Sometimes competition is a very good thing.
The World Series, the Olympics, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs are great examples of fierce competition. In the business world, Apple and Android wrestle to capture and maintain market share in cell phones and tablets. Honda vs. Hyundai vs. Ford. Nike, Reebok, Adidas...You get the picture.
A worthy opponent can bring out the best or worst in an athlete or team when the heat is on and someone really wants to win. But competition does not always lead to good things. Not when we're thinking about global missions.
Canada is a first world nation that has shifting, often shrinking capacity for global missions. If we’re not careful, this can lead to a "little kingdom mentality" (note the lower case 'k'). We hunker down to gather resources and defenses so our organization can survive, at the expense of “the other guys”. As much as we might try to deny it, we're just preserving "little kingdoms".
And it's not pretty. Missions agencies vie for the best connections, the best social media, the best booth space at the next conference – before someone beats us to it!
This is what I call "little 'k' thinking": when the unspoken, default priority for our church or mission unwittingly becomes self-preservation, instead of effective advance of the Good News. This frame of mind resists the truth that our Enemy wants us to forget: we're on the same team. The Kingdom of God transcends and trumps our "little kingdoms".
Here's my challenge, first for me and then others:
Let's re-capitalize. Let's do "Big 'K' Thinking".
Let's pause to lift our eyes from our limited perspective, and re-ask some important questions:
"Big 'K' Thinking" isn't easy, but it is important. Let's do a better job of getting the Good News to those who need it!
Read the article "A New Partnership".
Watch video "Ukraine: Dangerous Circumstances".
Rob “Mags” Magwood is the Canadian Director of SEND International. Together with his wife, Kathleen, and their kids he has served as a teacher and church-planter in Ukraine and Russia. Rob is also the host of the Global Missions Podcast.
