The 2023 Fellowship of Christian Military Ministries (FCMM) is planned for 27-29 March at a Bible Church in the suburbs of Washington, DC. ACCTS and Christian Military Fellowship (CMF) are co-hosting this year’s conference. Here’s an overview of what is planned.
The theme of this year’s FCMM conference is taken from the prayer of Jabez, “Enlarging our Ministry Territory” through “C4:” Communication, Cooperation, Coordination, and Collaboration. The opening session will be a panel discussion of how C4 has worked in past ministry ventures to set the stage for the rest of the conference.
For the purposes of FCMM 2023, C4 will be understood as follows:
- Communication is the exchange of information and ideas between ministry partners to develop a shared understanding of mutual goals and objectives to achieve consensus.
- Cooperation affords partners broad flexibility in working independently while not interfering with ministry partners
- Coordination ensures that participant operations are aligned with a common goal, thus realizing economy of effort and greater efficiency.
- Collaboration is about shared creation, bringing different skill sets, world views, and ideas about achieving their shared goals.
C4 will be explored at FCMM in the context of “Ministering to the Global Military Community” to begin developing synergy among the various ministries attending. Some minister to women in the military, others focus on healing combat trauma and some concentrate on building the Kingdom among the uniformed services of the world. All play a vital role in doing God’s work, but greater emphasis on C4 may provide more effective application of God’s resources on achieving His goals.
Much of the 2023 conference will be devoted to smaller breakout groups on various aspects of C4, and how a common understanding and application of these principles might enhance the overall work of the FCMM member ministries. One particular issue to be addressed is the apparent difficulty ministries experience in applying C4 in their daily tasks and discussing the way ahead for more productive communication, cooperation, coordination, and collaboration.
The concept of Total Quality Management in business emerged over 100 years ago and has been widely applied to make organizations more focused on customer satisfaction and thus more profitable. Effective C4 was always part of that philosophy. If those of us engaged in Christian Ministry begin to view our elements of God’s organization as part of a greater whole devoted to providing our Lord and Savior with the best possible return on His investment in our work, imagine how we might realize the goals laid out in Matthew 18:19-20, 19“Go therefore*and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20“teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
