Editorial

Why We Leave

Change is hard. It can also be exciting. When it is a result of God doing marvelous work in various nations, it is a cause for celebration. For many years, Alliance workers ministered in Latin America, enduring derision and outright persecution to bring the gospel to people who did not yet know the riches of a Christian life.

Now, decades later, Alliance churches in many Latin American countries are making disciples, training leaders, planting new communities of faith and sending missionaries to unreached people, both within the borders of their own nations and around the world. In good faith, Alliance leaders reassign, release or retire loyal colleagues in order to strengthen the growing national churches while regrouping to bring the light of the gospel to people shrouded in darkness.

We still need each other, but in different roles. The national churches in Latin America are partners with the U.S. C&MA through the Alliance World Fellowship, and members around the globe are discovering new ways of working together to fulfill the Great Commission. International teammates often have an advantage of language and culture that gives them access to people groups not open to Americans.

“Leaving” is as much a part of Alliance DNA as “entering.” What remains throughout the transition are deep friendships and spiritual bonds that time and distance cannot diminish. The Apostle Paul often opened his epistles expressing longing for the fellowship of coworkers he left in distant cities as he planted churches throughout the Mediterranean. “I thank my God every time I think of you,” he begins his letter to the Philippians. “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel, from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

For those who go and for those who stay, may prayers for one another be offered in the same confidence and love, knowing that it is God who completes the good work.

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October 15, 2012

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