(January 21, 2011 - by Harold Goerzen) Addressing a problem that many Christian leaders have called one of the most important challenges facing missions today, HCJB Global has joined forces with TWR International to hold a two-day symposium on the topic, "Unhealthy Dependency to Faith Reliance." The two organizations are co-sponsoring the event at TWR's international office in Cary, N.C., Wednesday-Thursday, March 9-10.

"The U.S. and world economies are down, and donations to traditional ministries are on the decline," said Mark Papierski, HCJB Global's business in missions coordinator and a member of the symposium's planning committee. "Any ministries that are relying totally on donations from the West may not be sustainable into the future."

He explained that as a result of these challenges, "everyone is talking about the elephant in the room-unhealthy dependency-and is asking the following questions: When will mission fields begin paying their own way? How do we do a better job in turning the Great Commission over to those whom we are discipling? What will all of this mean for God's kingdom?"

Featured speakers at the symposium will include Rob Martin of First Fruit Inc.; Brian Fikkert of the Chalmers Center and coauthor of the book, When Helping Hurts; Jean Johnson, a veteran church planter and global missions consultant; Doug Seebeck, president of Partners Worldwide and coauthor of the book, My Mission-Fighting Poverty Through Partnerships; and Barbara Shantz, TWR's global development liaison.

The idea for the seminar came about a year ago when the presidents of TWR and HCJB Global realized their organizations were both working on the issue of moving from that of "unhealthy dependency" to "faith reliance."

"The concept of self-supporting, cross-cultural ministry is not only a good idea, it's a strategic necessity in much of our ministry," said HCJB Global President Wayne Pederson. "And the outcome is always better when human and financial resources come from the culture in which we minister. There is much more ownership, much more significant outcome from efforts that are supported in this way."

Shantz said in a TWR press release that the goal of the symposium is to "keep the conversations and learning from Cape Town 2010 [the third Lausanne Congress last October] going so that we confront and work through the many facets of the unhealthy dependency issues in a spirit of healthy partnerships. We're providing a place for people to come and propose wise use of individual and corporate resources, hopefully learning how to depend more on God in faith, and less on donors as 'saviors.'"

HCJB Global will soon have the opportunity to implement the principles being discussed at the event as the ministry prepares to launch a pilot project among its radio partners in Haiti that were affected by last year's devastating earthquake, leaving the country with an unemployment rate of up to 80 percent.

"Together with Partners Worldwide and businessmen from supporting churches we will recruit and mentor Christian businessmen directly involved in the leadership of our partner radio ministries-Radio Lumière in Port-au-Prince and Radio 4VEH in Cap-Haitien-and local churches with the purpose of expanding their businesses and creating jobs to support these local partners," Papierski explained.

Partners Worldwide is a dynamic global network of business and professional people whose mission is to grow enterprises, create sustainable jobs and transform the jobs of all involved. This partnership approach emphasizes growing businesses through training, mentoring, access to capital and advocacy.

"We are excited to take this opportunity to engage and connect with those who are passionate about our mission," Seebeck said. "We hope to develop a model partnership in Haiti that can be replicated around the world with HCJB Global."

Papierski added that this is an "excellent opportunity to be the Voice and Hands of Jesus as we continue to move through the process of providing emergency medical relief teams and rehabilitation of water projects to sustainable, economic empowerment and development ministries in Haiti."

In order to accomplish this pilot project, the Haiti team plans to develop and implement microenterprise opportunities, provide training for small and medium businesses, promote long-term mentoring relationships among Christian businessmen, serve in an advocacy role with both non-governmental organizations and government agencies to buy goods locally, and increase access to capital to expand existing businesses and create jobs.

"We are looking for Christian businessmen to join us in this ministry," Papierski said.

To register for the symposium, visit www.twr.org/symposium. For more information about HCJB Global's business in missions outreach, contact Papierski at [email protected].

Sources: HCJB Global, TWR International, Partners Worldwide