10Oct 2011 by Nigel Ring

Teams that work – pt 4. Building a team

Equipping, Newfrontiers, Team
Together > Equipped > Achieve > Mission Working backwards through the TEAM mnemonic - Together > Equipped > Achieve > Mission - we have dealt with Mission and Achieve. We now need to examine how to determine the makeup and dynamics of the team to allow us to be best equipped to achieve our mission. Diversity of People... We are all made in God's image. Isn't that amazing? So the infinite diversity of characteristics, personalities, temperaments etc of people merely reinforce how wonderfully diverse God is in all His attributes. ...complementary gifting Nevertheless, a good team contains members who complement one another. No football team would have great success if all were goal-keepers. Strikers and mid-field players are also essential. Sometimes, when creating a team, it is tempting to draw…
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28Sep 2011 by Nigel Ring

Teams that work – pt 3. Are we accomplishing our goals?

Equipping, Team
Let's score some goals! A team must know why it exists and where it is going. When a football team takes to the pitch there is no doubt in any of the players' minds why they are together and what their intention is - to get the ball into the goal more times than the opposition! In the last blog we saw, under the heading of Mission, the importance of a team knowing where they are going. But teams can take different forms. For example, two teams I have been involved in are 1) the Management Team for Together on a Mission, the annual leadership conference of Newfrontiers (the final one was held in July this year), and 2) the trustees of Church of Christ the King, the church of…
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19Sep 2011 by Nigel Ring

Teams that work – pt 2. What is it for?

Equipping, Newfrontiers, Team
As we continue to consider some of the features of working as a team we must start by knowing what we are aiming to achieve. The word ‘Mission' sounds very biblical but it is also widely used in the secular world, often quite loosely. ‘Mission statement' is another term widely used in the corporate world. ‘Vision' is sometimes used almost interchangeably with ‘mission' as, occasionally, is ‘purpose'. So rather than trying to get into the minutiae of semantics let's agree that I have used the word here because it fits my mnemonic of TEAM rather than because I am going to define it tightly! Know where you're going... Mission implies that we know where we are going, that the end point or direction is defined. Jesus' ‘Great Commission' (Matt 28:19,…
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15Sep 2011 by Nigel Ring

Teams that work – pt 1. Team in the Bible?

Equipping, Team
Recently I was in India and was asked to speak on the subject of Teams in ministry. I have never done this before and am aware that much has been written about teams by others. I was not sure that I could add anything. Nevertheless, as we prepare to close the Newfrontiers office in Hove at the end of this year as part of the re-definition of Newfrontiers for the new season, and the team that has worked here for many years will be disbanded, I realised that there probably are some things I have learned from which others could benefit. So here goes! Team in the Bible The word 'Team' is not overtly a Biblical word in the way we would tend to use it. It is used only…
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