The crisp tone of the flight attendant over the microphone cut through the silence of the aircraft as we glided 35,000 feet above the ground. “Please fasten your seat belts; we have begun our descent toward Frankfurt. I hope you had a pleasant journey. Thank you for flying Lufthansa.”

I could have shouted, “Hooray, Frankfurt, here I come,” for I was so relieved that I could finally stretch myself! A slight bump and a jerk indicated that we had landed, and I felt the plane’s movement as it taxied on the runway.

I spent the night in the waiting lounge, watching the people from different countries and cultures bustling around sipping coffee in the café, strolling about shopping or just looking at the products in the duty-free shops. The battery-driven cars whizzed past with elderly passengers and I found myself wishing for the electric vehicle to tour around the huge airport! I watched with fascination at the display boards with arrival and departure details; especially thrilling was the whirring sound of the flight timetable charts flipping as flight after flight landed or took off.

I must have dozed off on the seat as I watched… only to be rudely awakened time and time again by endless announcements. What seemed like an endless night finally came to an end with the break of dawn. I was tired, bored and my back began to ache.

I thought, “I could be snugly tucked in bed at home, enjoying a good night’s rest, instead of flying halfway across the globe exploring networking with people for the cause of the gospel!” I moved over to get closer to the huge glass panes that separated the terminal building from the flight parking bay.

I watched bird-like machines gracefully line up in rows along their bays, waiting to be cleaned and reloaded. I noticed several trucks alongside the planes, and there were also other men zooming around in their smaller inspection vehicles, heading back and forth from the aircraft. I may have been bored but they were not, each one focused on doing their own thing and oblivious to the others.

Some had charts in their hands and others – in smaller clusters – checked the wheels and other important parts of the aircraft. One of them was dragging a long hose to refuel the plane, another was on a fork lift that took him almost over the wing to do some routine checks. The food was being loaded, and the luggage hold was being emptied and cleaned.

My bored mind suddenly came alive watching this amazing effort to get the flight airworthy again. I had just realized that though these men may never board the flight or be applauded for their efforts, they work tirelessly to make these machines fly and to fulfill the advertiser’s promise, “An unforgettable flying experience.” They were doing what was to me a very significant human effort to work together.

Trust, openness and mutual concern are vital ingredients.

As I flew on the next leg of my journey, I began to ask myself, “Why am I involved in networking? What is it that made me value networking?” I could have been doing something else. I pondered the questions.

As a child, I was raised with five other siblings. I was the youngest at home and the stronger one of a set of twins. Ahead of us were three sisters and finally an older brother, the firstborn. Being the youngest of a large family, I observed and learned quickly what could incur the wrath of my parents or bring us favor with them. The latter was a far better proposition, I reasoned, and for most part of my life, I pleased them in many ways and earned the respect of the rest of my family.

I quickly learned that this was also pretty much the formula I may need to survive in the world of friends and enemies. Whether it was a fight over a marble or a losing football game – the formula was “Work it out, cooperate, negotiate and collaborate.” Living in a one-room house meant sharing space, meals, resources, hand-me-downs, almost anything and everything!

My dad, being a generous and kind-hearted Christian, often opened our small house to relatives who were in dire situations – sometimes for months at a stretch. As kids we found that we had to share our already-strained resources with some more people. With these family interactions I learned the importance of caring for my weaker sibling, sharing goodies…and vital ingredients like trust, openness and mutual concern came alive to me.

These early lessons came to me as described here. I believe they had a major part to play in teaching me valuable lessons on networking that I would appreciate years later. After all, partnerships are more than coordination, planning, strategies and tactics. The kingdom of God is one large family. The heart of the gospel, above all, is restored relationships.

Looking at Scripture, the body of Christ as described in 1 Corinthians 12, is one body carefully woven together piece by piece for a divine purpose. Acts 2:42 talks about the believers of the early church having a togetherness that was unique; they strived to share and care for each other as one people rescued by the mercy of God.

It was a most essential quality of being the ecclesia people who are “called out of,” set apart, and distinguished from the rest. They were noticed for this quality: something that stood out and made heads turn; and much more than a fashion statement because of who they were. After all, when was the last time we met a believer who sold his property to help another struggling believer? Loving, caring and sharing was the fabric of their “being,” almost their raison d’être as a church.

To highlight my points further, I have borrowed principles from among the many “Partnership Principles” that Phill Butler describes in his book, Well Connected.[1] These points help me construct my experiences in this journey of learning to be a networker.

All effective strategic partnerships are driven by an energizing, challenging vision.

When I began a coffee house ministry, it was a step of faith. I knew clearly that the Lord was leading me to reach out to the urban youth, a group that was energetic, lively, and ambitious, yet misplaced in society and struggling in the margins.

I had a dream and a desire, two essential ingredients to create something out of nothing. I had no idea how to do it, nor did I have the financial resources to get it done. Therefore, I began a journey of faith and began to see many miracles of God’s provision. What came to my rescue was my ability to connect with people, and that’s what I did. I began to share my ideas and ask people to help in whatever way they could. I soon saw heaven literally open up. That’s the power of networking.

People discovered a new-found joy to give and be a part of this unique outreach opportunity. Helping hands volunteered to set up, move, rearrange, pull down, borrow, and return. That’s not all – we needed a high-quality sound system, musicians, musical instruments, a coffee machine and cutlery to serve hot coffee, ideas, more volunteers, graphic designers, camera men, newspaper editors – not to forget the prayer warriors and the donors.

All of them came and got involved in this effort to “permeate the society with the gospel of Christ.” Those around me wanted to experience the energy, the excitement. Stick together. Lift the name of Jesus; not just verbally, but also through the things we were doing. We were all together in one accord. All people had something in common: Jesus.

If you ask me, was the networking intentional? I would say, “No, in this case it just followed an energizing, challenging vision!” This vision must be beyond the capacity of any single person or agency to achieve alone. Only the vision will keep you going. Partnership for partnership’s sake is a sure recipe for failure. Warm fellowship isn’t enough.

Effective, durable partnerships are a process, not an event.

It’s been many years since that first experience doing a coffee house ministry. Now, as I pursue bringing youth workers together as part of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Youth Commission and actively involved in mentoring younger leaders of the Lausanne Movement, I see the same exciting principle. Partnerships are a process.

What we sow in the early years (exploration), we reap years later as God widens the net (formation). While we spend most of our life and ministry being “event-driven” we need to focus on the process of staying connected (operation).

I now have many more opportunities to see the worldwide church coming together on various occasions and for specific reasons. If the basics are not right, we will go through the same insecurities we faced when we first began the ministry journey.

The ploy of Satan is the same: fear, intimidation, and most of all, insecurity. The fear of being left out, feeling intimidated that someone else was given an opportunity and not I, the feeling that I will be overlooked, ignored, side-stepped. Whatever the feeling and whatever the reason, these are excuses that are not from God. They are from only one source that we all are aware of: Satan! His tactic is to intimidate and watch the fun as we self-detonate and destroy ourselves.

Partnerships take time. They have to be carefully nurtured. There are no shortcuts. They have to go through the process that involves time and energy. It has to be worked out in real time and it bears fruit in real time. Every lasting partnership has exploration, formation and operation stages. Forming them takes much more time than you expect.

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Jacob Isaac is the founder and CEO of Kerygma, an urban youth ministry based in Bangalore, India reaching youth through a café, camps and a drug rehabilitation center. He is a trainer and conference speaker and creative worship leader. He was involved with the Union of Evangelical Students of India (UESI) from 1991 to 1997, ministering to students on college campuses. He is the Secretary of the EFI National Youth Commission and the South Asia Rep. on the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Youth Commission. He is currently involved in ‘Yuvapedia’ a national youth research project spanning 10 cities of India. He is married to Sheela, and they are blessed with three daughters, Rebecca (17), Jerusha (13) and Deborah (11).

 

[1] Phill Butler, Well Connected: Releasing Power, Restoring Hope Through Kingdom Partnerships. Waynesboro, Ga: Authentic Media, 2006.