I’ve really been enjoying discovering the New Testament word συνεργια / synergia. This word means co-work (syn- means together or cooperative, -ergia means work or labour). The English equivalent of this word is synergy.
In the New Testament this word is employed in various different ways including horizontally (co-work between people), vertically (co-labour between God and people) as well as with other nuances too.
Here is a list of the New Testament uses of synergia in its various forms.
Mk 16:20, Rom 8:28, Rom 16:3, 9, 21; I Cor 3:9, I Cor 16:16, II Cor 1:24, II Cor 6:1, II Cor 8:23, Phil 2:25, Phil 4:3, Col 4:11, I Thes 3:2, Phm 1:1, 24; James 2:22, III Jn 1:8
The more I have thought about it, the more I have realised that this word characterises so much of what we care about in mission, that it expresses so many of our values, whether cross-cultural mutuality (2 Cor 1:24), or charismatic expectation (Mark 16:20), or the sending and supporting role of local churches (3 John 1:8).
This short series of videos is a set of reflections on this important Bible word.
Andy McCullough was born and raised in Cyprus, is married to Jessica, who is South African, has four children who were born in London, and lived in Turkey from 2009-2016.
He has a Master's Degree in Contextual Theology with Mission from All Nations Christian College, and currently works as Teaching Pastor for Reading Family Church (www.readingfamilychurch.org.uk) in the UK. He is the author of is the author ‘Global Humility: Attitudes for Mission‘ and ‘The Bethlehem Story'.
He is passionate about cross-cultural church planting, and is involved in coaching and developing churches and leaders, mostly in the Eastern Mediterranean/West Asia region.
He leads the Unreached Network (www.unreached.network), facilitating best practice in cross-cultural mission across the wider Newfrontiers family (www.newfrontierstogether.org).
You can follow him on twitter @and_mcc
