In August, Mission to North America (MNA) selected Irwyn Ince as the agency’s coordinator pro tempore. ByFaith recently spoke with Ince about his new role — its challenges and opportunities — and the specific things he hopes to accomplish. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

Why this job? And why now?

I have always had a heart for MNA. I served on the MNA Permanent Committee from 2014 to 2019. When I saw the “position profile” that the search committee had put together, I noticed specifically the desire to prioritize cross-cultural, missional engagement. Then, thinking about the practical implications of that and of MNA’s emphases on diversity, prayer, evangelism, mobilization, and engagement, I began to get excited about the possibilities and about how MNA might help our denomination continue growing in missional health in North America. Those are the things that really appealed to me.

MNA is involved in church planting, church vitality, and 29 outreach ministries. How do you see your role in relationship to that work?

What is MNA called to do? In one sense, it’s simple. According to the denomination’s Rules of Assembly Operation (RAO 6-2), “The affairs of the church [as they relate to] its extension in the United States and Canada are assigned to MNA.” What do I want to see? It begins with vital churches and healthy churches — which happen to be the kind that plant new churches. 

But the missional arms or outreach arms are all key to “the affairs of the church” for its health and wellbeing. How is the church to be on mission in its local community? My desire is to see MNA become a first stop when our ministry practitioners think about pursuing opportunities for mission and outreach in their contexts and communities. At MNA, we will work with them through a process of internal organizational health, and we will also look at how well our ministries are prepared for outreach.

What are you most looking forward to?

I’m spending time this first year on what I call a listening tour. I’m traveling, meeting with pastors, getting a sense of their perceptions of MNA, and hearing about their experiences with us. I am looking forward to learning about internal organizational health because organizational health trumps organizational strategy all the time. 

I’m also convinced that we’ve got people at MNA with a high degree of integrity, and that excites me.