Three Rails of Partnership Development

Three Rails of Partnership Development with Ellen Livingood
Three Rails of Partnership Development: Field, Church, and Logistics
Ellen Livingood, Catalyst Services
May 28, 2009

This session will help mission organizations define and lay down the three essential tracks for effective church partnerships. Church partnerships offer tremendous potential to use untapped local church resources to advance field ministry and at the same time ignite new global passion in the North American congregation. But careful preparation on multiple levels is required. The challenge is for the partnering mission organization to make sure that planning is moving forward simultaneously in three areas: the field where partnership ministry will focus, the potential partner church, and the administrative logistics.

This seminar will discuss how to avoid partnership derailments by identifying and addressing the crucial ingredients of each of these three partnership rails. We will talk about core values, expectations, capacity building, training, funding, and review. Practitioners will share their personal perspective on the essentials of preparing for successful partnering. Ellen Livingood founded Catalyst Services three years ago to improve the collaboration between mission organizations and local churches. She has experience in agency administration and mobilization, as well as in consulting and training with both mission organizations and churches. Ellen has also served as the director of global outreach of a local church, leading the congregation through several global partnership engagements.