Mutuality in Mission

Understanding Mutuality In Mission – Adapted from Mutuality in Mission by Glory and Jacob Dharmaraj, GBGM, 2001.

United Methodist Women understand mission as being service and action for justice.  Mission includes the element of mutuality or shared experience. Mission includes the element of mutuality or shared power in relationships. Understanding mutuality is critical to an Ubuntu experience.  Mutuality in mission is integral in working with people of different cultures.

Mutuality:

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Mutuality is an attitude.  It is an environment.  It does not form on its own.  It evolves when the partners love, trust, and accept one another.

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Mutuality is sharing power in such a way that each person is called forth more fully into becoming a whole person.

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Mutuality is commitment to a culture of equality.

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Mutuality opens a dialog.  It enables partners to communicate honestly and behave with integrity.  It allows us to see the world from another’s perspective.

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Mutuality enables people to change their understanding of those who are different.

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Mutuality means understanding, acknowledging, and respecting cultural and racial differences.

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Mutuality does not provide room to have control over another person.

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Mutuality has no room for the spirit of narrow patriotism. It transcends jingoism, individualism, political idealism, and economic greed.

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Mutuality means authentic relationships cannot be created in the absence of justice.

“If you come to help me, you can go home again. But if you see my struggles as part of your own survival, then perhaps we can work together.” – Lila Watson, an Aboriginal Woman from Australia