Equipping | Feeding 5,000 is no picnic...

16Dec 2015 by Nigel Ring

Factfulness – Data to surprise you

Factfulness How many people will there be in the world in 2100 compared to now? How many babies are born per woman in different regions of the world? What percentage of relevant aged girls are enrolled in primary school worldwide? What is the average life expectancy across the world – 50, 60 or 70? To find the answers to these and many more questions I urge you to watch The Data Lecture by Hans Rosling. He does not present the data as dry figures but relates them strongly to life issues facing real people. Gapminder In recent years Hans Rosling has revolutionised data analysis and their presentation related to social statistics. He is widely accepted as an authority. On his website www.Gapminder.org he presents data of the wealth and health of all the nations of…

10Dec 2015 by Nigel Ring

Book: Africa – Altered states, ordinary miracles

Africa, Books, Equipping, Poor

Here is a book to request as a Christmas present! It would be naïve to think of ‘African culture’ as homogeneous. Nevertheless, in this substantial book (600+ pages) Richard Dowden, former Africa editor for the Economist, draws from three decades of personal experience to examine several cultural issues which are manifest in many African countries in a way that I found enlightening. He then considers specifics related to fourteen nations from different parts of the continent. Maps To remind the reader of the size of Africa the first few pages show diagrams with substantial nations – The United States of America, China, India – superimposed on the outline of Africa. Each seems relatively small compared to Africa and these serve as a reminder of the danger of over simplification when trying…

27Nov 2015 by Nigel Ring

Conference: ‘Spirit-led Administration’ – March 3rd 2016

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Equipping

Effective Spirit-led administration is one of the keys to helping churches in their commission to fulfil the Great Commission. This annual conference, organised and hosted by New Life Church in Milton Keynes, has spread its wings this year by inviting an international speaker from Bethel Church, Redding, USA. I do not know Paul personally but have heard much about him and am pleased to pass on the brochure details. Paul Manwaring An incredibly gifted administrator Paul has a passion for seeing the gift of administration released in the church today. He first trained and worked as a psychiatric nurse, and then transferred to the prison service where he became a prison governor with a vision to see lives transformed and restored. A call into full-time Christian ministry led him from…

18Nov 2015 by Nigel Ring

10 reasons not to read American books on leadership

Cross-culture, Equipping, Leadership

I recently read an excellent article on the Towinsome website. I felt it was so good and thought provoking I would like to point people to it, especially leaders. Although it is written primarily for non-'Western' cultures it raises some very interesting and challenging points about assumptions it is easy to make. Thanks Andy for writing this. “The things that go without being said are some of the most important parts of culture.” – E. Randolph Richards I am not anti-American. Neither am I anti-leadership. But I am going to list 10 reasons not to read American books on leadership, especially regarding church leadership. These kind of books seem especially laden with tacit values that may have been contextually true in the place of writing, but are definitely not…

11Nov 2015 by Nigel Ring

Your Questions answered… 2. Delegation

Administration in the Church, Equipping

I am seeking to answer questions sent to me. If you have any feel free to write to me with ‘Question’ in the subject line. This one is about delegation Question As an administrator I am caught between the 2 worlds of the ‘doing the thing yourself’ world & the ‘delegate it to others and keep myself free’ world. Right now I am in the 1st world and how should I get out of it. Because at the end it finally stops with me and so I might as well do it because if others don't do it properly then I have to do it anyway. Answer This is a familiar challenge to the efficient and gifted administrator (and maybe others!). I think there are three things to recognise and…

04Nov 2015 by Nigel Ring

Your Questions answered… 1. Volunteers

Administration in the Church, Equipping, Serving, Volunteer

Recently I offered to answer questions related to church administration. While responding direct to the enquirer I felt that some answers might be of wider interest. Question It is increasingly difficult to motivate people to join a team and to stay on in that particular team; most people leave the team or lose interest in serving within 4 weeks. Is that down to poor leadership, poor recruitment or is there a deeper issue with the attitude of serving? Answer Clearly there is something seriously wrong here. Lets look at it together and see if we can diagnose the problem. 1. Understanding Do people in the church understand what serving is about? It is not just about getting a job done but about vision and a desire to be like Jesus.…

Category: Equipping