The Kingdom Supply Chain

Maybe you’ve heard the African proverb “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” (And, in full transparency, we don’t really know the origin of the proverb),

When you hear it, you probably think about friends, family, and community. A bunch of people working together, holding each other up with encouragement and picking up the slack when one gets exhausted. And that’s certainly accurate. But I also think it’s worth thinking about this idea less with the image of people lined up next to each other and more with organizations strategically linked together.

It's not just about having a village of people around you but about your organization playing its part in a giant chain of kingdom and global impact. Let me explain.

First, I live in Northwest Arkansas, the home of the first Walmart, which, over the past half-century, has popularized the very concept of the supply chain. Case in point: When I was born, the term “supply chain management” didn’t exist, and now my son has a degree in supply chain management from the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas here in Walmartland.

In my executive coaching practice, I regularly find myself talking supply chains with clients as well. How do we move a product from the place that grew it to the shelf where it can be bought? Literally, how do we move that product through every stage gate from start to finish? At present, I am deeply involved in a beef and seafood effort that is doing that very thing. Supply Chain 101.

The concept of the supply chain is manifest everywhere.

Today, though, I’m thinking about the supply chain as a follower of Jesus, which may seem an odd connection. But it’s a core conviction for me: Efforts in the Kingdom (a term Jesus used for his work in the world) go farther when there’s a connected chain — when there is collaboration. I’d like to suggest there is a Kingdom supply chain of sorts.

And it is a concept that I believe has not been cultivated enough in our modern world of ministry.

Kingdom Supply Chain

Christian organizations are often no different than others in one respect: When things are going well, we ask the question, “What’s next?” If we have momentum, surely we are supposed to scale and expand our brand up or down the supply chain of ideas, services, or products.

Local ministry is going well. I probably ought to think regionally. National ministry is effective. Perhaps we should go global. A national college student ministry is going great, so why not expand to include high schoolers? Maybe we should add an inner-city ministry. What about workplace ministry?

Churches and ministries love to slide up and down the Kingdom supply chain.

Let me say with clarity that these could be good questions to ask and answer. Ambition sometimes gets a bad rap in Christian spaces, but it’s actually God-given. If your ministry is proving effective, then you should think about reaching others and not just focusing on who is already in the fold.

But it also could be best to find someone already doing the thing you are considering adding to your mission and simply collaborate with them. We can’t be world class and best at every mission and every piece of the Kingdom supply chain.

The Bible makes the case that different people (organizations) play different roles. Paul wrote: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gives the growth. … According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it” (1 Corinthians 3:5-10). It takes a combination of efforts and organizations to deliver the entire Kingdom supply chain to the world. 

Consider a 20th-century example. Billy Graham was famous for his crusades that drew thousands. But what allowed him to have worldwide influence? It was the vast network of partnerships he built with local churches that laid the groundwork before his visit and did all the follow-up afterward.

Graham knew his work had edges, knew where he needed to have singular focus, and knew he needed to partner with others for other steps in the broad, worthwhile work of Gospel ministry.

Three Quick Tips 

How do you lean into a healthy understanding of the Kingdom supply chain? Here are three tips.

1. Find your organizational lane and stay in it.

What are your edges and unique contributions? What can you be the best in the world at, and how do you avoid diversifying yourself to death? It’s the “hedgehog and fox” concept that Jim Collins popularized.

Do you have a clear mission? If your mission is some version of “Be a healthy church,” then you’re destined for vague ministry. On the other hand, if you can identify what you most effectively offer as a church or a ministry and identify those edges to your core stakeholders (think staff, congregants, and community), then you model for them where they should be dependent on other individuals and ministries. 

2. Curb your appetite.

Paul’s advice to the young pastor Timothy was, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Fight for contentment in ministry. Don’t assume more is better. Ambition isn’t the enemy, but discontentment is. Can you be satisfied if you don’t expand?

Many ministry organizations operate as if their “calling and mission or market interest” triggers a mandate for them to expand and slide up and down the supply chain. 

3. Partner

Paul uses the metaphor of the body to describe the church. Recognizing that you’re a part of the whole exponentially increases your humility. No one is the whole by themselves. As Paul says, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you!’” (1 Corinthians 12:21). If you can’t say what other churches or ministries you’re dependent on, you’re probably in the midst of supply chain sprawl.

The concepts of collaboration and partnering are deeply biblical and practically critical. God intended us to work with and alongside each other. But it takes humility and brokenness to really do that with heart.