Case Study Executive Summary By the late 2000s, Unilever, one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies, faced growing complexity across its operations in over 190 countries. Under the leadership of CEO Paul Polman (2009–2019), Unilever embraced a polycentric leadership model, empowering regional hubs while advancing a unified purpose: “Making sustainable living commonplace.” This case […]
Case Studies
Reimagining Missions: Paradigms Paths & Partnerships
GUEST POST / CASE STUDY BY KIRK FRANKLIN Facing momentous change, missional leaders and practitioners face daunting complexities and remarkable new opportunities. Long-held patterns of sending and receiving are giving way to vibrant, interdependent, collaborative efforts spanning languages, cultures, contexts and continents. Instead of relying solely on inherited structures or leadership models of a bygone […]
Gospel Impact Networks
GUEST POST BY ADI P Summary Gospel Impact Networks are united and collaborative collectives of diverse Christians—such as individuals, city leaders, churches, ministries, and businesses— all working together toward a collective impact in a city or region. These gospel-rich networks model the Trinitarian spirit of mutual submission, love, and non-domination. These networks aim to embody […]
OM International: The Case for Polycentric Mission
GUEST POST BY LAWRENCE TONG Our task, shared with other groups of Jesus followers, is to profoundly reduce the number of least reached anywhere in the world, making them disciple-makers to their people—the ultimate expression of polycentric mission! Every day, our world becomes more complicated and more difficult for God’s people to engage meaningfully with […]
Crossover Global: A Case Study in Polycentric Leadership
In preparation for the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission Global Consultation (Jan 30 – Feb 3, 2023 in Chiang Mai, Thailand), Jay Matenga wrote:
View from the shared ‘top’: A case study in leading as a team
Anonymous case study In 2017 our organization decided to go from a single International Director to an International Director team. There were lots of questions about whether this would work. No one knew of a good example of this at a top level of an organization. In fact, one leader that we suggested the idea […]
Polycentric Mission: The OC Global Alliance Story
Our Roots OC International Inc. (formerly known as Overseas Crusades) was founded in 1952 as an American non-profit mission. OC has been on a long journey toward internationalization. Core to our DNA is coming alongside indigenous leaders/churches/networks – at their invitation – to partner toward the discipling of their nation and, ultimately, the nations. For […]
World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission (Polycentrism): Our Missions Future.
Originally posted from: https://weamc.global/gc23registration/ In 2019 we decided on the theme of “Our Missions Future” not knowing what 2020 was going to bring. We then wondered about focusing on a sub-theme of “missions beyond the pandemic” but in light of other crises, that quickly seemed too restrictive. As time and conversations have gone the full theme […]
Polycentric Leadership for Kingdom Movements (Part II)
Joseph W. Handley, Jr. Published in Global Missiology, www.globalmissiology.org, April 2022 Abstract One of the simplest definitions for a Kingdom Movement is that proposed by David Garrison in looking at Church Planting Movements: “a rapid multiplication of indigenous churches planting churches that sweeps through a people group or population segment” (Garrison 2004, 21). Over the […]
BMS World Mission: A Case Study toward Polycentric Mission Leadership
Rev. Joseph W. Handley, Jr., Ph.D. and Rev. Kang-San Tan, D.Min. Ph.D. The British Baptist Missionary Society (BMS World Mission) holds a treasured place in the history of the modern mission movement. It was William Carey, often called the father of modern missions, who catalyzed the work with his famous An Enquiry into the Obligation […]
