Risks and responsibilities. To make collaboration work, sponsorship modes must stress influence rather than control.
Although much has been written in recent years on the virtues of collaboration, the reality often does not match the rhetoric. Many sponsors have been caught in a "schizophrenia of spirit," in which their actions do not accord with the values they profess. One reason for this contradiction is that the institutional Church has given sponsors a control model with which to operate. According to such a model, sponsors set the mission, appoint boards, control assets, approve dissolutions, approve bylaws, appoint the chief executive officer, and approve the auditor. Maintaining this much control makes it difficult for sponsors to initiate effective collaborative ventures. On the contrary, effective collaboration requires a willingness to cooperate and use influence, rather than to exert control. An influence model also calls on sponsors to trust others and believe in their commitment to achieving a greater good. For many reasons, religious community leaders find an influence model difficult to implement. However, as resources become more scarce and as the numbers of poor continue to rise, sponsors will be increasingly called on to find creative ways to work with others. In such an environment, they must be willing to take the risks necessary to fulfill the healing ministry of Jesus.