Ultimately it is always Christ himself who evangelizes, and only united with him are Christians enabled to collaborate in making manifest the Reign of God proclaimed and inaugurated by Christ. Throughout the history of the church there have been many approaches to mission that grew out of the contexts in which the church sought to witness. During the second half of this century many churches have used the concept of partnership to describe the doing of mission. The goal of partnership was to build more horizontal relationships between the so-called sending churches and the receiving churches. Accompaniment acknowledges the personhood of the other, empowers that person, and lifts up that person's gifts.
Accompaniment makes the mission whole.
Traditionally we have used the parable of the Lost Sheep to describe the mission of the church. This model has led the churches in the North to place themselves in the role of the pastor who goes out to seek the lost. We have determined who are lost and what they need to be found. Accompaniment focuses on God's desire to make God's community whole, by walking together in the same manner that God, in Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, accompanies humanity. At the heart of accompaniment we find the affirmation that ultimately it is always Christ himself, in us and through us, who evangelizes.