Rebecca Ligtenberg
I am a life-long church member, and love being involved in ministry. I have worked as a volunteer or on staff in a variety of different roles in churches throughout my life. My favorite verse about ministry is Ephesians 2:10 - "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Posted in: What Should Be Included in a List of Best Practices for Deacons?
Karl, thanks for chiming in with some great ideas, and for all your thoughtful posts on this forum! Rebecca
Posted in: What's the best practice for getting church visitors to fill out welcome cards?
Thanks for the input Fred! Do you have a counter or info booth or something that makes it easy for people to fill out the card on the spot?
Posted in: What forms or policies are available to provide guidelines for issuing church keys?
Thanks so much, google was my next stop! I'll check it out.
Posted in: How does a church shift from "needs-based" to "gifts-based" ministry?
One approach to this, and the way we are encouraging people to think about this at my church, is to be involved in two ways - through a primary ministry that uses their gifts, and through a secondary ministry where they are needed. We are also careful to remember that everyone is called to have faith, pray and evangelize even if their spiritual gifts aren't Faith, Intercession or Evangelism. We just know that those with these gifts are specially equipped, but that doesn't let the rest of us off the hook.
Here's an example I can think of. We have coffee and cookies after church each week. Certainly the gift of Hospitality would be a blessing in this ministry. However, given how many people at my church participate in this way, I would say it's almost certain that not all of them have this gift. Yet, nearly anyone is capable of bringing cookies and pouring coffee, so they may serve in this way as their secondary ministry because they are needed.
Posted in: How does a church shift from "needs-based" to "gifts-based" ministry?
Thanks for all the comments on my question, this is so encouraging!
Posted in: How Do You Say "Thanks" to Those Who Serve in Ministry?
Steve, thanks for your thoughts on this.
I really like the idea of having seminars and intentionally investing in our leaders. I get a little squeamish at the idea of a sabbatical, because I think that too many people would say that our ministries are essential and can't be skipped. A majority of our ministries are related to youth and have a reduced schedule or are off in the summer anyway. Good to think about, though!
Posted in: How Do You Say "Thanks" to Those Who Serve in Ministry?
Carol, thanks for the ideas! The need to thank volunteers never changes, and it's always appreciated!
Posted in: What Kind of Church Ministry is Effective With Singles?
I just came home from a meeting about how to begin to reach this demographic, not just in our (small-ish) congregation, but also perhaps by connecting with other local congregations. Unfortunately I don't have anything congrete to offer yet, but plan to follow along and hope that somewhere, someone is doing some great things for this group within the church and perhaps there is a viable model somewhere that other churches can benefit from implementing.
Posted in: What Do We Want from The Banner?
I would be deeply saddened if Synod were to overturn the decision of the Board of Trustees to keep Editor DeMoor in his position. Editor DeMoor's public apology (http://www.thebanner.org/other/2013/06/dear-brothers-and-sisters-in-christ) states his commitment to our church and our beliefs, as well as communicating an understanding that his role carries great responsibility. The board's decision included a note that that these articles may have indicated a lapse in judgment, but not a pattern of irresponsibility.
From my perspective as a reader of The Banner and a church member, I had great appreciation for the way this was handled. In this situation, as in so many situations, I feel that if there is to be an error, it must be on the side of grace and forgiveness. What becomes of us - ANY of us - if a momentary lapse of judgment is that on which we are judged?
I appreciate very much the thoughtful articles in The Banner. I think it is important to be challenged, and when we are, we must have faith that God's truth will prevail in the discussion. If we stop asking hard questions and engaging in difficult debate, then we will have lost one of the wonderful things I have come to greatly appreciate about this tradition of which I am a part.
Posted in: Using YouTube as a Training Resource for Praise Teams
Good question. I'm not a legal expert by any means, but my thought is that the poster of the video is responsible for the permissions. By creating a playlist, it does not create a duplicate copy of the video or claim ownership of it; it's more a collection of links to the various content that others have posted. I did try to use "official" content as much as possible, although as you noticed, most of it is not. If I'm wrong about this, then I guess I would retract my suggestion, and revise my use of YouTube. I'm interested as well in hearing what others might have to say.
Posted in: Question About Changing Words of Copyrighted Songs
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts.
As for the performance in worship aspect as referred to in § 110, I have read elsewhere that there is a difference between performance and congregational singing. That is, if the praise team or a soloist presents the song, it would be a performance and there is no issue, but that is distinct from congregational singing, when we reproduce the words and/or music under a license to guide corporate singing. In that case, when the words are changed, it's stickier because we note that we've licensed the work, but have actually changed it withouth noting that we have done so.
I don't know that this applies to musical changes in the same way in our setting; we don't generally reproduce music, so the mucisians have the liberty to do many of these things as in a way, they are "performing" music - original or adapted works - but it's the words that are the issue because we do reproduce those.
I'm also not a lawyer, so this is all my opinion too... but it would seem that if we could fairly claim a derivative work even if we didn't seek copyright of such, and then simply add notations to indicate that words have been changed, that might be OK. Although as you said since we aren't seeking copyright that doesn't seem to apply. I just haven't been able to find any resource that indicates that this is actually OK (nor clear information that says "you may" or "you may not.")
I do appreciate your taking time to write. I didn't have any familiarity with the derivative works aspect, and I appreciate your thoughts on the topic.
Posted in: Question About Changing Words of Copyrighted Songs
Thank you for adding your comments about copyright and music as well as about copyright related to visual arts. I appreciate you taking time to add to the discussion.