Theological Reflections on Commending and Sending
In the Nanning Covenant signed in China in 2002, YWAM set the direction for some of the current leadership issues we are facing today. Further reflecting on the process of Commending New Ministries on how this will be done rests in the inter-relationship between commending bodies (oplocs and/or Elders), commended-sent ones*, and receiving communities. At the end of the day, the commending ministry needs to be empowered to send; the commended ministry needs to have the authority of being sent; and the domain of receiving a new ministry needs to honored and respected . If we can achieve this, YWAM will have moved into a missiological stance of win/win/win, which has great potential to unlock new strategies to reach new Omega Zones. Therefore, commending needs to be done in such a manner that there is · Discernment on the Word of the Lord-Jerusalem Council; Paul to Macedonia · Empowerment in an impartational manner (laying on of hands) to the sent ones-P