I posted the following in the elder forum a few months ago. I think ministry leaders like to be appreciated. Besides saying thanks, I think we as a church need to do a better job offering support and training for our leaders.
Part of the job of elders is to encourage and support the pastor as well as the various ministries of the church. It is suggested that we give our pastors a sabbatical for a time of refreshment and study. What about the ministry leaders such as Cadet and Gems counselors, youth group leaders, Bible study leaders, Sunday School teachers, etc? In our church (approximately 150 members) many of our leaders have been leading their ministries for many years. Some of them are involved in more than one ministry. So I started thinking about offering some sort of sabbatical for them. I'm not sure yet how this might happen. My initial thoughts were to have two months of no ministry meetings, probably in April and May. Instead of their regularly scheduled meetings, we would offer a weekly seminar. At these get togethers we would bring in some guest speakers who would talk about leadership, burnout, encouragement. We could spend some time studying leaders in the Bible as well as contemporary leaders. There would also be time for discussions on how their ministry programs could improve. We could use this format or we could meet twice a month and still have the ministries meet on the other weeks. My question is, has anyone else done this? If so, can you share what you did and how it was received by the participants? Looking forward to your feedback.
Several examples from the Bible come to mind when it comes to leadership development. Joshua was mentored by Moses for over 40 years before God finally said it was his turn to lead the Israelites. During this time, he was Moses' right hand man. Moses also gave Joshua challenges which encouraged his leadership skills.
Of course there is also the example of Jesus and His disciples. He didn't just teach them but He sent them out to practice what they learned.
I'm sure there are other examples in the Bible. I agree with you, Gwyneth, when you say "the leadership development process is generally happening after the role has been assumed." Those of us in leadership roles need to be mentoring our co-leaders and replacements now. We never know when God will decide that it is time for someone else to take our place.
I look forward to reading your future posts on this subject.
Hi, Geri. It's been almost 4 months since you shared about your short-term committee. First of all, how is it going? I hope you've received a positive response from your various committees as well as the rest of your congregation. Sometimes when you are trying something new, people feel nervous and are slow to change. Secondly, we have recently started a Disability Awareness Team with the blessing of our Council. Our purpose is to promote disability awareness through training and encouraging our ministry leaders to be ready to welcome children and adults with disabilities. One of our first goals was to be prepared to have children with disabilites feel welcome at our VBS. To do this we invited a speaker who has had a lot of experience working with children in the local parks department as well as Special Olympics to speak to the VBS staff on ways to be welcoming. He did a great job. I actually had a teacher come up to me during VBS and share that, because of the training, she was able to encourage a young boy with autism who was having a difficult time. I thnk the important thing is to keep reminding your congregation of the importance of disability awareness. Write newsletter articles, sponsor speakers, bring books into the library. I am getting ready to lead a series in our small group on bio-medical ethics which has a lot to do with how we as a society view people with disabilities. I hope your committee becomes a permament part of your church and not just "short-term."
You should contact David Koll, [email protected]; ph. 1-900-272-5125 x0768 . He is Director of Candidacy for the CRC. Also, you might want to check out this link: www.crcna.org/candidacy
I have also felt the Lord's call to become a ministry associate.
Ken, thanks for the encouragement and reminder. Like Greg, I am also preparing to be a ministry associate. I have no doubt about being called by God, but there are times when I don't "feel" the same exciting feelings and I wonder, "Am I doing the right thing?" I'm sure as David was trying to hide from Saul, he was going through times of doubt and maybe thinking, "It would be a lot easier if I was back taking care of my sheep." So, yes, I do keep listening for that quiet voice speaking to my heart. Steve
Could it be that part of the "problem" is that churches in North America are discovering that being missional means more than supporting missionaries in other countries? Conservative as well as liberal writers such as Michael Horton (The Gospel Commission), Alan Hirsch (Untamed), Lance Ford (The Missional Quest) and others have been reminding us that The Great Mandate is not just for countries far away, but also for our communities right around us. While we all appreciate and support the hard work of our overseas missionaries, we should be truthful and admit that it is easy to have the attitude of I've supported financially and even prayerfully so I've done my part to fulfill Christ's mandate for the church. I grew up in a missionary family and I married into a missionary family so trust me, I am aware of the difficulties faced by missionary families. I believe that while churches still desire to support our missionaries, we are also realizing that we need to be missionaries right here. As an example, for years our church supported 4 missionaries. Then we decided to support 3 missionaries and set aside the remaining 25% to support our members involved in mission causes. Since we made this change, a number of our members have experienced the joy of being a missionary.
Thank you to the Van Wyks (my wife's family served CRWM in Nigeria for many years) and to the many others who have sacrificed much in listening to God's call. I pray that, as a denomination, we can continue to have a strong presence of missionaries around the world. I also pray that, as local congregations, we will also be willing to sacrifice and to listen to God's call to be missionaries right in our own communities.
As a lay leader in disabilities ministry, I would like to see CTS encourage our future pastors to explore and to physically experience what Jesus was teaching in the Luke 14 passage about welcoming strangers in and actually going out and inviting the homeless, those with disabilities, the hurting to join us at the banquet table. How can we not only reach out, but also actively include these people in our faith communities? Before pastors can effectively encourage their congregations to be inclusive, they need to spend some time doing this themselves. They need to learn what it is like to go to a group home and spend time with a person who isn't able to communicate in a way we are used to. It would be beneficial if they spent some time on a street getting to know a person affected by mental illness. While we should not expect our pastors to do everything, it is helpful if they participate in these experiences so that they can encourage their leaders and congregations in the important process of being inclusive.
Thank you for reaching out for advice. May God bless you as you spend time with our future pastors.
I just read this article in Leadership Journal by Christianity Today. http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2013/july-online-only/youve-done-it-unto-me.html In it a question is asked of a group of theology students in reference to Matthew 25. "What is your theology of the poor?" Our future pastors need to be challenged with this question. They need to experience what it means. Then they will be able to challenge their congregations as they seek to live out what it says in passages like Matthew 25 and Luke 14.
As I mentioned in my comment to your first post, our future pastors need to explore what it means for the church to be inclusive with people with disabilities. What does the Bible say about inviting and welcoming these fellow image bearers to worship God with us. An excellent book on this topic is The Lost Mandate, A Christ Command Revealed by Dan'l C Markham. This book talks about the mandate given by Christ in Luke 14 to 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'
Another subject closely related to disability ministry is biomedical ethics. How can the church be a light as people are being challenged daily with beginning and end of life decisions. How are pastors going to respond when people come to them asking for advice on these difficult issues.While we should not expect our pastors to know everything, we should expect them to be acquainted with issues such as bio ethics so they can encourage the church to seek answers with a Biblical perspective. How To Be A Christian In A Brave New World by Joni Eareckson Tada and Nigel Cameron is a very good source of information for bio ethics.
Both of these books are available in Kindle format which can be very helpful to a seminarian's budget.
Mark, thank you for this post. As I mentioned in my email to you, your post comes at a very good time because we are currently in the middle of a series in our small groups on bioethics. Since I proposed this series, I was asked to lead it and since I am not an expert in this very difficult subject I have been doing a lot of studying over the past couple of months to prepare. One of the first things I discovered is that bioethics does not presume to follow our Christian beliefs. There is a wide range of beliefs on what is ethically acceptable in the field of medicine. So, in response to your last paragraph, while having the ability to change our own chromosomes may have positive implications, where do we draw the line? When I think of the passage in Psalm 139:13
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb
I can't help but picture in my mind God as an artist, intimately involved in creating each one of us in His image. If we see a painting or sculpture and we can't understand why the artist created it the way he did, do we have the right to go up to the piece of art and "fix" it so it makes more sense. We don't understand why God allows people to be born with disabilities, but does that mean we have the right to "fix" them? We need to help them have a better quality of life, but how far do we go? I should be honest here and mention that both my girls were born healthy, without disabilities, so I have not experienced the pain and questioning that parents of children with disabilites go through. The theme of our study last Sunday was Value. How does the Bible describe our value compared to our society's description? Often society tends to say that if a person is not able to contribute to society in a productive way, then that person is worthless. But we are told in 1 Corinthians 12:18-26 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
During our small group discussions I was reminded that everything is not always as black and white as I might think. We need to be open to discussion and to be ready to listen and respond in Christian love.
If anyone is interested in studying bioethics from a Christian perspective I would like to recommend the following:
1. How To Be A Christian In A Brave New World by Joni Eareckson Tada and Nigel M. De S. Cameron
2. http://cbhd.org/ Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity - offers papers and commentaries on various issues written by Christians in the field of bioethics. Many have been transcribed into audio podcasts
OK, I'll start the conversation. Our council recently approved having a Disability Awareness Team. Our desire is to help our congregation become more aware of ways to help people with disabilities feel welcome in our services and various ministries. One of the first things we are doing is sponsoring a training session in a couple of weeks to encourage us to be ready for any children with disabilities who wish to attend our VBS this summer. Also, our Friendship Class is looking forward to helping in various ways during VBS week.
We are going to start having a prayer time one hour before the morning worship service each Sunday so we can can pray for the needs of our church, our ministries and the community around us. Our Friendship Class is also being invited to participate in this. We are planning on them joining our praise team a couple of times this summer, too.
Who's next? I know we have many churches who include people with disabilities.
Planning a garden with others involves sharing input and compromising on ideas. Flowers or vegetables? Perenials or annuals? etc.
Planning a small group ministry also involves sharing of ideas and compromise. 10 people or 20 people per group? Bible study or book study? Keep the same groups or mix them up?
Prayer and communication are definitely important aspects of healthy small groups.
Posted in: How Do You Say "Thanks" to Those Who Serve in Ministry?
Rebecca,
I posted the following in the elder forum a few months ago. I think ministry leaders like to be appreciated. Besides saying thanks, I think we as a church need to do a better job offering support and training for our leaders.
Part of the job of elders is to encourage and support the pastor as well as the various ministries of the church. It is suggested that we give our pastors a sabbatical for a time of refreshment and study. What about the ministry leaders such as Cadet and Gems counselors, youth group leaders, Bible study leaders, Sunday School teachers, etc? In our church (approximately 150 members) many of our leaders have been leading their ministries for many years. Some of them are involved in more than one ministry. So I started thinking about offering some sort of sabbatical for them. I'm not sure yet how this might happen. My initial thoughts were to have two months of no ministry meetings, probably in April and May. Instead of their regularly scheduled meetings, we would offer a weekly seminar. At these get togethers we would bring in some guest speakers who would talk about leadership, burnout, encouragement. We could spend some time studying leaders in the Bible as well as contemporary leaders. There would also be time for discussions on how their ministry programs could improve. We could use this format or we could meet twice a month and still have the ministries meet on the other weeks. My question is, has anyone else done this? If so, can you share what you did and how it was received by the participants? Looking forward to your feedback.
Steve
Posted in: Spiralling to Strength in Lay Leadership
Several examples from the Bible come to mind when it comes to leadership development. Joshua was mentored by Moses for over 40 years before God finally said it was his turn to lead the Israelites. During this time, he was Moses' right hand man. Moses also gave Joshua challenges which encouraged his leadership skills.
Of course there is also the example of Jesus and His disciples. He didn't just teach them but He sent them out to practice what they learned.
I'm sure there are other examples in the Bible. I agree with you, Gwyneth, when you say "the leadership development process is generally happening after the role has been assumed." Those of us in leadership roles need to be mentoring our co-leaders and replacements now. We never know when God will decide that it is time for someone else to take our place.
I look forward to reading your future posts on this subject.
Posted in: Special Needs and Disability Coordinator
Hi, Geri. It's been almost 4 months since you shared about your short-term committee. First of all, how is it going? I hope you've received a positive response from your various committees as well as the rest of your congregation. Sometimes when you are trying something new, people feel nervous and are slow to change. Secondly, we have recently started a Disability Awareness Team with the blessing of our Council. Our purpose is to promote disability awareness through training and encouraging our ministry leaders to be ready to welcome children and adults with disabilities. One of our first goals was to be prepared to have children with disabilites feel welcome at our VBS. To do this we invited a speaker who has had a lot of experience working with children in the local parks department as well as Special Olympics to speak to the VBS staff on ways to be welcoming. He did a great job. I actually had a teacher come up to me during VBS and share that, because of the training, she was able to encourage a young boy with autism who was having a difficult time. I thnk the important thing is to keep reminding your congregation of the importance of disability awareness. Write newsletter articles, sponsor speakers, bring books into the library. I am getting ready to lead a series in our small group on bio-medical ethics which has a lot to do with how we as a society view people with disabilities. I hope your committee becomes a permament part of your church and not just "short-term."
Posted in: Preparation for Ordination Interview
Greg
You should contact David Koll, [email protected]; ph. 1-900-272-5125 x0768 . He is Director of Candidacy for the CRC. Also, you might want to check out this link: www.crcna.org/candidacy
I have also felt the Lord's call to become a ministry associate.
Blessings to you
Steve Nyenhuis
Posted in: Preparation for Ordination Interview
Ken, thanks for the encouragement and reminder. Like Greg, I am also preparing to be a ministry associate. I have no doubt about being called by God, but there are times when I don't "feel" the same exciting feelings and I wonder, "Am I doing the right thing?" I'm sure as David was trying to hide from Saul, he was going through times of doubt and maybe thinking, "It would be a lot easier if I was back taking care of my sheep." So, yes, I do keep listening for that quiet voice speaking to my heart. Steve
Posted in: Downton Abbey and World Missions
Could it be that part of the "problem" is that churches in North America are discovering that being missional means more than supporting missionaries in other countries? Conservative as well as liberal writers such as Michael Horton (The Gospel Commission), Alan Hirsch (Untamed), Lance Ford (The Missional Quest) and others have been reminding us that The Great Mandate is not just for countries far away, but also for our communities right around us. While we all appreciate and support the hard work of our overseas missionaries, we should be truthful and admit that it is easy to have the attitude of I've supported financially and even prayerfully so I've done my part to fulfill Christ's mandate for the church. I grew up in a missionary family and I married into a missionary family so trust me, I am aware of the difficulties faced by missionary families. I believe that while churches still desire to support our missionaries, we are also realizing that we need to be missionaries right here. As an example, for years our church supported 4 missionaries. Then we decided to support 3 missionaries and set aside the remaining 25% to support our members involved in mission causes. Since we made this change, a number of our members have experienced the joy of being a missionary.
Thank you to the Van Wyks (my wife's family served CRWM in Nigeria for many years) and to the many others who have sacrificed much in listening to God's call. I pray that, as a denomination, we can continue to have a strong presence of missionaries around the world. I also pray that, as local congregations, we will also be willing to sacrifice and to listen to God's call to be missionaries right in our own communities.
Posted in: Leadership in Ministry Course - Your Input Needed
As a lay leader in disabilities ministry, I would like to see CTS encourage our future pastors to explore and to physically experience what Jesus was teaching in the Luke 14 passage about welcoming strangers in and actually going out and inviting the homeless, those with disabilities, the hurting to join us at the banquet table. How can we not only reach out, but also actively include these people in our faith communities? Before pastors can effectively encourage their congregations to be inclusive, they need to spend some time doing this themselves. They need to learn what it is like to go to a group home and spend time with a person who isn't able to communicate in a way we are used to. It would be beneficial if they spent some time on a street getting to know a person affected by mental illness. While we should not expect our pastors to do everything, it is helpful if they participate in these experiences so that they can encourage their leaders and congregations in the important process of being inclusive.
Thank you for reaching out for advice. May God bless you as you spend time with our future pastors.
Posted in: Leadership in Ministry Course - Your Input Needed
I just read this article in Leadership Journal by Christianity Today. http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2013/july-online-only/youve-done-it-unto-me.html In it a question is asked of a group of theology students in reference to Matthew 25. "What is your theology of the poor?" Our future pastors need to be challenged with this question. They need to experience what it means. Then they will be able to challenge their congregations as they seek to live out what it says in passages like Matthew 25 and Luke 14.
Posted in: Deep Skimming: What Would You Recommend?
As I mentioned in my comment to your first post, our future pastors need to explore what it means for the church to be inclusive with people with disabilities. What does the Bible say about inviting and welcoming these fellow image bearers to worship God with us. An excellent book on this topic is The Lost Mandate, A Christ Command Revealed by Dan'l C Markham. This book talks about the mandate given by Christ in Luke 14 to 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'
Another subject closely related to disability ministry is biomedical ethics. How can the church be a light as people are being challenged daily with beginning and end of life decisions. How are pastors going to respond when people come to them asking for advice on these difficult issues.While we should not expect our pastors to know everything, we should expect them to be acquainted with issues such as bio ethics so they can encourage the church to seek answers with a Biblical perspective. How To Be A Christian In A Brave New World by Joni Eareckson Tada and Nigel Cameron is a very good source of information for bio ethics.
Both of these books are available in Kindle format which can be very helpful to a seminarian's budget.
Posted in: How Much Would You Change You?
Mark, thank you for this post. As I mentioned in my email to you, your post comes at a very good time because we are currently in the middle of a series in our small groups on bioethics. Since I proposed this series, I was asked to lead it and since I am not an expert in this very difficult subject I have been doing a lot of studying over the past couple of months to prepare. One of the first things I discovered is that bioethics does not presume to follow our Christian beliefs. There is a wide range of beliefs on what is ethically acceptable in the field of medicine. So, in response to your last paragraph, while having the ability to change our own chromosomes may have positive implications, where do we draw the line? When I think of the passage in Psalm 139:13
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb
I can't help but picture in my mind God as an artist, intimately involved in creating each one of us in His image. If we see a painting or sculpture and we can't understand why the artist created it the way he did, do we have the right to go up to the piece of art and "fix" it so it makes more sense. We don't understand why God allows people to be born with disabilities, but does that mean we have the right to "fix" them? We need to help them have a better quality of life, but how far do we go? I should be honest here and mention that both my girls were born healthy, without disabilities, so I have not experienced the pain and questioning that parents of children with disabilites go through. The theme of our study last Sunday was Value. How does the Bible describe our value compared to our society's description? Often society tends to say that if a person is not able to contribute to society in a productive way, then that person is worthless. But we are told in 1 Corinthians 12:18-26 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
During our small group discussions I was reminded that everything is not always as black and white as I might think. We need to be open to discussion and to be ready to listen and respond in Christian love.
If anyone is interested in studying bioethics from a Christian perspective I would like to recommend the following:
1. How To Be A Christian In A Brave New World by Joni Eareckson Tada and Nigel M. De S. Cameron
2. http://cbhd.org/ Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity - offers papers and commentaries on various issues written by Christians in the field of bioethics. Many have been transcribed into audio podcasts
Posted in: Disability Ministry in the News
OK, I'll start the conversation. Our council recently approved having a Disability Awareness Team. Our desire is to help our congregation become more aware of ways to help people with disabilities feel welcome in our services and various ministries. One of the first things we are doing is sponsoring a training session in a couple of weeks to encourage us to be ready for any children with disabilities who wish to attend our VBS this summer. Also, our Friendship Class is looking forward to helping in various ways during VBS week.
We are going to start having a prayer time one hour before the morning worship service each Sunday so we can can pray for the needs of our church, our ministries and the community around us. Our Friendship Class is also being invited to participate in this. We are planning on them joining our praise team a couple of times this summer, too.
Who's next? I know we have many churches who include people with disabilities.
Steve
Posted in: Preparing to Plant
Planning a garden with others involves sharing input and compromising on ideas. Flowers or vegetables? Perenials or annuals? etc.
Planning a small group ministry also involves sharing of ideas and compromise. 10 people or 20 people per group? Bible study or book study? Keep the same groups or mix them up?
Prayer and communication are definitely important aspects of healthy small groups.