22Jan 2010 by Nigel Ring

Time Management pt 4 – Appointments

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Christian ministry, Equipping, Good Practice, Planning, Time Management
A promise The techniques of Time Management I am going to share with you give you a water-tight system. There is no reason for you ever to miss an appointment or activity that is important to you again! Can that be true? Yes! But first, it is important to have an understanding of time. Types of Time Broadly, there are two categories of time that comprise your day - Appointments and Discretionary. Appointments Activities that come under the category of ‘appointments’ carry the implication of being predetermined. They have a start time attached to them. Sadly, they do not always have a finish time - and this may be one of the things that occurred on your list of challenges from the last blog – interminable meetings. Tip: In order to…
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15Jan 2010 by Nigel Ring

Time Management pt 3 – Using time intentionally

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Christian ministry, Equipping, Good Practice, Time Management
Pursuing Goals What are your goals in life? Over the next ten years? Five years? This year? Are you intentional about planning steps to fulfill these goals? If you are going to use time effectively – to help you do so is the purpose of this series – it is important to have some sense of direction and destiny. Clearly some have this much more precisely defined than others. The young swimmer aspiring for gold at the Olympics has a passion that will cause her to practice swimming at 5 am each morning before school for many years, a discipline that requires intentional planning and sacrifice. But not many of us are budding Olympians! But what about life? Marriage, Career, or other ambitions? Where do you picture yourself in 5,…
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07Jan 2010 by Nigel Ring

Time Management pt 2 – God’s perspective and cultural differences

Administrative Skills, Christian ministry, Equipping, General, Time Management
What does God think? Before we discuss specifics about Time Management I want to take just one posting to consider briefly what God’s view of time is. In Ps 90 the psalmist tells us to ‘number our days’ (v12) having already told us in verse 10 that ‘the years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty’. I once spoke to a Godly ‘elder statesman’ who took verse 12 literally, telling me the exact number of days since he started praying for revival, which coincided with the number of days since he became a Christian! 70 years is 25,567 days. How many of those have you had? Use the diagram to work it out. Verse 12 continues ‘…that we may get a heart of wisdom’. The…
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04Jan 2010 by Nigel Ring

Time Management pt 1 – What is it all about?

Administrative Skills, Equipping, General, Planning, Time Management
Do you feel in control of your time? I think I can help you! 25 years ago I recognised that I was very inefficient at managing my time despite the fact I had been heading up a research team in Rehabilitation Engineering for 15 years. I had never heard the expression ‘Time Management’ and started to pray about how to improve. God sent a wonderful solution in the form of a visitor from the USA who told me about, and sent me an audio course on, the Insight Time Management System (sadly, I can find no current reference to this). Had God answered my prayer? When I received this course I had to make a decision – was this God’s answer or not?’ I decided to believe it was and…
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29Dec 2009 by Nigel Ring

Administration in the Church and Ministry with the Poor: Index ~ June – December 2009

Administration in the Church, Biblical Administration, Christian ministry, Equipping, General, Good Practice, HIV, India, Kenya, Ministry Report, Poor, Zimbabwe
I have been writing this blog for about 6 months and am aware of a growing following, so some may have missed the early material. To help you find that material it seems appropriate at the turn of the year to Index these 6 months. Clicking on the Topic will take you to the first in the series. There have been 3 main series on Biblical Administration and The Poor. There are also some Ministry Reports and National Reports, and two on Conference Administration which punctuate these Series. Series June 17th – Aug 29th Lessons from Jesus the Administrator in Mark 6. Jesus - The Administrator! Sept 3rd – Oct 22nd Some ‘good practice’ Indicators when ministering with the Poor. The Poor deserve the Best - part 1 Oct 26th -…
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15Dec 2009 by Nigel Ring

Biblical Administration part 12 – Qualifications of an Administrator – Dignified and ‘open’

Administration in the Church, Biblical Administration, Christian ministry, Equipping, Leadership
1 Tim 3:8-13 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. (9) They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. (10) And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. (11) Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. (12) Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. (13) For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. In recent postings we have been looking at the qualifications for overseers that Paul includes in 1 Tim 3:1-7.…
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