We came to Madagascar convinced that we should work, whenever and however possible, with national believers as partners. We worked hard building relationships. Specifically, we knew that going down to the Mahafaly villages without at least someone from a nearby tribe was inadvisable. We were looking for people to work with--local believers.

 

Relationships here are, along with language, sort of on a bell curve. Things are slow at first. In general, Malagasy people are highly relational and welcoming--they are famous for their hospitality. But we, with our halting language and cultural blind spots, were awkward at first. And we had our own questions and trepidations--would we be able to find local believers with a solid understanding of Scripture? Would we find any with a heart for evangelism, discipleship, or church planting? Would we find any willing to leave the relative comfort of our town to visit our people out in their villages? Would we find believers willing to be counter-culturally open and direct with us when we made mistakes?

 

God granted us some deep, abiding relationships with Malagasy men and women who have challenged our faith. We have learned so much from the experiences and wisdom of these men and women, and we’re humbled by their willingness to stick with us, even through mistakes we’ve made and judgment calls that must be confusing at best.

 

At the same time, we’ve had some false starts. We’ve had partners who were more interested in the money, prestige, or position they expected to receive from us, than in God’s work. And in many cases, it took us a long time to figure this out, leaving behind a trail of less-than-desirable decisions. We’ve had people align themselves with us, even endear themselves to us, only to find that they came only to mislead our people with false teaching. We’ve had countless requests for money and rides, driving us to regularly pray for wisdom in discerning how God would have us respond. We’ve had misunderstandings with partners that were hard to see into, where we, literally, didn’t speak the same cultural language. These misunderstandings, while confusing and potentially threatening to our ministry, have also been hurtful. The disappointment in the outcome of the relationship cuts deep, causing us to question our own practices--“I should have seen it sooner . . ,” but also to wonder if partnership will actually be possible--“Maybe it’s better to just go it alone.”

 

But we’re convinced that it’s not better to go it alone, that genuine partnership is possible and, more importantly, worth pursuing. In all of this, we pray that we have grown in humility and learning. What kind of true partner am I if I expect to find a partner who is perfectly aligned to my thinking and strategy? Even if this were possible cross-culturally, it would not be desirable. God has a beautiful, miraculous plan to take even vast cultural and personality differences and use them--working together--to demonstrate the unifying power of His Gospel. We have so much to learn in this area. Thankfully, the Malagasy are uniquely gifted in cooperation, and they have been gracious to us. May we be faithful to grow more like them in this area.