Developing Sustainability

In world evangelism, cultivating a culture of sustainability means making certain that local churches and ministries can be viably supported long-term without relying on subsidies from external sources.
Beyond just financial resources, sustainability involves inclusion, empowerment, and resiliency issues.
Leaders must push for a culture of sustainability and avoid postmodern colonialism if they wish to achieve long-term viability in church-planting movements.
While outside resources may sometimes be helpful and even necessary, keeping a clear focus on the goal of sustainability will increase the likelihood of healthy, disciple-making churches that fulfill the mission of making Christlike disciples in the nations.

What does "sustainability" mean in terms of world evangelism?

Mission Briefing: Ideas that affect World Mission Outreach today

Sustainability is discussed in fields like agriculture, business, fishing, and forestry, as well as Christian missionary activity. To be sure, what sustainability involves will vary somewhat from field to field. However, at the core of sustainability is the idea of productivity and long-term viability.

Regarding world evangelism, a key indicator of sustainability is that churches and ministries are supported locally without expecting subsidies from faraway places to stream in.

In conversations about sustainability, "resources" means more than finances. There's no doubt that looking at funding is important in assessing sustainability. However, sustainability involves more than who pays the bills. It also involves things like:

Where personnel and resources come from
An atmosphere of inclusion
Home-grown vision and initiative
An environment in which local people feel empowered
Built-in resiliency to make it through troubles and trials
A we-can-do-this-with-God's-help attitude

Clearly, the topic of sustainability fits in perfectly with discussions of topics like contextualization and the "three selfs."

Sometimes, churches and ministries do initially embrace a sustainability pattern. In other situations where reliance on external subsidies has been part of the equation, moving away from that model may not happen immediately. Rather, it may be more of a journey with ups and downs and hiccups.

Today, one missionary responsibility is creating a culture of sustainability. That has not been true in all world evangelism efforts. For instance, in earlier decades, supporters back home frequently assumed that foreign missionaries would start churches for which missionaries would serve as pastors. Because those foreign pastors were not supported locally and, in addition, brought in outside resources to subsidize various initiatives, it is not a model that can be infinitely duplicated or sustained long term.

Leaders must insist that churches and ministries look to God and to their communities for resources and solutions rather than assuming they should be perpetual recipients of what outsiders can do for them. For sustainability to be achieved, what has been called postmodern colonialism must be avoided. In a postmodern colonialist context, outsiders are sometimes celebrated as superheroes whose help has "saved the day." Outsiders are also viewed as "experts" whose opinions override everyone else's. That is not a positive thing.

Does aiming at sustainability mean that all outside resources will be shunned? No. However, they must be used sparingly and judiciously.

Does sustainability mean believers need not give sacrificially to world evangelism? No. Outside help is often necessary if we are to develop church-planting movements in places "where the church is not yet." Outside resources can also help develop and expand capacity (as opposed to being a subsidy for basic expenses).

Embracing sustainability increases the likelihood of having healthy, disciple-making churches and ministries where believers give birth to new churches and ministries, take responsibility for them, resource them, and lead them. Following patterns of sustainability will do much to move the global church toward fulfilling its mission of "making Christlike disciples in the nations."

Refelction Questions

What are some challenges and possible benefits of moving away from models of external subsidy and toward self-sufficiency in churches and ministries? How can leaders manage this transition productively?
How can world missions leaders avoid falling into the trap of postmodern colonialism? What could be the negative consequences of relying too heavily on external resources and know-how?
Why might cultivating a culture of sustainability in world evangelism lead to healthier disciple-making churches and ministries in the long run?
In what ways does sustainability in world evangelism imply more than financial resources? What other factors should leaders consider to achieve the goal of sustainability?
In what situations might reliance on external subsidies be necessary for church-planting movements in places where the church is not yet established? How can outside resources be best used to judiciously support sustainability?

-- Howard Culbertson,

This blog on a key issue in world missions outreach is an article in the "Mission briefing" series published in Engage magazine.

Acrostic: Sustainability -- How to get there

S-- Sharing Christ's love as equals not superiors,
U -- Uniting people across social and cultural boundaries,
S -- Serving communities with faith and compassion,
T - Transforming lives through gospel principles,
A -- Advancing God’s kingdom in partnerships,
I -- Investing in and empowering people,
N -- Nurturing disciples who makes disciples in every culture,
A -- Avoiding financial dependency,
B -- Building up others by ceding control,
I -- Inspiring hope through Christ-like actions,
L - Local initiative, resources and personnel.
I -- International holistic outreach that helps without hurting,
T -- Training, equipping, and empowering leaders,
Y -- Yearning for God's will to be done everywhere.

Like acrostics? Here are more of them

Does the way we do short-term mission trips actually create obstacles on the road to sustainability? Check out these thoughts about negative "unintended consequences" from Glenn Schwartz.

Unintended consequences

"A group of young people went from North America to Guyana (South America) where they built a church in three weeks. They joyfully presented the new church building to the people and returned home.

Two years later, a message from Guyana arrived at the North American church. It said: 'The roof on your church building is leaking. Please come and fix it.'

"In this case, a short-term missions trip group had ignored the need for safeguarding psychological 'local ownership' when doing cross-cultural ministry.

"In West Africa, a young volunteer worked with a congregation alongside a medical doctor/church planter missionary. That missionary had been encouraging the local church to increase their awareness of world missions and evangelism. He was elated to hear from the local pastor that their annual missions offering had increased from forty-five dollars to sixty-one dollars. That step caused rejoicing on the local scene. It also motivated that particular church to mobilize itself to plant another church some kilometers away.

"At that point, the young volunteer from America, feeling pity for the local pastor and his congregation, sacrificially gave $6,800 -- out of the goodness of her heart -- to build them a new church building. One immediate result of that gift was that the local pastor took his eyes off what his people had accomplished. He began to ask where he could find more of that kind of money. The missionary was devastated as he saw his efforts at promoting local self-support go down the drain.

"If short-termers can learn the importance of being rather than doing, great good can be accomplished."

-- Glenn J. Schwartz of World Mission Associates

Afterword: Sustainability and Viability

Sustainability is necessary for the long-term viability and fruitfulness of church-planting movements. Sustainability means moving away from external subsidies and focussing on empowerment and resiliency grounded in local communities. To avoid postmodern colonialism, leaders must push for self-reliance that accepts outside resources only if they are used to develop capacity (rather than pay for on-going expenses). Creating a culture of sustainability results in healthier disciple-making churches and ministries.

Sustainability includes efforts to establish indigenous leadership within churches and ministries. That sees to it that they will grow and flourish without constant oversight or dependence on external missionaries. Sustainable global missions work:

Sseeks to empower local communities
Builds capacity within them
Advocates self-reliance that will mean being funded by local resources.

To recap, sustainability in world missions outreach means creating projects, movements, and institutions that will last beyond the presence of external missionaries and foreign funding. Sustainability differs from viability in that viability focuses more on current feasibility and fruitfulness. Sustainability is concerned with establishing long-term viability and fruitfulness. A project or ministry may be viable today but not be sustainable in future decades.