structures
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Never appoint two people to lead something, instead…
Always make one person the leader. Always make it clear that, in the case of a disagreement, one of them gets to make the call; one of them bears the responsibility. If you don’t appoint a clear “leader” the two… Continue reading
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Another attempt to pictorally display church
Recently we had our AGM which gave us another opportunity to try and help our church see itself. That might seem like a strange idea, but for most people, they only see (or even hear) about the aspects of their… Continue reading
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Debunking the small-church-is-better myths (part 3)
There seems a common argument that small churches are – not just a valid alternative, but – a better alternative to big churches. Some of the arguments go… Myth: “Small-churches are more needy… Big churches have heaps of people!” Really?… Continue reading
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Col Marshall’s thoughts on the limitations of the Weekly-Sermon-Driven church
At a recent MTS Training day, Col Marshall explained some of the potential risks of the church that’s sermon-driven… – potentially limits the audience to those who can deal with that type of sermon – potentially limits the maturity of… Continue reading
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Would it have been better to just do walk-up?
Structures take a lot of effort. They take time. Human hours. Sometimes structures can get so big they no longer justify the number of human hrs it takes to make them happen. But how can you make that call? How… 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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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
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Growing produces more problems than you expect
It’s hard enough to grow in the first place. But if you do grow, that’s not the only hurdle. That new growth produces its own problems to overcome. More people raises the “acceptable minimum” level of production. Your meetings and… Continue reading
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Don’t wait for numbers, just run it
If you’re going to run an evangelistic course, don’t wait until you have enough participants. Why would you? If you’ve got two people who are willing to hear the gospel, do it as planned. Just smaller to suit the numbers. There’s… Continue reading
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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
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An average structure with brilliant execution will always* do better than a brilliant structure with average execution *’always’ is a gross exaggeration Continue reading
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How to run a “Ministry review” discussion
So, you’ve planned, organised, delegated, ran and even cleaned up that big ministry event/thing. How do you conduct a review with the team? 1. Acknowledge the fears in the room; some people know they didn’t pull their weight. Some people… Continue reading
MINISTRY PRINCIPLES & PRAGMATICS 