Author: Jeff Kyle

We ask for prayer for China Partnership as we move forward with several initiatives and new systems. CP recently incorporated in November 2015 and two weeks we ago received our 501(c)(3) designation, for which we are very grateful! As we have much to be thankful for, we also ask for prayer for wisdom concerning stewardship of all God has given us.  

Since we are already fifteen years into the 21st century, we need to look critically at our world and ask how we ought to respond as the church. Internally, we need to realize how missions terminology has affected us. We have tended to make a distinction between those who go and those who send. It has created a divide so that those who send do not view themselves as active participants, which is very unfortunate.

People tend to view challenges in missions or in the church as unique to our period of time, but in fact, many are issues the church has previously faced. For example, one critique dominating discussion today in churches and missions organizations is that our youth are not as committed to missions as previous generations; but this issue actually faced mission societies in the early 1900s. Church and missions leaders are asking the same questions as previous generations – how do we effectively engage our congregation, how do we encourage generous giving to both world and home missions, and how do we make missions a vibrant component of our DNA?

Whether you are new to the China Partnership or have been partners for a while, we invite you to attend our annual conference. The title for our conference this year is “The Church in a Global-Local World,” and we have structured it differently than past years. This year, our totally new conference structure will include: 1) A one-day conference, rather than two days 2) A conference setting as opposed to a “meeting” 3) Talks, panels, and discussion times rather than ministry reports 4) Speakers addressing both global and local topics in missions