A mission agency decides it would be nice to fund a medical van which travels about a Muslim region offering health care services to people who couldn't otherwise afford it. Unfortunately, however, no plans were made to share anything about Jesus with the patients. Literature isn't even handed out. The medical van idea is field-driven in the sense that it met a crying local need. To correct the situation, the agency that funds the van should dialogue with the local church planting agency, so that the van will fit into the priorities and strategy of the field, rather than being an irrelevant distraction.
Some agencies do have a specific focus, such as deaf ministry, medical missions, or media outreach.
This narrow focus is their driving force, their passion, their reason for existing. However, their narrow ministry will be more effective when they intentionally relate their work to church planting and leadership development. They have not see themselves as Bible distributors or church planters. In recent years, however, missionary Don Leonard, an LCMS pastor serving Wycliffe in the Philippines, has prodded them to link their efforts to Bible distribution and church planting. This is a lesson for all mission agencies with a narrow passion and purpose.