Accountability Statement

During previous trips to Mozambique and South Africa, we have discovered that co-dependency is a major issue. The traditional approach to mission work has been for the missionary to design projects for the native people, define the project objectives, define how those objectives will be met and, in many cases, even perform much of the work ( this is, after all, how we do things in America). While successful in many mission fields, this approach has created a co-dependency issue between the native Africans and the missionary in that the Africans have come to expect the missionary to do these things and therefore do not try to think or resolve issues for themselves (haven’t we done this with pastors and ministers in our own churches?).

Safari Insight Mission's emphasis will therefore change from this traditional type “fix-it” ministery to more of a developmental and nurturing approach. This will be accomplished by developing a Biblical world view through the use of agricultural, domestic, and small business related projects, tied to a scripture based orientation, which the missionary will introduce to the local Africans. The missionary will provide the overall project objective, but coach the Africans in working out the details to complete the project. The roll of the missionary at this point becomes more of a student or co-learner. This simply means that while allowing the Africans to take initiative and ownership of a project, the missionary will learn to understand the African mindset and way of solving problems through analytical thinking based on a Biblical world view, thereby making them accountable for success and/or failure of the project to one another and to God, but not to the missionary.

Second, the missionary will learn what works and/or doesn’t work in the field and can make adjustments for future project completion (it is common for the people to give up on projects which require analytical thinking), and assist in resolving issues or roadblocks through coaching (i.e. help them analyze problems and develop solutions in a logical manner). We believe that it is through this accountability that we will become successful in the things that God has laid upon our hearts to accomplish in Mozambique and South Africa.

Safari Insight Missions will send monthly newsletters and periodic progress reports to all of our supporting churches for the work in Mozambique/South Africa, and the teachings in the U.S. In addition, at least one personal trip to our supporting churches will be made each year by a Safari Insight Missions staff member (schedules/funding permitting). These visits will include teaching Biblical world view, giving reports to mission committees, and recruiting short and long term mission workers for Safari Insight Missions. Through this type of interaction we hope that our supporting churches will become more involved in the efforts of Safari Insight Missions through collaboration, communication, resource pooling, and funding short term mission trips among themselves and will therefore be accountable to one another in supporting God’s work in Mozambique and South Africa. We believe this approach will develop true scriptural and spiritual accountability and keep the doors from church to mission and mission to church open.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any of our team members.