As the Santo Domingo church celebrated its seventeenth anniversary, the Atlanta church felt blessed to be a partner in their efforts for God.
How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!”
~ Psalm 133: 1
This scripture describes my feelings while in the Dominican Republic celebrating the Santo Domingo Church of Christ’s 17th anniversary. It was not only pleasant but also inspiring to see how God has displayed his power amongst the Dominican disciples. I thank God for the blessing to witness 1,500 men, women and children gathered for this historical event. Not only was the anniversary celebrated, it was also the inauguration of their new church building. As I watched the symbolic cutting of the ribbon, my heart reflected on the mission team’s initial departure from the New York City Church of Christ in 1994. On that particular day 18 brave young souls departed the city with the plan and desire to introduce the Dominican nation to discipleship. One of the young men, Angel Martinez, was selected to lead the team. Even though he is part Dominican, Angel had never visited the island, barely had the vocabulary for “spiritual” Spanish words and had never even lived outside of New York City. However, his loyalty to God and devotion to the Dominican people enabled him to endure the challenges of adapting to a new culture, sicknesses such as salmonella poisoning (which he contracted several times), severe economic hardship, and the loss of his primary financial support from the United States. Perhaps the wisest decision he has made beyond becoming a Christian at the age of 19 is his marriage to Luz Martinez, who also has a drive and passion for spreading God’s Word. Together the two of them have inspired the initial “mustard seed” of 18 people to three thriving congregations, thousands of baptisms and the trained homegrown staff comprised of Evangelists, Women’s Ministry Leaders, Missionaries and an Administrator who, along with numerous other lay leaders, have labored as a team to evangelize the island.
What inspires me regarding Angel’s leadership is where he started as a leader. Prior to leading the church in D.R., he had never led on that scale before. In fact, he was simply a small group leader in a large congregation. However, it was proven early in Angel’s discipleship that he possessed the quality that Paul encouraged Timothy to find in other men who desired to serve in God’s church. “Entrust to reliable men who are qualified to teach others” ~ (II Timothy 2:2). Year after year Angel has proven himself to be a reliable leader. From experience, I have learned that leading a growing congregation is a herculean feat, and together we have both learned that true brotherhood and partnership can help us to build victorious ministries.
Angel and I have had the good fortune of remaining friends, colleagues and partners for over 20 years. I am consistently inspired by Angel’s humility and willingness to learn. In my humble opinion, as ministers we must infuse a few healthy attributes in our partnership in order for them to be productive. Below I will share the evolution of our friendship into a mutual beneficial working partnership:
About six years ago Angel approached me and asked if my wife and I would mentor their congregation. We were quite inspired and at the same time sobered by their request. At the time we were in transitional state; we had recently moved to a new city, were raising pre-teens and trying to build our own fledging congregation. However, his humility was infectious. He simply said, “I know what you all have accomplished before in your previous ministries, we still want your help.”
“…God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.” ~ James 4:6
Since that conversation, both of our ministries have experienced the evidences of God’s grace. Through this working partnership the hearts of our congregations have been knit together although most our members will never meet one another until we reach heaven.
There are three key areas I have tried to implement in our partnership. First, I have learned the importance of mutual respect. When Angel and Luz asked if we would help them, my wife responded by saying, “we will help one another.” The scriptures are filled with the importance of mature Christians practicing the one-another relationships. Regardless of the fact they were from a third-world nation, it was imperative that when we corrected and admonished each other, that we did so as peers. Unfortunately, it is easy for Americans to enter the mission field as “ugly” Americans. Meaning, we know best about everything. If we as Americans are not humble, we can sometimes communicate an imperialistic message, which I am sure we do not want to do. When I began working with the church in Santo Domingo I had to choose to learn their culture and minister to the people with a spirit of consideration. Once our relationship of respect was established, this endeared the church to us and there was more of a desire for any input we could possibly offer. Likewise, we have opened our lives and churches to them and solicited their input. Neither one of our churches are perfect and we have a long way to go. However, since deciding to help each other, both of our ministries have produced more disciples and inspired new brothers and sisters to train for the full-time ministry.
Secondly, we shared our resources. We have learned that resources go beyond monetary donations. Since we were a start-up congregation, we didn’t have funds to give but we were able to offer experience and encouragement. As the beggar approached Peter and John, they responded, “Silver and gold we do not have, but what I have I give you.” (Acts 3:6). They had Jesus! I have learned missionaries need love, encouragement and inspiration as well as money. They need to know people care, they need to have a place to come to in the states where they can relax and they need to feel appreciated. In fact, the scriptures teach to give to everyone what you owe him, if it is honor then give him honor (Romans 13:7). Unfortunately, due to the downturn in the economy, our fellowship’s traditional ways of funding overseas missionaries has changed. I encouraged Angel to find a way to create revenue amongst his people. He listened, and through much prayer and hard work the people labored together and built a beautiful facility. This is very similar to the response of the Jews in the book of Nehemiah as he led them in building the wall. In fact, one of brothers, Luis Pujols who is an architect, designed the church while numerous disciples in the church provided the labor for its construction. Often times, difficult financial situations force us to find alternative resources and greater faith.
Thirdly, it was important to help each other have and maintain radical expectations in regards to our marriages and ministries. We have encouraged our wives to remain engaged in leading the women and we have also made sure they feel a part of the decision making process. We have discussed our finances, purity, sex lives, health and our families. We have challenged one another to strive for excellence in raising up leaders and we have even critiqued the leaders we are training.
I simply state these facts for brothers who are currently on the mission field and desire healthy relationships. Invest in ones mutually beneficial. And for those of us in the States, let’s strive to remain considerate. As the wisest king who ever lived stated, “two are better than one.” I believe we can work together in order for billions and billions of people to hear the gospel.
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Shared from http://thegacc.org/
Michael Patterson
Lead Evangelist
Greater Atlanta Church of Christ