By Neil Hart
The underlying mission of everything we do at the Mergon Foundation is to be catalysts for the expansion of God’s Kingdom. It’s a mandate we all received from Jesus when He left the growth of the new testament church in the hands of His disciples, including you and me. He told us to ‘seek first’ His Kingdom. He said that His Kingdom was advancing, and it is happening here, now.
A catalyst is described as a ‘small dose that is added to cause a disproportionate effect’. We are not done learning, but have seen over time that to be a catalyst, one must have a few things in place:
Partnerships and networks
Kingdom partnerships are incredibly important to us and we’ve learnt a lot about what constitutes an effective partnership over the last 40 years. We value mutually beneficial partnerships with the purpose of building God’s Kingdom.
We intentionally take time to build relationships with a broad range of ministries across the world, primarily working in Africa and the Middle East. Our aim is to walk a good journey with these partners, to support them and see them grow. Each region is so unique and each partnership brings with it obstacles, victories and learnings.
We’ve also seen the benefit of connecting people who may have two different pieces of the same puzzle: people who have regional knowledge with those who have global insight; evangelist ministries with disciple-making ministries; or technology enablers with on-the-ground implementers. Each of these is essential in creating a greater impact out of what we have been given to steward.
Perspective and strategy
One of the unique benefits we have as a Foundation is our wide network, spanning across Africa and the Middle East. With a wider network, we gain better perspective, and perspective is essential for great strategy. In fact, catalytic Kingdom partnerships is the essence of our strategy.
It’s not uncommon to find a discrepancy between an organisation’s strategy and its reality. That’s why it’s imperative to remember that strategy takes time. Einstein once said that if he had 60 minutes to save the world, he’d spend 59 minutes on problem definition.
We need to be clear on what we are putting our effort into when we speak about Kingdom expansion. I believe God expects us to carry a tenderness to hear his voice (prophetic heart) with a strategic, apostolic mind.
Unity
In God’s economy, unity is a supernatural, catalytic ingredient. Ephesians 4 speaks about working towards the unity of the body of Christ so that ‘when each part is working properly, it makes the body grow…’
I’m certain that we will not see the effective expansion of God’s Kingdom without an intentional working towards unity. It is something that only God can activate but relies on us to move our hearts together towards one purpose with one mind.
Our aim is to work with and through the body of Christ. At times following and at times leading, but always serving. We hope to thereby fulfil our mandate to be catalysts for the expansion of God’s Kingdom.
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