I let out a big sigh and said what I was thinking out loud, “We may have to cancel our summer mission.”  Only one student had signed up to go.  Naturally, I felt the frantic need to discover the reason for the lack of participation. This was our third mission trip; families and students knew about the trip and how to participate, they were even motivated to help support others going but they felt as if something was “missing” and they lacked the passion to actually go. As I thought and prayed about our trip it became clear to me that I was trying to do too much myself.  I was planning, organizing, recruiting and equipping every student and I was overwhelmed.  As I sat with Pastor Danny he expressed his own frustrations with summer planning.  Danny was receiving pressure from members in his church to provide a mission’s experience but he lacked the resources to use a traditional missions organization to provide that experience.  I soon recognized that he too was praying for an answer.  This was the moment that we discovered God was bringing us together for a reason.  God showing us that collaboration could empower our ministry.

Every collaboration in ministry will be unique, since each of us are uniquely gifted and have different personalities; yet, I would suggest that there are three components essential to creating healthy collaborations.

Chemistry

Paul and Barnabas eventually came to the conclusion that it was better for them not to collaborate together in ministry.   Collaboration will always take place between two or more people in ministry and those people may or may not pair well. The ideal situation is where those who are collaborating each feel good about their own contributions and the other collaborator’s efforts. Danny happens to be much more detailed oriented than myself and his willingness to slave over the trip’s itinerary has proven valuable many times over.  I enjoy preaching and find doing the end of the day devotional relieves stress from Danny’s plate as well as energizes my involvement with the group.  Over time we have been able to delegate to one another many elements of leadership better suited for the other person and in the end we are both grateful.

Communication

Just like a healthy marriage, your collaboration will succeed or fail on your shared ability to communicate with one another.  A lack of communication can lead to disorganization and frustration, not just between the leaders in the ministry but also those who are participating with you.  Students have an innate way of knowing when their leaders are feigning organization.  During our first year of collaborating I boldly announced at lunch that we were going to head into town for an authentic taco dinner.  Our students were ecstatic, what I didn’t know was that Danny had already communicated a change to our kitchen crew and they had been at base camp working on a spaghetti dinner for everyone.  The struggle was real.  Communication could have helped me avoid the awkward “change of plans” speech I had to give later that evening.

Commitment

The second essential component to collaboration is commitment.  Collaboration is one of those ideas that always sound good, it can be easy to talk about joining efforts with another church or ministry but actually having the tenacity to stay committed to the vision is another thing. There is a certain level of closeness created by collaboration. Understanding the privilege it is to serve alongside another believer should further remind and motivate us to commit wholeheartedly to both the ministry and those we are joining with.