The Perceived Need
A need that we have observed, is that many churches have people within them that have missional ideas, but don’t see how their ideas fit within the framework of the church’s support structure. Organizations do exist that may draw these people away from their churches, but this is not good for the local church or the person that needs a vital link to the local church. On top of this, many of these missional ideas may emerge as businesses, and the church's funds are usually not intended to be given to such initiatives. If financial support is to accompany discipleship, it will have to come from other sources that also align with the kingdom oriented goals of the business, or else spiritual conflicts of interest will quickly arise. Churches typically also aren’t equipped to discern between ideas that are business as usual and business as mission.
The need then, is that churches (especially in more historic forms) need help discerning how they might support and retain people within a biblically simple structure (elders + deacons) who have distinctly Christian mission oriented ideas, and help connect them to further support structures that will encourage their kingdom ideals as well as their connection to their local church. We believe that an outside agency could have a role in this process if it were careful to look out for the church’s best interests and affirm the church’s ecclesial structure and role in the affirmation, sending, and discipleship of its members.
A Theoretical Hybrid Solution: Infuse
Infuse is an emerging not-for-profit initiative in the city of Tucson, Arizona, that is being developed in order to help address the need defined above without undermining the simplicity or role of the local church. As the Barna Group exists to conduct surveys that require a lot of time and expertise that they uniquely bring to the broader church community, and then provide it as an available resource to churches unable to spend the time needed to conduct such research themselves, infuse would merely exist to provide a few key resources and services to churches and people with missional ideas. These people would remain entrusted to their local churches, and the churches would be encouraged to support these people by investing in them in accordance with their particular ecclesiological structure.
Infuse was born out of conversations between five Christian leaders in Tucson (Andy Littleton, Kristin Tovar, Zach Yentzer, Nick Lang and James Dill) who shared a common desire. All of them wished that their non-traditional missional ideas had been more deeply understood, affirmed, supported, and resourced by the local church within the past decade. All of them wanted to help equip the church to get behind the next wave of leaders like themselves. Though not all of these leaders had the capacity to carry this particular idea forward, their stories and wisdom have shaped what infuse is becoming today.
Infuse’s aim is to provide these services to leaders who do not fit the molds already embraced by the majority of churches. Missionaries and campus ministers for example, are now fairly well understood. Para-church ministries exist to train and fund such leaders, and denominations that have resisted the tendency to funnel their leaders through such agencies have figured out how they fit within their existing structures, typically in the office of elder or a similar office such as evangelist. Mission endeavors that don’t fit this mold, such as business-as-mission initiatives or short-term community engagement initiatives are more within the scope of infuse’s purview. These mission methods are on the rise, and there is a need to support them and churches that wish to retain such leaders.
