My theme verse for the year ahead

It's a bit late for new year resolutions, but then I've had an unusual start to this calendar year with a new job and all.  Each year, as I pray and plan ahead, I pray for a Bible verse that will perfectly encapsulate God's leading for me for the season ahead.  Here is the Word for the season ahead.  Paul, apostle, evangelist, church planter and missionary, writing to the Corinthian Christians says:

¹⁵ ...Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, 

our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, 

¹⁶ so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you...

2 Corinthians 10:15-16

What perfect words for someone involved in missions work!  My great hope is that your faith - the faith of mission partners in churches everywhere - may continue to grow.
And as your faith grows, I hope that our sphere of activity, our involvement with you, your involvement with us, our partnership together, may greatly expand.
Why?  For what reason?  So that we can preach the Gospel, take and sow the seeds of the Good News of Jesus Christ in regions beyond you.
That's how missions societies like CMS work.  They work together with local Christians for the sake of taking the Gospel to regions beyond.
They have a dual work: first, to see that faith continues to grow locally, to be active among local believers; and second, to build partnerships locally so that the Gospel goes beyond the local into all the world.
I am sometimes asked to defend the existence of missions agencies.  'Isn't CMS just a 'middleman'?  Why can't a church do their own thing in country X?'  Of course they can!  I'm tremendously excited by churches that want to engage globally, and encourage such activity!
But there are many smaller churches that do not have the resources or connections to engage directly.  So the missions agency acts to gather up such enthusiasm and resources.   Because we've been doing it for a long time, we've also developed a large body of expertise around the enterprise of global mission. We've made a lot of mistakes in the past 214 years!
Churches and Christians who 'go it alone' run the risk of making mistakes we've already made and hopefully have learnt from.  There are many examples of bad missiology unfolding all over the world today - well meaning people who are painfully unaware of everything from sheer cultural blindness to  blatant neo-colonialism.  To grow in faith means to grow in wisdom too - and mission specialists exist to encourage churches (large and small) in that.  All for the sake of telling the whole world about Jesus.

My hope is that your faith will continue to grow... so that we can preach the Gospel in regions beyond.