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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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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15Sep 2009 by Nigel Ring

The Poor deserve the Best – part 5

Biblical Administration, Christian ministry, Equipping, General, Good Practice, Leadership, Poor
We shall now consider the final three Indicators of Good Practice for ministries among the Poor which come under the category of Church and Leadership. 6. Kingdom extension to be intentional Ministry with the poor provides a fertile context for God’s rule and government to be made manifest. People who already recognise their weakness and need of help are often more receptive to the gospel than those who are surrounded with apparent material security. Ministry embracing the Poor can make a significant contribution to extending the Kingdom of God not only by demonstrating Kingdom rule as we plant churches in disadvantaged communities but also by challenging injustice, changing culture through education, demonstrating God’s provision by careful stewarding of His resources (e.g. through Farming) and so on. It is helpful to…
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