to wrap around foster families with meals, babysitting, and other essentials.

3 Tips for Church Collaboration
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1. Give thanks! Thank God for gifting different churches in different ways. Resist the temptation to be jealous of how the Spirit has gifted other churches compared to yours.
2. Examine. What does your church do well? Does your church have a strong children's ministry? Consider a Kids' night out. Does your church do a great job bringing meals to new parents? Consider wrapping around foster families in the same way!
3. Come together. Consider hosting an event where area churches come together to share how God has gifted their church. Plan together how your churches can help each other. Leave with at least one action step that your group can do together.

God has given us the gift that we can be the hands and feet of Jesus and that we don’t have to do it alone! Our identity as image bearers shines brightest when we function as the body. How will your church bear His image in linking arms with other churches?

1 Corinthians 12:4 says, ‘There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.’ It was a beautiful gift for me to see the local church come together and ask, ‘What are our gifts?’ 

Written By Rhonda Denison
Project 1.27 Community Relations and ​FamiliesCare Manager