In 1942, Stalin, then leader of what used to be the USSR, banished some 200,000 Crimean Tatars from their home on the Black Sea. They were not permitted to return to their homeland, for the most part, until the early nineties, when the Soviet Union broke apart. Unfortunately, since their homes had been confiscated by others, the Crimean Tatars were forced to rebuild entire settlements during the cold winters of 1990 and 1991. While living in Crimea, we saw, at times, literally dozens of Crimean Tatar families working together in what they called, in Russian, ‘brigadas’ (brigades), helping one another build homes in rapid fashion. They found, through experience, that working together produces synergy, i.e., the output is greater than the sum of the inputs. As Bill Taylor writes in Kingdom Partnerships, ‘… One draft horse can pull four tons. If you harnessed two draft horses together, they can pull twenty-two tons.’ Today, we need just this kind of ‘brigada’ and just this kind of synergy to finish the task of world evangelism!
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Thank you for this explanation of the name “Brigada”. I have occasionally wondered the meaning and background of the name for this great mission tool.
Millard, so nice of you to encourage!
I signed on to this ezine in 94 or 95 when a missions speaker at our church told me about it. I am not directly involved as a missions pastor and haven’t travelled since 2010 but Brigada has been an amazing resource over the years and I appreciate it. I know I’m getting older when I can’t remember the gentleman’s name, who is well known in missions, that told me about Brigada.
Whoever he is, we should send him a thank-you note, Dennis!
wonderful… helping one another and being a support for each other