WHO ARE WE?

In the Alliance for Vulnerable Mission (AVM), we understand ourselves as people united in a league where we work together in relationship, following a common vision.

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The AVM promotes the practice of taking a vulnerable stance in Christian ministry – following the footsteps of Jesus Christ. In particular, we understand vulnerability in ministry as working exclusively in the languages and with the resources of the people we want to serve. We identify practitioners seeking to work in this way. They can support one another and inspire others to consider vulnerable mission.

We seek to critique and expose consequences of power and dominance, which are opposites of vulnerability – and we appeal to Christian workers to replace these with vulnerability.

As AVM, we are a broad alliance of people who promote vulnerability in mission. We range from radical prophets to more conciliatory promotors of incremental change towards vulnerability.

To live out Jesus’ Beatitudes in Christian ministry raises different challenges in different contexts. To date, the AVM has focussed on Western mission practice in Africa, South-East Asia, East Asia, and South America. While acknowledging our history, we broaden our scope to promote of Christian vulnerability in all contexts.

To date, we operate predominantly in English with most people in our network coming from Europe and the US. We are aware of the pitfalls of inter-language and inter-cultural communication. As a consequence, we see ourselves as primarily speaking to a Western audience.

Members of AVM play out advocacy for VM in a range of spheres – from practical to academic, from challenging mission leaders to fostering VM amongst mission students, from mission agencies and funders to individual mission supporters.