MINISTRY PRINCIPLES & PRAGMATICS

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  • You’re not embarrassing, you’re just surrounded by embarrassiable people

    Most of the embarrassing situations you’ve been in have only been embarrassing because of what “you think” other people are “feeling”. In other words, it’s only “assumed empathy” that makes things embarrassing. The fact you tripped up the stage is… Continue reading

  • Modern-day-gifts “The Energizer”

    Put some people in front of an audience, and they have to try so hard to affect the mood in the room. Shouting and jumping around will likely only cause embarrassment, rather than excitement. Put other people in front of… Continue reading

  • Do you help people say no?

    As a general rule, people who end up in Full-time paid ministry are they type of people who can either say “yes” to everything (and get it done), or they’re the type of people who feel comfortable saying “no” to… Continue reading

  • Do you care about everyone?

    I hope you do. We all want to care about everyone. But often we can end up only caring for the few who are loudest. We listen to the vocal minority, and end up ignoring the silent majority. It doesn’t… Continue reading

  • Why let the leaders lead?

    Romans 12 says, “in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us […] if it is to encourage, then give… Continue reading

  • There are no ministry 1 to 1s

    I reckon the 1 to 1 conversation is pretty much at the core of pastoral ministry. But if it’s really pastoral ministry, you never really have ministry 1 to 1s. It might sound corny, but God’s always there. And even… Continue reading

  • Turn feelings into numbers

    Not every time, but sometimes, its really helpful to ask people to translate their feelings into numbers… just a simple scale of 1-10. It’s great because it avoids too-positive and too-negative assumptions. When someone says, “Yeah, I’m ok” what do… Continue reading

  • Giving good news might be fun, but…

    Giving good news in person is fun, but giving bad news in person is important Andy Stanley mentioned this in his brilliant podcast (here) It makes lots of sense, and its really hard to do. But that’s why it needs… Continue reading

  • Reflective listening causes self-reflection

    If you want to see people change, its pretty rare that simply telling them to change will do anything. Telling people what they should think rarely gets them thinking something different to what they already do. But reflecting back to… Continue reading

  • Questions don’t have to be answered

    “Jesus said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things’” Matt 21:27 We have a very peculiar cultural rule; that if someone asks you a question, you have to answer that question. We seem… Continue reading

  • Influence requires association

    If you want to change someone’s mind or a culture, you can’t do it from the outside. The less associated you are, the less influence you can ever have. Its unbelievable how people think that simply by complaining from the… Continue reading

  • The goal is the second date

    If you’re putting on an event for non-Christians, I think the most loving goal is “get a second date”. Make the big aim that they come back again. Make the big purpose that they don’t walk out thinking, “Well I’m… Continue reading

  • Modern Day Gifts: The Illustrator

    You work at the text, you see it from every angle, you explain it in every detail, you apologise for its complexity, while encouraging people to work really hard at understanding it… And then “the Illustrator” arrives and says, “Oh,… Continue reading

  • Tone vs. Mood

    A helpful category of thought for reviewing and planning sermons… What is the tone and what is the mood? Tone describes the voice used by the preacher. It could be a calm tone, an angry tone, a concerned tone, a… Continue reading

  • Model self criticism

    As we train and equip young leaders, we want them to grow in the skill of self-criticism. That’s a pretty tough skill to learn – cause you have to have a go, make mistakes, grow the “eyes” to see the… Continue reading

  • Dual Church Membership #6 – Tends towards consumerism

    There’s nothing wrong with being involved in two Christian fellowships. We’re all one in Christ Jesus and enjoy a deeper fellowship with Christians we’ve never meet than we do with our own family (if they’re not Christian). But in light… Continue reading

  • Dual Church Membership #5 – Just complicated

    Because Jesus gives leaders to his people, he expects his people to submit to his leaders. And that just makes the whole dual church membership really hard to work out in practice. How do you truly follow two groups of… Continue reading

  • Dual Church Membership #4 – Who’s responsible?

    So Jesus appoints leaders (undershepherds) to his local fellowships of believers. The Holy Spirit is involved in all these points. The Holy Spirit is given by Jesus to his people The Holy Spirit binds Jesus people to him in union… Continue reading

  • Dual Church Membership #3.5 – Not talking about Groups within Groups

    Churches have various groups within them, and you could call each of these groups a little church. But that’s not what we’re talking about. That’s not dual church membership. If you are part of a Growth Group, that Growth Group… Continue reading

  • Dual Church Membership #3 – Any multi fellowships?

    So even though there’s no examples of explicit dual church membership in the NT, there are some points where multiple fellowships interact that could be helpful in thinking through dual-church membership. Paul’s partnership with the Philippians In Phil 4 Paul… Continue reading