From the outset, The Christian and Missionary Alliance has been a body that wanted to connect people—to connect them first and foremost to God, and secondarily, with compassion and justice, to each other.

In Canada, we have sought to do this at the local level—reaching out to the community—and internationally, through our overseas ministries. As a family of churches, we seek to identify, call, equip, and deploy International Workers from among our congregations and we believe that this is a collaborative effort involving many—International Workers, local churches, pastors, and districts as well as Global Ministries. Sending workers overseas is a partnership and our new Seamless Link concept reflects that reality.

Although the terminology Seamless Link may be new to our church family, the idea of partnering together in sending apostolically-gifted people is not.

Paul and Barnabas formed a close relationship with the church at Antioch and were known for their faithfulness and fruitfulness. God called them out from their home church and sent them to "where the foundation of Christ had not yet been established.? Paul and Barnabas heard God's calling.

The members of the church and their leaders also saw and affirmed God's calling upon Paul and Barnabas. Acts 13:3 shows that the church family 'laid hands' on them and 'sent them off.' 'Laid hands' is a powerful expression of the church's blessing and prayer for those God has called out of their midst.

The verb 'sent off' was often used during the first century for the process of provisioning a ship before setting sail for a long journey. Contained in the phrase is the idea that the church at Antioch was committed to Paul and Barnabas, and 'provisioned' them with encouragement, as well as financial and logistical support.

God primarily calls people within the context of the local church. The church itself plays a key role in identifying these individuals and calling out giftedness.

As the Alliance, we have also chosen to develop a system that represents the international expression of all our churches. This aspect of the Alliance is the Global Ministries (GM) Department and represents the combined resources and desires to reach out internationally.

Thus, sending an International Worker is actually a partnership between the International Worker, his or her local church, and Global Ministries. In this partnership, we see a very strong relational connection, an organic interdependence that we have chosen to call the Seamless Link.

Through the Seamless Link we are attempting to capture the relational connection seen in the church of Antioch. We call this connection a Seamless Link relationship. At the same time, our former District relationship. At the same time, our former District Missions Consultants are transitioning into new titles and roles as Seamless Link Advisors that more properly reflect their new function within the Alliance family.

Seamless Link has led us to consider the way our partnerships and relationships work together. And we certainly want to see them become deeper, more meaningful and lasting.

Frankly, our ability to maintain current ministry is limited because of the old paradigm whereby local churches are seen merely as the funding base and little, if anything, else! By developing deeper relationships that provide for more meaningful ongoing church engagement in overseas ministry, we can become a movement of churches that, together, expands our overseas work and grows and strengthens the local church at the same time.

To do this we are strengthening our sending process through the following new policies:

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