MINISTRY PRINCIPLES & PRAGMATICS

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  • Externally solid, internally flexible

    Great teams think highly of each other, trust each other, and are reluctant to jump on the bagging-out band-wagon when its aimed at their team mates. For example, even though I wasn’t the most liked guy on my rugby team… Continue reading

  • Does your opinion matter?

    Some people are far too liberal with their own opinions – they’ll throw it in anywhere they can, whether they know anything about the situation or not. They’re usually the type of people who end up writing blogs. Other people… Continue reading

  • Meet with volunteers after x weeks, not after x is done.

    If you plan to meet with someone “as soon as you’ve finished the next step”, there’s little chance you’ll meet. Whereas, if you plan to meet with someone “in 3 weeks”, you’ll meet, and there’s more chance they’ll have finished… Continue reading

  • Situational Leadership (Styles 1-4)

    Scott Parry-Jones from EV helped us think about this. There are two ways to think about how your leading others; the authority continuum, and the discussion continuum. The authority continuum ranges from “I have all the authority” right over to… Continue reading

  • Spaghetti and Pigeon-holes: another “Men vs Women” post

    One day I should write a post about how men and women are the same. But not today. Someone once suggested that mens’ brains are like pigeon-holes and womens’ brains are like spaghetti. I like that analogy and find it… Continue reading

  • Imagining your worst case scenario is good for your soul

    Its not a fun task, but its a worthwhile task. It’s what Eccl 7:2 is about. It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of… Continue reading

  • Don’t dis the name tag

    Name tags can be used really badly. Welcoming new people by making them put on a name tag is rarely a good idea. But why? The value of name tags is to help create group identity. Asking people who aren’t… Continue reading

  • Beware divorcing rules from their reasons

    Sometimes, setting rules is really helpful. Call them guidelines or self-imposed limits if you don’t like the idea of rules. But the fact is we do it all the time anyway. For example, we have a staff rule that male… Continue reading

  • Don’t condone accusations

    Accusations – in any forum – are always serious. Whether your in a formal minuted meeting, a public forum, an online discussion or a private conversation; accusations are serious forms of gossip. Accusations commonly move from talking about events to… Continue reading

  • Don’t mistake newlessness for growthlessness

    Its really exciting hearing something new; that feeling of having your brain blown and being knocked off your feet as you realise how Jesus transforms your view of the world. We should always thank God for those moments, and look… Continue reading

  • Solve or manage? What type of tension are you dealing with?

    There’s only two things you can do when you face a tension; a situation when you are faced with two good things and you can’t easily do both they way you’d like to. You can either solve the tension or… Continue reading

  • Choose how to hear people

    You don’t have to hear people the way they want you too. You actually get to choose what type of “thing” you’re going to hear. If someone gives you a complement, you can decide to hear it as a comment… Continue reading

  • Don’t over-spiritualise nerves

    Feeling nervous is a common thing, especially in ministry when so much of ministry is in front of people and so much of ministry is handling the word of truth. So don’t over spiritualise nerves. feeling nervous is not necessarily… Continue reading

  • Quality should be motivated by love

    Some Christians just want quality for quality’s sake, or they think we need to match the world around us. Some Christians are wary of quality because they think its about manipulating feelings and that its all smoke a mirrors. But… Continue reading

  • How girls unwittingly mis-communicate to boys

    Most guys just don’t have the skills or capacity to pick up on all the social cues that most girls take for granted. (Notice I’ve said “most” and stop writing that comment that starts with “Well some girls/guys aren’t like… Continue reading

  • Address people’s emotions before you address their questions

    If someone asks you a difficult question, or a personal question, or an emotionally charged question, chances are they’re not going to be listening to what you say. Instead, all that’s going to be going through their mind is… How… Continue reading

  • Compare Giving Income to budget, not to expenses

    A budget is an agreed target for income and an agreed target for expenses. So what happens if your income is less than your expenses? If you talk about income vs expenses, then the obvious question will be, “how are… Continue reading

  • Defend the weak = stop gossip

    Gossip isn’t simply when “other people” talk about you. That’s fine. Rather, gossip is when other people talk about you in damaging ways… when they talk to other people about your intentions, your motives. Or putting it the other way… Continue reading

  • Is there something else?

    If you’re meeting up with someone, or you’ve been approached by someone, there’s a question you need to ask pretty regularly… “Is there something else you’d like to raise?” “Was there anything else you wanted to chat about?” “Is there… Continue reading

  • Why is it working?

    Is something your running working well? Is your church growing? Are people coming along? Are people growing? Don’t be too quick to assume its your amazing programs. Don’t be too quick to claim that God is blessing you specially. Sometimes,… Continue reading