LEADER’S REVIEW 2020 No. 1
[10 Minute Read]
Dear fellow participants in God’s mission,
Grace and peace to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
On the first of January 2020, unwise New Year’s Eve revellers were regretting their previous night’s decisions, Australia was struggling to get bushfires under control, people all over the world were hopeful of a new beginning, and I was authorised to take the lead on the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission (WEA MC).
I am Jay Matenga and this is my first leader’s review update for the year 2020 — 1990 years after Jesus’ resurrection.
The paragraph above was how the first draft of my “Leaders Blog” began at the beginning of March. Truth be told, it did not get much further as reports of the exponential spread of SARS-CoV- 2 started pouring in. I was in Germany during the latter half of February for meetings with missions and ministry leaders related to the Mission Commission, and my first gathering as part of the WEA’s Global Leadership Team (which included a fascinating visit to the UN in Bonn). The virus had started to gain a foothold in Germany as I returned to my home in Aotearoa New Zealand via Cologne, Munich and Singapore.
Pivot & Prayer
Within the span of 10-days, while I was supposed to be on vacation, all of my international appointments and flights for 2020 were cancelled in quick succession—including an MC Leaders’ Roundtable planned for April 6-9 in the UK and our Global Consultation originally planned for October 18-22 in Chiang Mai Thailand. I learned an old word applied to a new context: “pivot”. With disorienting speed all my plans needed to change—a common experience for every leader in the world.
My new role required me to immediately participate in the WEA’s COVID-19 Taskforce, a crisis-management team set up to assist national evangelical alliances to navigate health and justice issues being created by the virus. Some of the fruit of that Taskforce can be found online here: https://covid19.worldea.org. I was particularly occupied by creating the WEA’s Global Day of Prayer & Fasting resources available here: https://covid19.worldea.org/global-day-of-prayer-fasting/.
Closer to home, I was drawn in to assist our national evangelical alliance in calling for a period of prayer and fasting for Aotearoa New Zealand alongside numerous other Christian leaders. We developed an intercessory campaign called “Pray As One NZ” (https://prayasone.nz), which is continuing as a national prayer initiative via the Zoom app and other virtual services.
Fatigues
Perhaps like many of you, the lead-up to Easter and the past couple weeks has resulted in something like “Zoom-fatigue” as I sought to remain connected to essential groups during our imposed lock-downs and closed borders. Where I live, quite literally at the ends of the earth (which is actually the beginning, time-zone wise), this has meant Zooming in during the wee hours of the morning (often 11pm-3am).
Another type of fatigue that leaders can be prone to in times of crisis is information overload. One of the responsibilities of missions leaders is to follow trends and track where the global crisis is leading us to so we can reassure those we’re responsible for and captain our organisations well through the stormy seas.
Overload is made worse by all the ministry crisis updates and appeals for help hitting our inboxes. These sit alongside opinions flooding social media and the web as commentators and would-be prophets attempt to influence the outcomes of the crisis for the world, church and missions. Leaders seem eager to harness change, shape what the “new normal” will look like, and determine when it will emerge.
I think it is far too early to tell where we will end up, but there are some signposts that can point us in the right direction. As something of an overarching allegory for the times we are in, I recently wrote about three waves that Māori and Pacific mariners are familiar with. You can find that on my personal blog here. We are still reeling from the large wave (the shock wave) and are being carried along by the long wave (the tsunami-like wave), until we find ourselves coming into land on the shoreward wave (the beaching wave) at a new location. I am working with my MC Leader’s Cohort, the Global Leadership Council and a number of other MC consultants to discern the implications of COVID-19 for the global missions community in the months ahead. We are creating a blog series and will continue to post as information comes in.
MC Developments
The MC’s Global Consultation may have been cancelled for 2020, but we are now planning to hold it in 2021—same dates (October 18-22), same place (Empress Hotel, Chiang Mai Thailand). Back at the beginning of 2019 we determined the title of the Consultation would be “Our Missions Future”. That title is now even more pertinent in light of our present!
You may have noticed me mention “my MC Leader’s Cohort” above. For those of you familiar with the MC you may recall that the MC Executive Director has the authority to develop his/her own ‘Leadership Team’. That is what my Leader’s Cohort of Deputy Leaders is (I find ‘team’ an unhelpful industrialised concept, so I prefer not to use the term). I am pleased to confirm that the following leaders have accepted an invitation to join me as Deputy Leaders of the MC:
- Adriaan Adams (South Africa)
- Jo Herbet-James (UK)
- Ken Katayama (Brazil/USA)
- Mary Lederleitner (USA)
- Peter Oyugi (Kenya/UK)
- Kannan Rajendran (India)
- Evi Rodemann (Germany)
Another two appointments are in process from Korea and South America. All of these leaders have a unique perspective, passion and contribution to make as we shape the MC for the future ahead of us. You can read more about them on our leaders’ page.
I also have a vision to convene a group of elder-counsellors whose role it will be to mentor us as a Leader’s Cohort. This “Counsel of Elders” will represent many years of experience in missions leadership and involvement with the MC. This group will develop over time and as their capacity allows them to engage.
A Safe Harbour
Finally, the Leader’s Cohort and the Global Leadership Council met in the first quarter of 2020 to discuss a paper I prepared that “re-imagines” the global missions community in maritime (shipping) terms. It suggests that, as a major network hub, the MC could be considered a harbour port where vessels of all kinds (missions alliances, networks, organisations and reflective-practitioner leaders) can dock, trade in Biblically based missions thinking, and receive resources to help them on their way. The metaphor lends itself to some innovative and creative thinking, and we will be drawing on it a lot as we speak of the MC as a safe-harbour port on the ocean of God’s mission.
One of the things sailors can receive from a sea-port is a weather report. As we analyse the ‘meteorological’ data coming in from the governmental, commercial and not-for-profit sectors around the world we are forecasting stormy seas ahead for the foreseeable future. The winds will be fierce for some time and the ocean currents will lead us in directions we would not have expected months ago. Nevertheless, we trust in One who is Creator and commander of the wind and the waves. Like brave maritime navigators we must trim our sails, stand at the helm and allow the Lord to guide us while the wind of the Spirit blows wherever God wants it to. As we develop the MC afresh as a missions-port, we invite you to come visit and participate as opportunities arise, to be resupplied for your journey of plying the currents of the ocean of God’s mission. The best way to remain apprised of what we’re doing within the MC is to sign up to our MC Connect Update newsletter here: https://bit.ly/mcconnectupdate.
Pray
- For the Spirit of God to guide the redesign of the Mission Commission as a “missions port” on the ocean of God’s mission, and the recruitment/deployment of new leaders to nurture the wellbeing of the global missions community on behalf of the MC.
- For the whole global missions community right now as people and their organisations assess the storm we are in and seek God’s will to help them navigate their way ahead. May the Lord of Creation, the one who calms the wind and waves, be a strong fortress for all of us in these uncertain times.
Follow
Click here for Jays’ personal blog. Jay can also be followed on Facebook here.
