18Oct 2017 by Nigel Ring

Fulfilling the call to Cross-Cultural Mission

Africa, Bethany Children's Trust, Cross-culture, Equipping, Mission
Recently I had a conversation with Susie Howe, wife of one of the elders of a Newfrontiers church in London. In the first part of our conversation, posted last time, Susie shared how the Bethany Project had started and about how she helped to equip churches to support and empower marginalised children in Africa. In this second part of our conversation I asked Susie how she would advise anyone who feels a call to work in cross-cultural mission. In this video she gives some very helpful and practical advice about testing your call and preparing to go, and about relating appropriately and helpfully with those you are seeking to serve.   https://vimeo.com/233174277
Read More
04Oct 2017 by Nigel Ring

Elders and Administrators working together – Part 3

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Equipping
  In this final part of responding to a question about the relationship between Elders and the Administrator I shall address four particular features that are important in this relationship. 1. Friendship Jesus had great friendship with the disciples. It is worth watching some of the excellent word-for-word videos of the gospels – such as that of Matthew – to get a flavour of the reality of this; watch about 40 seconds of this short clip illustrating Matthew 11:1-2 (although the whole video is well-worth watching). We know that he shared his life with them and that they were party to major decisions he made. Although there was misunderstanding on many occasions the friendship was sustained; he did not speak down to them but treated them as friends in his day to day…
Read More
27Sep 2017 by Nigel Ring

Elders and Administrators working together – Part 2

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Equipping
  Last time we saw how the gift of administration is often not fully utilised due to a lack of understanding of how it should operate. This denies the church from benefitting from all that the gift has to offer. Here I will try to give some practical tips. The Practice Underlying the question I am often asked is the genuine desire to know how elders and an Administrator should relate together. This is where I will now focus our thinking. Recognise the gift Success depends on first recognising the gift, as we learnt in the last posing. If an eldership team sees administration merely as a necessary part of the running of the church they will tend to use it only in responsive mode, giving the administrator and his or her…
Read More
20Sep 2017 by Nigel Ring

Elders and Administrators working together – Part 1

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Equipping
  From time to time I am asked my opinion on matters that affect the smooth running of a local church, particularly related to administration. During the next few weeks I shall address some of these matters as a Q and A series. If others wish to contact me with other issues I would be happy to build responses into this series. It will not run as a continuous series but will punctuate other material I am planning to present. Question How should elders embrace the gift of administration? What is the role of the Administrator and how does he or she relate to the elders? Answer The relationship between a church’s leadership team, particularly the governing Elders, and the Administrator is arguably one of the most important relationships in…
Read More
26Jul 2017 by Nigel Ring

Management of Change pt 9 – Leading Change and Transformation

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Equipping, Management of Change
Writing as a guest author, Gary Borland concludes his series on Management of Change. He is happy to enter into communication with readers. Contact him by clicking on his name, above. In order to maximise the opportunities to unlock an organisational vision, it is essential to have a demonstrable and commonly understood way in which those in the church or ministry work together to deliver it. Strategy (the ‘how’) is the way in which this is done to maximise and optimise resources and to create clear line of sight for everyone in the organisation to align their contribution to in support of unlocking the vision and delivering the mission. A poor or absent strategy is seen in a lack of motivation to participate or contribute, disjointed activities delivered to varying…
Read More
19Jul 2017 by Nigel Ring

Management of Change pt 8 – Never Let Up and Incorporate Into The Culture

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Equipping, Management of Change
In the penultimate blog in this series guest writer Gary Borland touches on the final steps of ‘Kotter’s 8 Step Process for Leading Change’. The Strategic Planning Process and supporting plans should by now be ready to deliver and/or delivering a considerable amount of what the overall programme sought to achieve. Maintaining focus and momentum is vital; programmes become highly susceptible to reversing out the benefits if either is lost. Let’s look at the final 2 steps in ‘Implementing & Sustaining Change’. Step 7 – Never Let Up The challenge of maintaining focus and momentum can vary at different times of a change or transformation programme, but it’s important to realise that one of the most dangerous times is after considerable progress has already been made. Once we have in place a…
Read More