STRATEGIC SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
Planning, organizing, directing, and controlling international ministry is a major undertaking, and the physical risks that American expatriates and travelers face every day are by no means the least important considerations for ministry leaders. A critical aspect of risk management is the need to understand the complex political, conflict, terrorism, and persecution issues that shape your harvest field. Elections, riots, civil wars, international wars, terror attacks, gang wars, disasters, and hostile government policies toward Christians can all have a strategic impact on your workers.
Concilium’s International Affairs Group (IAG) exists to help mission agencies, churches, and humanitarian organizations understand how global events impact the voice and presence of the Gospel.
This strategic analysis is a critical element of due diligence and can allow leaders to assure all inquirers that they have fulfilled their ethical and legal responsibilities. IAG offers flexible subscriptions and client services, including customized reports and telephone and VoIP consultations, designed to help you do your due diligence and help your workers, those messengers of the Gospel, in the field be nimble and resilient in the face of threats.
Some of the largest ministries in the world trust IAG to provide them strategic knowledge that will help them make effective decisions with respect to security, strategy, and training. Here are what a few IAG clients have to say:
"News articles and other open source reports often only cover one aspect of an incident or situation, leaving gaps in fully understanding what is happening. IAG's reports are based on credible sources, not politicians or news pundits promoting their biases. In addition, IAG's reports cause me to ask the ‘what if’ questions that are a part of my ministry in helping our missionaries avoid threat situations that might interfere with their ministries …. I use IAG’s reports as a reliable source to evaluate other sources, to look for agreements or differences in observations that drive my own investigation for accuracy, perspective and truth on which to base sound advice to our leadership worldwide.”
G.S., international contingency coordinator
“The reports have helped undergird the training, sending, and going aspects of our short-term missions. They keep us up to speed on world events. A lot of times in mainstream news reports, one only receives the surface report of what is going on, and this oftentimes has a very slanted vantage point. IAG goes deeper into the subject matter pertaining to a particular event, explaining why an event happened and what could be the potential fallout.”
R.M., missions pastor
“When unrest broke out just one month before our scheduled event, the long-prepared-for event looked to be in jeopardy. But IAG provided us with daily updates beyond what CNN could provide. It was their reliable analysis and, of course, the Lord’s peace that helped our team finally make the decision to go for it. And we’re glad we did! IAG will be an asset to you as you provide oversight and care for your ‘boots on the ground.’”
M.B., missions strategist