24Jan 2011 by Nigel Ring

Planning for Ministry Pt 4 – The Problem Tree

Christian ministry, Equipping, Good Practice, Planning, Poor
[caption id="attachment_1719" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Equipping Oaks of Righteousness"][/caption] What is a Problem Tree? When we look at a tree in nature we tend to focus on the fruit, and maybe the overall shape, the leaves and the bark. These are ways that help us define the type of tree. But if we look more closely we may notice that it looks unhealthy. To understand why, we need to look at other things. Does the soil provide adequate food? Is there sufficient depth for the roots? What are the environment and climate it lives in - exposure, wind, rainfall, sunshine etc? A Problem Tree works the same way. We see a problem - say street homelessness - for which the obvious answer to solving the problem may appear to be more…
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18Jan 2011 by Nigel Ring

Planning for Ministry Pt 3 – What is God saying?

Christian ministry, Equipping, Good Practice, Planning, Poor
[caption id="attachment_1710" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Equipping Oaks of Righteousness"][/caption] What is God saying? This must be the start of any ministry in the church. If ever we start a ministry because ‘we ought to' rather than because we sense God's leading it will rapidly become a dead work; those running it will burn out and the fruit will be negligible. So how do we know what God is saying? Clearly we may hear in the context of prayer, prophecy or some other way in which God speaks directly to us. However, I find a common starting point is often with one or more members of the church themselves have a sense God is calling them into a particular area of ministry. This may be expressed by a passion - what they…
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10Jan 2011 by Nigel Ring

Planning for ministry Part 2 – Where do we start?

Christian ministry, Equipping, Good Practice, Planning, Poor
[caption id="attachment_1699" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Equipping Oaks of Righteousness"][/caption] A story 25 years ago the elders of our local church (Church of Christ the King) were approached to launch a ‘soup kitchen’ in Brighton. Because the people concerned clearly had gifting and passion we endorsed their initiative and let them explore what God had for them. This is an important principle – build to gifting and passion (see my blog of Sept 29th 2009). This ministry was highly successful in providing food and contact for those who were ‘street homeless’ in the area. Subsequently, this grew into an evening ‘drop in’ with food, and clothes and warm bedding were given to them. That continued but expanded to include a house where 12 men and women could be resident as a step…
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03Jan 2011 by Nigel Ring

Planning for Ministry pt 1 – Project or People?

Christian ministry, Equipping, Good Practice, Planning, Poor
[caption id="attachment_1689" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Equipping Oaks of Righteousness"][/caption] First, I do hope you had a great Christmas celebrating Jesus’ birth and also having family and friends around you. I am aware that for some Christmas is a difficult time and if this applied to you I trust that you knew God’s grace for the circumstances. May 2011 be a fruitful and fulfilling year for you. Last year I shared an eight part series on some aspects of planning but made clear that these were essentially for an event or some other activity with a clear time boundary. Ministry is different. It is open ended so requires a different approach. This will be the subject of my next series. Terminology Before we dive into the subject I would like to express…
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10Dec 2010 by Nigel Ring

Planning and Implementation pt 8 – Implementation

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Equipping, Good Practice, Leadership, Planning
PS = pre-script! Before continuing my series I encourage you to look at the following YouTube video. Fascinating and challenging about the change in economies and life expectancy in 200 countries over the last 200 years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo&feature=player_embedded#! Implementation So far I have shared with you my approach to event planning - I will develop a series in the New Year related to some aspects of planning a ministry i.e. something that is continuous and has no particular climax. But now we will look at some of the matters related to implementing the planning methods we have been discussing. Leadership Many at this time of year will be preparing for a Christmas event, maybe a Carol Service or Presentation. Often this will come out of the creativity of one or more…
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24Nov 2010 by Nigel Ring

When Helping Hurts – Part 3 – Practical Strategies for helping without hurting

Christian ministry, Cross-culture, Equipping, Good Practice, International, News, Poor, Relief and Development, To the Nations
Concluding the review of this excellent book we shall now look at one very practical application. Short term mission teams. Like the story of the elephant and the mouse dancing together at a celebration - both benefit and enjoy it until the mouse is squashed - such can also be the effect of a short-term mission team. Who is really benefitting? Perhaps neither. The team have a ‘life changing experience' - but may learn the wrong things. The hosts can feel crushed. At the root of the problem is lack of sensitivity to others' cultures eg "Mine is the plumbline so any deviation is ‘wrong'". Consider time. In the ‘west' time = productivity; the emphasis is on good stewardship and using every minute productively. In the majority world there is…
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