Arguably, this may be one of those times in history where it’s clear we need strong cross-cultural relations. Challenges in the Anglican Communion, war in Iraq and Afghanistan, issues related to immigration, and so on, all point to our need to understand and appreciate each other’s perspectives. One of the ways in which all of us can strengthen our ties within the Anglican Communion, develop and share new perspectives, and ultimately, be spiritually transformed by our encounter of Christ in others, is through global mission activities.

The Global Partnership Task Force is focused on providing leadership and support for churches to develop their own unique global mission program. In some cases, churches encounter problems and need some assistance. Last year, for example, Christ Church Needham was scheduled to travel to Haiti on a medical mission. Given the environment in Haiti at the time, they needed to make a last minute change. I was able to facilitate contact with the diocesan offices in Guatemala and arrangements were made for the team to stay at a mission and provide medical services through congregations in the Lake Izabal region.

The majority of this year’s work has been focused on revamping our web site (which you already know or you wouldn’t be reading this), continuing the success of the Mission Leadership Program, and developing a global mission event for the Diocesan Resource Day. If you’re interested in getting involved, I hope you’ll take a minute to drop me a note or give me a call (tjgaiser@earthlink.net or 617-782-1577).

Often when I present on global mission, after I’ve made a lengthy pitch about parish discernment and ways in which I can support the discernment effort, someone inevitably says something like, “just tell me what you need,” or “is there a list somewhere of things we can support?” While that’s an understandable desire, particularly when the work of discernment is difficult, it, unfortunately, doesn’t make for sustainable partnerships.

I could tell you about some possible projects in Tanzania. I could share that Wilfred, the headmaster of the diocesan secondary school in Hegongo could use a few thousand toward a new chemistry lab or the reconstruction of the chapel. I could advise you to give medical books to the library of the School of Nursing at Teule Hospital. If you asked about Central America, I could encourage you to donate to the diocesan road construction project in El Maizal, El Salvador, or how to sponsor a child at El Hogar in Honduras, or maybe how to support the Diocesan school, Holy Cross, in Belize. But then who has the relationship with the organization? … me. We need to ask ourselves what makes a relationship sustainable and whether or not giving another $1,000 from next year’s mission budget constitute “sustainable” or a “relationship?”

If you're looking for opportunities to donate money toward mission, then there are many. On the Diocesan website, www.diomass.org , you'll find a link to Jubilee. The committee is doing great deal of work in Africa and would welcome your involvement and contribution toward their many AIDS projects in East Africa. If you’d rather, Episcopal Relief & Development (ERD), www.er-d.org , raises funds for a variety of programs from emergency relief around the world to specific projects such as the distribution of mosquito nets for the prevention of malaria. If you’d like more options, there is Save the Children, Children International, Feed the Children, The Heifer Project, Direct Relief International, Doctors without Borders, and … take your pick.

Go ahead and donate. Donations are necessary, and our contributions go a long way in addressing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). But don’t fool yourself into thinking that means you have a “relationship.” Relationships develop when you “relate.” Relationships take time and effort. They require action and interaction. As we get frustrated by the differences in our uses of technologies, negotiate times to call that compensate for differences in time zones, deal with snafus in the itinerary, learn about added fuel tax for our trip due to the rising cost of fuel oil in the region where we’ll be travelling, discuss food allergies and medications for warding off regional illness … a relationship begins to emerge. When we see commonalities and dissimilarities, talking about raising our children, addressing typical challenges at church, learning about new liturgical ideas … these are the ways in which we begin to plumb the depths of a new friendship. These are the signs of a relationship. These are the signs that a global partnership is forming.

In El Salvador, Bishop Barahona expressed this well when he shared with the Mission Leadership participants that he once turned a visitor away. He shared that he was talking about relationships and the desire to be in relationship with the visitor’s diocese. He then shared the kinds of things they might do together. At that moment the guest pulled out a check book and asked how much he needed for one particular project. His response was to ask if the person had heard anything that he had said. He wasn’t interested in his money, because if it’s about money, there are lots of places to get it. He was interested in relationship. He was interested in the empowerment that emerges when people from other countries show interest in the work of their church and in learning more about their experience. He wants the church of El Salvador to have the opportunity of experiencing that they are seen as brothers and sisters by their Anglican colleagues, evidenced by our willingness to come work beside them in El Salvador as they, too, work to fulfill God’s mission in the world. He concluded his comments to us by summarizing as follows, “You can’t fix our problems, nor do we want you to. But we all share in the same baptismal covenant … we are all called to the same mission … God’s mission. Come work beside us, joining together in mission.”