02Oct 2009 by Nigel Ring

The Poor deserve the Best – part 9 – Supporting people

Administration in the Church, Christian ministry, Equipping, General, Good Practice, Leadership, Poor, Training
Workers are your most valuable resource. If they set out taking part in a ministry with great enthusiasm but then burn out through lack of support there may be serious consequences. First, and most important, they may experience short or long term damage to their physical, emotional or spiritual health. Second, you lose an effective and valuable worker. Third, this does not glorify God and is a bad testimony, discouraging others from getting involved. So how can you support them? Let's look at two more Key Indicators. 5. Pastoral support Workers are frequently in the front-line of opposition. They may see and experience much ungodliness, and also be subject to verbal or physical attack. So it is important that they have appropriate oversight, and good pastoral support and encouragement. Sharing…
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29Sep 2009 by Nigel Ring

The Poor deserve the Best – part 8 – About People

Administration in the Church, Christian ministry, Equipping, General, Good Practice, Leadership, Poor
We are continuing to look at the Key Indicators that would normally be found in a thriving and effective ministry which embraces the poor. We have looked at some of the more ‘spiritual’ Indicators and then two very practical ones. We now consider two more in the 'practical' category which are relevant for the individuals who carry out the ministry. Key Indicator 3 - Mature leadership Ministry which embraces the Poor can be very demanding. Often activists are in hostile environments, either due to the types of people being reached or to the secular context in which they are operating. Leaders of a project need to be spiritually mature both for their own health and for the sake of those they are leading. They should have their own close walk…
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25Sep 2009 by Nigel Ring

The Poor deserve the Best – part 7 – Handling Finance

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Christian ministry, Equipping, General, Good Practice, Planning, Poor
Key Indicator 2 - Finance Finance is a gift from God and He trusts us to be wise stewards. But sadly Finance is renowned for having caused ship-wreck with many ministries; even Christians find the temptations associated with money can become their masters. We must recognise that we have an enemy prowling around looking for people to devour. Handling finance is a spiritual matter, not just administrative. For this reason more will be written about this in due course. Here I will give an overview of the key issues to be aware of. It is vital to put in place good procedures to ensure full accountability in order to be above reproach and to protect those who handle money from any suspicion. The two most important features are Stewardship and…
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22Sep 2009 by Nigel Ring

The Poor deserve the Best – part 6 – practical skills

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Christian ministry, Equipping, Good Practice, Planning, Poor
We have been looking at 20 Key Indicators of Good Practice. In previous postings we have considered 8 Indicators that are peculiar to the church and spiritual matters related to ministry embracing the poor. Now we shall consider some of the skills that enhance Good Practice and enable us to pursue excellence in all that we do. There are 12 key Indicators which we shall address under this heading. Only an overview will be given in this and the next series of postings but some of these will be dealt with in greater depth in future. 1 Project Cycle Management. 2 Finance 3 Mature leadership. 4 Responding to gifting/passion. 5 Pastoral support. 6 Training. 7 Impact. 8 Partnering/networking. 9 Local community ownership. 10 Sustainability. 11 Scaling up and multiplication. 12…
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22Sep 2009 by Nigel Ring

The Poor deserve the Best – part 6 – practical skills

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Christian ministry, Equipping, Good Practice, Planning, Poor
We have been looking at 20 Key Indicators of Good Practice. In previous postings we have considered 8 Indicators that are peculiar to the church and spiritual matters related to ministry embracing the poor. Now we shall consider some of the skills that enhance Good Practice and enable us to pursue excellence in all that we do. There are 12 key Indicators which we shall address under this heading. Only an overview will be given in this and the next series of postings but some of these will be dealt with in greater depth in future. 1 Project Cycle Management. 2 Finance 3 Mature leadership. 4 Responding to gifting/passion. 5 Pastoral support. 6 Training. 7 Impact. 8 Partnering/networking. 9 Local community ownership. 10 Sustainability. 11 Scaling up and multiplication. 12…
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18Sep 2009 by Nigel Ring

Cultural Naïvety!

Cross-culture, Equipping, India, International, Poor
By way of light relief, before moving on to the second category in my series on 'The Poor deserve the Best', I am reproducing a written interview I gave recently for my local church (Church of Christ the King - CCK) blog. There are lessons here about lack of wisdom, enforced humility, doing your homework before travelling in another culture and being grateful for angelic protection! Introduction Nigel Ring has lived in Brighton and Hove for over 25 years now. He is part of the newfrontiers administration team and serves as Terry Virgo’s Administrator. He also has a passion for the upliftment of the poor and often travels to countries like India, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Zimbabwe to oversee some of the projects Newfrontiers has initiated in these countries. Nigel…
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