02Nov 2010 by Nigel Ring

Planning and Implementation – Pt 5 – Brainstorming and Gathering Ideas

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Biblical Administration, Equipping, Good Practice, Planning
Brainstorming and Gathering Ideas It is important when beginning to plan to have some creative ‘out of the box' thinking, and to get an overview of the ultimate goal and process to achieve it, before becoming too detailed and specific. It is rare that the first thoughts that come to mind are the best! So I will share with you a technique to help free thinking which I carry out in all that I do, whether preparing to preach, thinking about this series of blogs, starting to arrange an event such as the Newfrontiers annual Leaders Conference, Together on a Mission, or helping to plan a long-term ministry. Spider Diagram 1. Free thinking Many would start planning by writing items on a list. This has the disadvantage of being linear…
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27Oct 2010 by Nigel Ring

Planning and Implementation – Pt 4 – Strategic Decisions and sharing Vision

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Biblical Administration, Equipping, Good Practice, Planning
Strategic Decisions When beginning to plan there may be some key ‘in principle' decisions to make, decisions that will be strategic, and will affect how a plan is implemented and what the final outcome will look like. What do I mean by ‘strategic'? For me strategic decisions are those that have added value or affect the quality of the outcomes. For instance, when Nehemiah first heard of the news about the walls of Jerusalem being broken down his first action was not to contact an architect or to phone the suppliers of building materials. Rather, he saw that there was a fundamental problem that had brought about the situation - the rebellion of Israel (Neh 1:7). Until that was dealt with any plan he would be implementing would be on an insecure…
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19Oct 2010 by Nigel Ring

Planning and Implementation – pt 3 – Goal setting

Administrative Skills, Biblical Administration, Equipping, Good Practice, Planning
Where do we start? The starting point of any planning exercise must be the finishing point! Where are you aiming to go and how are you going to get there? Planning is about taking a journey with many stages. It is no good just leaving your starting point ‘on a whim' and hoping you will go somewhere useful. It is vital that you have clear goals in mind. It is also important to know where these have not yet been fully defined in order to allow flexibility in planning and be able to make adjustments as the journey progresses. Look forward to look back When teaching on planning I sometimes ask people to imagine that they are meeting the day after an event has taken place. I then get them to suggest the…
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13Oct 2010 by Nigel Ring

Planning and Implementation – pt 2 – some basic questions

Administrative Skills, Equipping, Good Practice, Planning
As I teach on planning I address two basic questions. One is ‘Why plan?' The other may not be openly expressed but is often close to the surface: ‘Is planning just adopting the world's methods?' 1. Why plan? In my introductory blog I shared on this topic and will enlarge on it further in subsequent postings. Put simply it is the best way of achieving the desired goal with minimum effort and maximum effectiveness. By careful forethought much time and resource can be saved as they are channelled in the most productive direction, and goals will be reached with greater accuracy. I agree with John Maxwell when he said "The longer we spend in preparation the shorter the time in implementation." In contrast I have heard an anonymous speaker quoted:…
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08Oct 2010 by Nigel Ring

Planning and Implementation – pt 1 – Introduction

Equipping, Planning
Overview Planning is a part of good stewardship. God has entrusted resources to us - time, money, health etc - and we have the responsibility of using these effectively. By planning we can significantly raise our level of effectiveness as we avoid taking wrong turns which result in having to retrace our steps or undo something we have done. Any architect will tell you that without plans it is impossible to produce anything but the most basic building. Even the garden shed has had plans drawn on paper or in your head! Goals Through this series I hope to: 1. Help you appreciate the place of responsible planning without eliminating the work of the Holy Spirit. 2. Bring some practical suggestions to help you plan 3. Give guidelines on implementationDefinition…
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16Sep 2010 by Nigel Ring

PowerPoint – Visual Aid or Visual Distraction? Pt 3

Equipping, Good Practice, PowerPoint
Having looked at some of the potential pitfalls and started to look at some 'How tos', we will continue with design matters and then conclude with some presentational issues. Design The graphic element of design becomes a matter of personal preference. I encourage clean uncluttered graphics as far as possible, choice of colour etc being important to ensure good contrast, particularly as presentations may be made in daylight conditions without good blackout. Also bear in mind that some of the audience may have visual impairments so avoid using colour to convey meaning unless you know the audience have no problems. Backgrounds seriously affect readability. Some guidelines are: In dark rooms it may be best to use a dark background and light text. In light rooms the reverse is true ie…
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