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Become a “ministry in broken play” asset #everythingcomesbacktorugby
There’s two ways of thinking about ministry; One type of ministry work is being the structure asset; the person who makes the structure work, who can gather the people and make the formal, programmed event happen. You can run a… Continue reading
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Debunking the need to preach a book all at once
There seems to be an idea that exegetical preaching means more than simply walking through a book with your congregation. Somewhere along the line, we started to think that you had to do that entire walk in the space of… Continue reading
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Few resources doesn’t mean lots of needs
People often get these two categories mixed up. Resources and Needs. That is, they’ll see a church that doesn’t have many resources; it doesn’t have a youth worker, it doesn’t have many staff, it doesn’t have growth group leaders; scripture… Continue reading
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Work really really hard at simple clear outcomes
This was one of the great ideas from “7 Habits”; simplify your desired outcome. The illustration he uses is how he delegated the job of looking after the yard to his son. He thought really hard about it beforehand and… Continue reading
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Why gospel ministry is about producing people, not things
We make disciples. That’s our Lord’s command. We’re not about making events, or buildings, or programs, or sermons, or books, or blogs. That doesn’t mean we don’t work on these things, it doesn’t mean we don’t also do these things.… Continue reading
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Why Relational Proximity defines Due Process
The closer relational proximity you have to someone, the more important it is to define a clear process in disputes. Ambiguous processes in the midst of relational disputes only make matters worse, as either party will have their own ideas… Continue reading
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#MinistryExercises : The Blank Page
This is one of the exercises we get our MTSers (and staff) to do every 6 months or so. All you need is a blank page (better if there are no lines on it) and a pen. Then you think… Continue reading
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Contentment isn’t gained, it’s realised
If you’re waiting for something to happen before you’re content, you’ll be waiting a long time. If you expect that you’ll be content when you have that ‘thing’ that you think you really need, that expectation will never go away.… Continue reading
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#ModernDayGifts Dreamers and Doers
Some people love being given a problem to solve. Even if you give them a task, they will probably come back to you with a different way of doing that task. They’re Dreamers. Some people love being given a task,… Continue reading
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Acknowledge your mistakes for two reasons
First, because it’s right. If you make a mistake, if you’ve had to change plans late in the game, if you hurt someone, if you say the wrong thing, swallow your pride and be honest about what you did. Its… Continue reading
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Why you should move people from front-of-house via back-of-house
Different sorts of people put their hand up to be “out the front” at church. And, to some extent, the very fact they’ve put their hand up for that might be a reason to raise some eyebrows – but that’s… Continue reading
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Keep your coders and designers friends… have clear boundaries
If you’re managing any web development stuff, there’s two worlds that exist in a binary star-like dance. There’s the world of the coder and the world of the designer. Sometimes, these co-exist in the one person – a hybrid. but… Continue reading
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Why you should have purposes #6 : It’s not unbiblical! In fact…
Eph 4 was the kicker for me. Here’s how it goes: Jesus gives certain people to the church; [“Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastor-teachers”] (Leaders) These people are meant to “equip Jesus’ people for works of service” (Training, Mentoring, Encouraging) So, Jesus… Continue reading
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Join the team, not the job description
If you’ve got staff who are “church members” first, the next step is not to offer them a job. The next step is to offer them a spot on the staff team. Again this is an important distinction. Team members… Continue reading
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Do you have staff members who are paid to go to church or church members who are paid to be on staff?
This is a really important distinction. And it’s important that you keep making it clear both to your church and your staff team. Some church staff members see themselves kind of like “consultants”. They are only at this particular church… Continue reading
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Get to know people’s processing times
People take different amounts of time to process new information and ideas. Some people process on the spot, as the words come out of your mouth, they understand, imagine, feel the implications. Other people need time… A few hours, a… Continue reading
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Why you should have purposes #5: more accessible staff
A common issue raised with the idea of staffing according to purposes is that people won’t know who their pastor is. The first response to this is to passive-aggressively infer that anyone who asks that question has some some sort… Continue reading
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Why you should have purposes #4: You’re not an all-rounder
So there’s something like 5 big reasons or purposes behind everything we do in ministry… But chances are you have a bent towards 2 or maybe 3 of them. That is, you agree with all the big purposes, you love… Continue reading
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Why you should have purposes #3 : You already do them (probably badly)
If you’re in paid full time ministry, you’ve already thought hard about WHY you do the things your doing. You’ve thought hard about why you spend 10hrs on one thing, and only 2 on the other, right? (Ok well lets… Continue reading
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Why you should staff purposes #2: Not programs!
I’ve spoken to a fair number of people who’ve told me they’ve tried the “purpose based” model of church staff, or sometimes they call it the “portfolio model”. But when you dig a little deeper, it turns out they haven’t… Continue reading
MINISTRY PRINCIPLES & PRAGMATICS 