Towards being the Agency of Choice

Alvin Tan, MMS Chairman. He worships at Grace Methodist Church.

As a denominational missions agency, the sustainability of the Methodist Missions Society’s ministries, and the rationale for our very existence, depend on how deeply the Singapore Methodist churches and community are invested in what we do. The key distinction between us and an interdenominational agency is the deliberate choice of a narrow but potentially more accessible denominational support base. For a denominational agency like us to remain viable, however, we must be seen as relevant and integral to achieving the missions objectives of our support base.

We may be positioned as the missions arm of The Methodist Church in Singapore but we do not take our denominational support for granted. We need to earn that support, which requires good engagement with our stakeholders to understand their needs and expectations and conversely, for them to understand our mission and objectives. It goes without saying that we should display good governance, stewardship and accountability.

We have been around for more than 30 years and partnered some 21 (out of 46) Singapore Methodist churches. We have left and continue to leave footprints of ministry in seven countries. It is now time for us to re-evaluate our role. How may we become the missions agency of choice for the Methodist churches in Singapore? Should our key approach remain that of having a strong top-down leadership to spearhead and establish our ministries while rallying the support of the Methodist community and churches? How can we reach the goal of being in partnership with all Singapore Methodist churches in missions, recognising that vibrancy in missions often resides at the local church and annual conference levels?

Having accumulated many useful experiences and practices, perhaps it is time for us to go beyond spearheading field initiatives, defining strategy, and developing missions roadmaps. Rather, we should additionally leverage our resources to promote a healthy and robust missions culture in our Methodist churches. It is not realistic to expect all of them to focus only on our MMS ministries. In fact, the more established Methodist churches have been involved with other agencies for longer than we have been in existence, and in fields where we are not present.

Therefore, for us to thrive, our challenge is to communicate our vision, mission and culture to the local churches to align our missions objectives, and to support and facilitate missions initiatives within the churches and annual conferences.

In fields where there is the potential, our emphasis is to play a significant role in the passing down of the Methodist legacy, with institutions such as churches, schools, charitable foundations, Bible schools, church governing bodies etc. For us to do so requires not only a disciplined strategic approach, but sustained partnerships and support across all levels of our Methodist denomination.

It is crucial for our existence that we actively strive to become the missions agency of choice to the Singapore Methodist community.