Principles of Effective Collaboration
Christian unity and the Billy Graham crusades.
Sterling Huston
The Rev. Billy Graham has conducted evangelistic crusades and missions in 84 countries, on every continent, and in numerous languages around the world. The support of a wide cross-section of the church testifies to the validity of the collaborative principles that have gone into these events. This article will identify some of the principles that are essential for optimizing the collaboration of churches, parachurch ministries, and individual leaders around a crusade or mission. All of these involve a vision for kingdom goals, a servant attitude, a generosity of spirit, and a spirit of unity. Unity is a prerequisite to God's blessing in any spiritual endeavor, as the Book of Acts clearly illustrates (1:14; 2:1, 46-47; 4:24, 31-33).
1. Central to the Christian mission
The goal of the collaborative effort must be central to the Christian mission, as that mission is understood by the parties involved. This will establish a common ground on which all of the parties must agree if they are to support an effort. This is particularly essential in the work of evangelism, where the gospel is proclaimed. Though there are many differences in theology, ecclesiology, and methodology among various denominations, those who embrace an orthodox perspective of Scripture agree on the gospel and celebrate whenever it is declared broadly. In fact, churches that are not perceived as distinctively evangelical will often choose to participate because they believe that proclamation of the gospel is important.
2. Casting a bold vision
The goals of the collaborative effort must be bigger than what any of the parties involved believe they can accomplish alone. Each party may share the same goal, but not the same scope of effort or magnitude of vision. In a crusade effort, the vision is to reach an entire region with the gospel of Jesus Christ. A variety of evangelism methodologies may be used, but the primary focus must be the common evangelistic meetings in a public place. Churches and Christian organizations that have a spiritual burden for their cities and a desire to reach the larger population welcome this enlarged vision of declaring the gospel in a bold and significant way. It is this larger vision, necessitating that every church and organization do their part, that lifts people's focus from their own interests toward the ultimate objective.
3. Confidence in the method
The parties involved need a high expectation that the effort will succeed in reaching its goals, based on the past successes of the methodology or mission. The abundant evidence of God's blessing on Billy Graham crusades and missions around the world is strategic in lifting people's faith and expectation, and in motivating them to work harmoniously toward a common goal. The confidence people have expressed in the ministry of the Rev. Graham and his key associates, and in the proclamation evangelism model that he has traditionally used, elevates the participants' expectations for spiritual success through a united effort.
4. Confidence in the leadership
The effort must be led by respected, gifted leaders who have the capacity to impart visionary strategies. This is essential for the local leadership, which governs and guides the effort: they must evoke confidence and impart vision as they fulfill their roles. Inspiring confidence is necessary for the crusade staff, who become the "players/coaches" of the effort, leading, guiding, and training local personnel for their roles.
Protection of Values
Participants in a collaborative effort are drawn to the mission because they affirm its goal, support its vision, trust its method, and have confidence in its leadership. However, before making commitments to such an effort, each party needs assurance that the values and distinctives they hold as essential to their organization or denomination are not compromised by engaging in this collaborative effort. Thus, policies and promises that protect the unique interests of the various collaborating parties are essential.
1. The parties need to know that the public ministry and published statements will not dilute, deny, or denigrate key convictions held by their organization, congregation, or denomination. Billy Graham's pattern of concentrating on the essence of the gospel, while avoiding spoken and written statements on issues that divide the church, created a confidence that engagement in this effort will not be damaging to specific and highly held values.
2. In order to maintain trust among participating parties, fair policies must be established, clearly understood, and enforced. These policies should deal with at least three core areas:
a. Organization: Involvement by appropriate leadership from a cross-section of the Christian community is essential. This ensures a sense of participation and communication from those guiding the efforts to the participating churches and organizations.
b. Finances: All financial matters, including the raising, expending, and accounting of funds, must be conducted with openness, fairness, and integrity.
c. Results: The successes of the efforts should be appropriately shared by each of the partners. This includes additions to churches, benefits from church renewal, training, and public exposure, all of which enhance ministry. If the distribution of the results is perceived to favor one group over another, disunity and discord will follow.
Perspective on Collaboration
Collaborative evangelism is not union. It does not require congregations to make a long-term organizational commitment to one another. The organization for a crusade ceases when the project is complete. Collaborative evangelism is not uniformity. It does not require everyone to be pressed into the same theological, methodological, or ecclesiastical mold. Rather, it is a unity of purpose: the common desire to make Jesus Christ known to the whole community as Savior and Lord. It is to call men and women of all ages to a commitment to him. This kind of unity causes participants to subordinate their differences and affirm the things that unite them in order to lift up Jesus Christ.
Product of Partnering
In the last two decades, we observed a new and encouraging trend in the North American cities where Billy Graham crusades and missions were held. There was a growing prayer emphasis involving both laity and leadership in almost every city we visited. The result of this prayer emphasis was an increased sense of unity before the vision of a crusade was ever discussed, and a deepening concern for evangelism and spiritual awakening in the community. This climate greatly enhanced the crusade effort when the formal preparations began.
Perhaps the best illustration of this is the September 1992 crusade in Portland, Oregon. Some three years prior, Joe Aldrich, president of Multnomah Bible College, began the Pastors' Prayer Summits in that area, a movement that has now spread across North America. This resulted in a new and deep sense of unity and trust among the pastoral leadership. Portland is an area of the country where more liberal theological, sociological, and political views are prevalent. The population of the crusade area was about 1.1 million. We knew that God had significantly prepared this city when, at the Christian Life and Witness classes, we saw the highest attendance of any crusade training, averaging 24,000 in weekly attendance.
The previous attendance record for Christian Life and Witness training was held by the Southern California crusade, which embraced a population area of 11 million people. Attendance at crusade meetings broke all previous records for North America—averaging 53,200 gathered nightly in a stadium that had no parking. More than 15,000 came to Christ in response to the preaching of the gospel. These extraordinary results can be attributed tothe unity among spiritual leaders of the community—a unity that resulted from application of core collaborative principles.
Sterling Huston is director of special ministries for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). He joined bgea in 1966 and served as director of North American ministries for many years, concentrating on crusade scheduling, organization, and ministry. Huston holds an MS from the University of Maine and a Doctor of Divinity from Roberts Wesleyan College. He is the author of Crusade Evangelism and the Local Church.
