So What Do We Do? Questions for Your Board and Your Leaders

We’ve looked at where the world’s risk experts and mission leaders agree and differ, at the risks our leaders are watching, and at the reasons for hope. Now the harder question: what do we do with this?

My answer is a modest one. GMROI isn’t a forecast, and it isn’t a strategic plan. It’s 190 leaders telling us what they see, and its best use is to start better conversations. So here’s how I’d use it.

Start with your own list

Before anyone looks at our results, ask each person on your board or leadership team to privately pick their top three risks and top three opportunities from the GMROI lists, then circle the one in each group that matters most. Share the answers out loud. You’ll probably find disagreement, and that’s the point. Then compare your list to ours.

Pair the risks with the opportunities

One of the most useful things the data shows is that leaders’ fears and hopes line up. Pair them in your discussion:

• Shallow Discipleship (40% in top three) and Deep Leadership Formation (24%)
• Geopolitical Fragmentation (36%) and Regional Mission Networks (42%) or Decentralized Resilient Mission (18%)
• Donor Fatigue (18%) and Diversified Funding Models (22%)
• Leadership Succession Gaps (15%) and Next-Generation Development (23%)
• Dependency & Paternalism (7%) and Peer Global Partnerships (13%) or Polycentric Mission Leadership (15%)

For each pair, ask: what are we actually doing about this? One thing I noticed is that leaders named Diversified Funding Models in 22.1% of top-three lists but made it their number one opportunity only 2.7% of the time. Leaders see the need, but few are treating it as the priority. Why not?

Questions for the board

• If Shallow Discipleship is the biggest risk leaders see, what evidence would tell us whether it’s true of the people we serve? What do we look at today?
• Which of these 20 risks are in our formal risk review, and which are missing?
• Where are we most dependent on one funding source, one region, or one leader? What would we do if that changed within five years?

Questions for the office team

• Where do we hold control tightly in ways that work against partnership, the top opportunity in this survey?
• Who is in the pipeline behind our current leaders, and are we investing in their character as much as their skills?
• Which risks and opportunities would our own staff rank differently from our board? Why?

Questions for leaders in the field

• Does this list match what you see on the ground? What’s missing?
• Where is there a local partner you would trust with more responsibility than you’ve given them so far?
• What would help headquarters hear what you’re telling us more clearly?

Pick one thing

Please don’t try to act on all 20 risks and all 20 opportunities. After your conversation, choose one risk and one opportunity to work on over the next year. Give each an owner, and decide now how you’ll know whether anything moved. When the next GMROI results come out, look again together and see whether the picture has changed.

Remember who’s in the room, and who isn’t

Different seats see different things. We saw it when African leaders ranked Information Disorder far lower than everyone else as their top concern, and when leaders outside Africa were more than twice as likely to pick Indigenous Leadership Movements. If your conversation only includes people from one region or role, you’re getting part of the picture.

That applies to our data too. Only one respondent identified as a board member, and 35 of the 184 who shared their gender were women. Leaders in East Asia, South Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa are also underrepresented. If that’s you, we want your perspective in the next round.

End where we started

When you gather your team, begin by asking for wisdom. James 1:5 says God gives generously to anyone who asks. Pray for clear eyes about the risks and open hands toward the opportunities. Then listen to each other, especially the voices that usually speak last.

If you try any of these conversations, I’d love to hear what you learn. And if you haven’t yet, explore the interactive dashboard, where you can filter the results by role and region before your next meeting.

Written by Michael VanHuis, Executive Director of Missio Nexus. For more information, go to missionexus.org.