Is your ministry getting ready for Christmas?

September 26, 2012Leave a comment

Is it really time to be thinking about Christmas, it is only September? Before you panic, this post is about working on your environment now so that you are welcoming community by Christmas. We know that many people come back to church for Christmas so you need to start working on creating a welcoming environment so that you can keep them into the new year.

It is a well known that attendance numbers drop off during the winter months, especially at Sunday night services. People think it is too cold or too dark to got out, it might be raining or they want to somewhere warmer than a cold church building. So it is likely that your ministry has dropped a few people over the winter months but now is the time to start welcoming them back. Just as the trees and plants spring to new life around this time, perhaps the ground work you do during September and October will prepare you for a growth period over December, January and February.

Here are a few common sayings in ministry and how you might need to address these at the moment:

People always come back to Church at Christmas: each parish has a group of Christmas and Easter Christians that you will see coming back to church this Christmas. Whilst you might not like it but if you don’t ask then they won’t come; if you are not welcoming then they won’t stay. Recently I heard that the biggest growth group in Australia is the unchurched who don’t love or hate the church; they just have never been asked. We often listen to the vocal minority who are vocal about their opposition to the Church but the majority of Australians don’t hate the church; some of them will return this Christmas.
Vision leaks: has your ministry grown tired and lost the energy that it had in the beginning of the year? Whilst you might know where you are heading you need to tell the people in your ministry as the vision leaks. Some leaders say that when you get sick of reminding people of where you are heading then people are just starting to get it. For more on this topic check out the article, Where are you heading?
Good habits drop easily but take months to re-establish: perhaps you were a welcoming church at the start of the year but with no new people coming over the winter your team lost the habits associated with a welcoming church. So in the coming months you need to re-establish these habits so that it comes naturally when the Christmas season rolls around. For more on this check out this article, Creating a Welcoming Church.
Narrow the Focus: whilst you might want to stir up energy by adding new programs to excite people you probably need to narrow the focus rather than widen it. Sometimes people get confused with where they should put their focus, as the leader you need to target one or two things for people to focus on. Don’t bring in 50 strategies for creating a welcoming church, perhaps just work on a good greeting before the service/event and unexpected hospitality after the service or event.
Good branding just makes bad products fail faster: if you spend a lot of time and effort on marketing your service and events without improving them then they will only fail faster. Some leaders wait until people turn up to start improving things, which only shows new people how bad things really are. Improve your Sunday services and midweek events first then invite people to experience the revamp.
A good spring clean makes for a good summer: perhaps this is more a gardening image than a ministry one but I think it applies well here. Some teams plan to leave all their cleaning up for the “downtime” in January but that is when you need to be taking a break and a holiday. January is not just about your members taking a holiday, you need one as well. Perhaps a good spring clean in September and October will bring much needed focus and energy ready for the Christmas season when people feel like coming back to church.

So whilst you might think it is too early to think about Christmas, just remember that you need to give November over to thinking about the New Year, which I will post on shortly. If you need to start your planning for next year in October and November then it is better to start preparations for Christmas now. Remember we are not just talking about the Christmas Service but the welcoming atmosphere that you hope comes naturally around that time. A little bit of extra work now will reap better results for your ministry come Christmas.

Please leave a comment about how you are getting ready for the Christmas rush.

Youth Ministry and the disposable razor theory

September 17, 20122 Comments

We all know that young people are growing up in an era where new consumer products launch or are updated on a constant basis. With the launch of the iPhone 5 last week there will be millions of consumers desperate to get of their current phone contracts just so they can have the latest phone. In the current marketplace we see many good products relegated to the scrap heap every month just because the latest version is released. We can trace all of this back to the theory of the disposable razor.

Traditionally a man would buy one high quality razor to shave their face every morning. The good blades would last a lifetime, which the manufacturer thought was bad for business. It was in the interest of the manufacturer to make blades that needed replacing so that people would have to buy more product. Thus the creation of the disposable razor blade; a company would make more money over the long term selling thousands of cheap items than selling one high quality razor.

Fast forward through the years and we see that many products lowered their quality so that people would have to buy more products. Many products developed component parts that needed replacing so as to sell more products; before digital cameras Kodak made more money from selling film than they did by selling cameras. The disposable razor theory originally applied to low cost and low quality items. In recent years the disposable or replaceable concept has been getting more and more expensive. What do people do with their old mobile phone when they buy the new iPhone 5? When did a $700 phone become as disposable as a $2 razor blade?

Young people today want the latest technology which is totally understandable. If I needed to buy a new phone or laptop then I would buy the best I could afford too. However, the rate of change in consumer products is creating a transient culture where young people move from product to product without much loyalty. Whilst the disposable razor theory was always about products it seems that it is now affecting organisations also. Sporting clubs find it harder to keep junior players for more than a few seasons. Scouting groups find it hard to attract young people because it asks for a weekly commitment rather than random participation.

In the Church we too are affected by the transient culture emerging in young people. The Church is just one organisation dealing with the rate of change in our culture. Perhaps like some other organisations we have been caught out ‘selling’ the same products in a marketplace that wants change. If young people update their phone every two years, is it unreasonable to think that they expect some change in their church experience every two years? If the fashion and music scene changes every six months is it unreasonable to think that young people might expect the look and feel of their church experience to change every six months?

I don’t think anybody ever thought that the disposable razor theory would ever apply to the Church, is it possible that this is what we are now seeing in youth and young adult ministries? Is it possible that young people are so used to the rate of change that they expect change all around them? So what should we do about this in our churches and ministries? If we look at Apple, they win the customer by changing the product. We can’t change the Gospel, but that is not the ‘product’ that we are selling. We are selling programs and activities in order to win people to Christ.

In our ministries, perhaps we should think about the packaging of our message and line up some ‘disposable razors’. Here are a few examples:

A short course on a topic that is the hottest issue within the community
A few camp options within the year from overnighters to week long camps.
Opportunities to visit other churches for guest speakers or worship nights
Change the theme every school term
Have two to three options for high schoolers rather than one youth group for Year 7-12.

Yes this is harder for the youth and young adult ministry but can we really bury our head in the sand and keep everything static? If we don’t make our programs the disposable razors the risk is that Jesus becomes the disposable razor and young people move onto another spirituality. We can keep doing what we have always been doing or we can decide to work with young people as they are developing.

My hope is that together we can improve our ministry to youth and young adult to see more ‘customers’ being won to Christ. If Apple are able to keep winning loyal customers then surely we need to as well, perhaps we need to be a bit more thoughtful in how we can win loyal followers of Christ.

Please leave a comment

Mark McDonald, mrmarkmcdonald, markoffaith, MarkofFaith, Mark of Faith, markoffaith.net

Ministry is like herding sheep, cats and sheep dogs

September 13, 2012September 13, 2012Leave a comment

Recently I attended a conference session with Tim Hein which explored stages of faith development. Whilst there were many complex elements to the presentation, a fun image that Tim used was the image of ministry as the art of herding. So I thought I would share a quick overview with you:

Youth Ministry is like herding sheep – young people naturally want to run together as a herd. There will be differences within a group but they tend to follow each other. Young people like the stability of the herd and so are happy to go along with the routine. Leading a youth ministry can seem difficult but it doesn’t have the complexity of Young Adult Ministry. The challenge is to introduce complexity so that when they make the transition out of following the herd they know how to handle it.
Young Adult Ministry is like herding cats – young adults naturally want to explore their uniqueness. Being a young adult is about testing out the boundaries, exploring the complexity of life and finding your unique place in the world. Therefore ministry with this age group can end up with people heading in all sorts of directions. As a young adult minister you can try to herd the cats but you will get a few scratches along the way, see the video below.
Adult Ministry is like herding sheep dogs – adults in the church need to run free because they are their own person but they can be roped in to help with the mission of your church. Sheep dogs don’t need fences because they naturally stay on the farm; adults will naturally come back to church. Sheep dogs don’t own the farm and the challenge with adults is to remind them they don’t own the church.

Some of these thoughts were my spin on what Tim was saying, his presentation was far more detailed than this. I really liked this image because it seemed to resonate with the room, does it resonate with your experience? Check out the funny video below then leave a comment explaining the image that you use for ministry.

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Does your ministry have the X Factor?

August 25, 2012August 25, 2012Leave a comment

Let me start with two stories:

Megachurch – one Sunday I attended a the evening service at a “megachurch” to hear a speaker that they had flown in from the United States. With great facilities, an awesome worship team and a special preacher I knew the night would be great. When I entered the Church I was touched by the warmth and buzz amongst the people, everyone was so friendly. By the time I took my seat at least 20 people had greeted me. When the worship started it was amazing, not just because of the show (as the critics like to call it) but these people were passionate about praising God. After an amazing sermon I left on a real high. When I got home my wife asked me “how was it?” I replied “they really have it, something amazing is happening in that church.”
Small Church – one Sunday night I attended a small young adult ministry with maybe 20 people. The space was a borrowed venue and didn’t really work for the group. When the service started the mood in room changed and this small group of people seemed to be doing something big. It felt like the service was part of God’s bigger plan for His Church. When I left there I thought that the small group of young adults really had something, they had it right.

Sometimes we can walk into a ministry as a guest and sense something straight away. Perhaps you get a positive sense from the minute that you walk into the room or maybe when you meet the people. Often it doesn’t have to do with the physical space but what seems to be happening spiritually in a ministry. Some people call it the “X factor” and Craig Groeschel uses the term “it”. Some people have “it” and other people don’t have “it”.

Would your ministry as it stands now have “it”? Does your ministry have the X Factor?

Sometimes we fall into one of two pitfalls about our ministry:

Why do they have it? We look at the church up the road or in the next suburb and envy what they have. We look at their bigger numbers or bigger budgets or bigger facilities and wish we had what they have. We think that it is what they have that makes them better and it is what we don’t have that makes us struggle.
Why don’t they have it? We can look at the church up the road or in the next suburb and wonder why they are struggling. “It is so easy” we tell ourselves and we think the other churches just doesn’t get it. We think it is what we have that makes us better and we judge them by what they don’t have.

In his book “It, How Churches and Leaders can get It and keep It”, Craig Groeschel reminds us that every church has the Holy Spirit. However some churches are able to take what God has given them and make it spectacular. It is the same with musicians who have the X Factor; anyone can play music but some singers have that extra something that sets them apart.

So here are six suggestions, based on Groeschel’s book, on how to get it and keep it:

Vision – without a vision a group will perish. The same is true with your ministry. If you want to get it, the X factor, then you have to know where you are heading and why.
Divine focus – Groeschel suggests that if you chase two rabbits you will miss both. If you want your ministry to grow then you have to narrow the focus. Ask God for divine inspiration about what your ministry should really focus on.
Camaraderie – those ministries that have it, the X factor, have a friendship that draws you in; you want to be a part of their group. It is important to be serious about sharing life together and having a lot of fun together as well.
Innovation – these ministries with it, the X factor, don’t make excuses as they find a way to do ministry with what they have. God often directs by what He doesn’t provide. Turn what you don’t have into an opportunity and a strength.
Failure – Groeschel says that failure is not optional, it is essential. Those ministries that have the X factor try things and are prepared to fail in order to be effective. When a ministry plays it safe you can tell and people don’t join ministries that stagnate to play it safe.
Outreach – ministries that have it, the X factor, don’t want to keep it a secret they want everyone to know. These ministries will reach out into their community rather than looking to keep their current members happy.

The most important thing to remember is that it is not about the building or the budget. In his book Groeschel says that the days when his church met in a double garage with no money were some of the best ministry they did. When a church gets better buildings and resources it can think that it can buy its way to success. The Holy Spirit can’t be bought, it comes to those who believe the Gospel and have a heart for sharing this Good News.

My prayer for you is that your ministry can get IT, the X factor. And if you have the X factor my hope is that you can share it around because there are a lot of ministries that would like some.

———-

For a sample of the “It” talk by Craig Groeschel at the Global Leadership Summit click here.

markoffaith, mark of faith, Mark of Faith, MarkofFaith, markoffaith.net

Where are you heading personally? Vision Part 2

August 11, 2012Leave a comment

In a previous post I wrote about where are you heading in your ministry. Whilst it is important to steward your ministry well, most of us won’t stay in the same ministry our entire life. So how do you work out a vision and direction for your life that fits into what God is doing within the ministries that you are planted?

When I was younger I thought my youth group was the best thing I had ever done. Every Sunday night I would go to Church, during the week we would catch up, I would write talks, help out with meetings and do whatever was needed. After three years of giving everything I had to this ministry I started to see life after the youth group. It was like I grew out of the youth ministry as I grew older and I needed to move on. Since then I have seen the same pattern repeat itself within every ministry I have served in; it is just the length of time that changes. Sometimes it is six months sometimes three years sometimes 10 years.

In your life have you seen this pattern in ministry:

Discover a new ministry
Soak up everything you can from the group
Devote everything you have to the ministry
Pass on everything you do to other leaders
Move onto the next phase of your life

It is Ok to spend a season in a ministry and move on.

The challenge for us is to be guided by what God is calling us to rather than drifting from ministry to ministry. If you are going to stay in ministry long enough to contribute, you have to go through a period where it may not be as enjoyable as when you first started. If you leave a ministry when ever it is no longer enjoyable then you are not moving by God’s call but by your own desires.

Here are four things to help you determine where you should be heading personally:

What is your calling? Your calling doesn’t usually look like a job description. It isn’t often that your life’s call is Year 12 Geography teacher at Summer Bay High. Your calling is some way that you will make a different in the world so describe it in unique ways. Your calling is most likely not just the things that you are good at but the things that make you stronger as a person and as a disciple. Your calling will never draw you away from God but will help you build God’s Kingdom in a special way.
What season are you in? You may be in a season of growth; you may need a season of rest. You need to reflect on what season you are in because God may be asking you to sow into a particular ministry for a particular time. If you feel you must commit somewhere for the rest of your life then you may miss the opportunity to sow into a great ministry for a short period of time.
What are you preparing for? Are you developing your craft for a future season? We can be so focused on what we are doing now that we forget we need to be preparing for what is next. This might be further study, it might be connecting with mentors who are at the next level, it might be reading more books or developing your platform. Even if you are in a season of great productivity you should be preparing for the future.
What is your life’s work? Sometimes you need to imagine how you will view your life after you retire. Whilst most of us have no idea about every single job that we will hold in our life, it is important to focus on what significance your life will make as a whole. Some people will have three or four ministries throughout their life others will serve in 10-15 different places. What difference will your life make as a whole in the Kingdom of God?

Whilst this might sound focused on you, I really believe that we have to let God be God. We have to constantly be asking God how can I serve you? It is not our vision but God’s vision that we should be following. If you are heading nowhere in your life then you will get there. If you want to be heading in the right direction then you have to be looking to God.

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Where are you heading? Vision Part 1

August 10, 2012August 10, 20122 Comments

Andy Stanley wrote that the end of a God ordained vision is God. So if you are heading towards a vision then you want to make sure that it is God ordained. You want to make sure that you are doing what God created you to do with your life, in order that you can come closer to God. The reverse would be true as well; the end of your vision is you, because it is you that set the direction and it is you that chose what was important.

In ministry we can often get lost in a minefield of vision, which is ironic because vision should be crystal clear. The reason that we get lost is because we don’t know whose vision to follow:

Senior Minister – any Senior Minister has their own reason for being in ministry and they have the greatest say over what is seen as important in your church.
Elder’s board or church Council – are the church leadership team really discerning God’s ordained vision for your church or is it vision by consensus? Sometimes church boards are made up of people who are just “helping out” and have no clue what God wants for their church, other times a church board is filled with the most gifted people.
Finance Committee – a good finance committee works out how to achieve the vision that God has ordained, yet in some churches the Finance committee determines what vision the church can afford. If God ordains the vision then God will provide, don’t settle only for what you can afford.
The Ministry – we often are look for the new vision for our ministry as though it is separate from the vision that God has for our Church. Don’t let your ministry be heading in a different direction from the rest of your Church.

So how do you know which vision to follow? We know from scripture that people without a vision will perish so which one do we pick? It is important to reflect on these key things:

Branding is not vision – sometimes we rush into a vision statement because we need to brand our ministry. A good vision can take at least six months to discern, most likely it will take around 12 months. A vision is going to set you heading in a particular direction for the next ten years where as your branding will only last 2-3 years at best. If you like a particular style of marketing or branding then run with it but don’t confuse branding for vision.
You are not your ministry – it is important for you to separate your own personal vision from that of your ministry. God wants you to do something with your life that may be different to what God wants from the ministry you serve in. In reality the ministry should keep going long after you have left the position but God still wants you to build the Kingdom even though you move onto the next position. Don’t confuse what you want to do with your life with where God is calling the ministry to go.
Ministry has its season – perhaps you don’t know where your ministry is going for the next ten years but you can discern where you are heading for the next season. In youth ministry it is sometimes difficult to have a vision beyond five years. In University ministry students move on every 3 years so a vision must accommodate each season being quite short. If you are called to lead for a season then pursue the vision as best you can and leave God to work out the next season.
Ideas come with a strong vision – when you have a strong vision of where you are heading over the next 10 years then usually you are full of ideas. People who run out of ideas are either run out of vision or are heading in the wrong direction. One church used the phrase “no rowing ministry” to describe when the wind has changed direction but we row the boat where we want to go. If your vision is God ordained then the ideas will come.

A practical example

There was a Church that started a youth ministry by asking the young people what they wanted. The answers that the young people gave were passionate and exciting but they were all ideas of things they could do rather than a vision of where they were heading. The leaders called me after six months to say they had run out of ideas. When I asked them about their vision they clearly didn’t have one; they only had a list of ideas for fun youth nights.

After focusing them on discerning a vision and asking them to think about where they were heading they came up with a list of what they wanted young people in their ministry to be like. In the end they clarified a vision around helping young people to know Christ. Over a year later they were still going strong and they were developing more leaders and they were full of ideas. Where there was no leadership towards a vision the group almost collapsed but when the leaders had a strong vision of where they were heading then the group thrived.

So where are you heading?

markoffaith, MarkofFaith, Mark of Faith, mark of faith

Four types of breaks you need to take

July 12, 2012August 1, 20125 Comments

There are many reasons to take a break from ministry to recharge the batteries and clear your head. If you know the purpose of your break before you depart then you will enjoy your time off and come back feeling refreshed. If you are unclear about the purpose of your break then you feel frustrated and you will return feeling as tired as you were when you left.

Whilst you may not have time to take weeks off, you can take a short break over a weekend or take a few days off mid-week. Here are four types of short breaks that you may take from ministry over a few days or even a week:

Clean up – whilst this may not be everyone’s favourite break sometimes you need to take a break from ministry to clean up and take stock. If this is the type of break you are seeking then you will be most happy tucked away in your workspace with no distractions. Some people like to go through their work space or files to clean up months worth of clutter. A short clean up break will help you clear your mind at the end of busy time or to prepare for a new season in the ministry. People often take this type of break in late December or early January, but perhaps there is a better time of the year for you to take this break.
Rest – perhaps you are running on empty and you could do with 15 hours of sleep. This won’t be a very productive break so you need to prepare to get nothing done. Some people take time off to rest then fill their days with cleaning or visiting friends then wonder why they still feel tired at the end of the break. If you are run down and tired then sleep in each day and take an afternoon nap. It can also be helpful to do some exercise in the afternoon to help get the blood flowing and oddly this will help you sleep better at night. It is important to watch what you eat when you are resting and stay away from heavy foods and caffeine.
Visiting – sometimes you go through seasons when you don’t see anyone outside your ministry, then you are in need of a visiting break. Take a break to catch up with friends and family. Unlike the resting break, if you are visiting friends then you will fill your day with appointments to see people. Unlike the person who has shut themselves away to declutter, you want to get out and see people. You will get energy from other people but avoid people who connected with the ministry. Perhaps you need to turn off your ministry mobile and focus on the conversations of the people in front of you.
Get away – every once in a while we need to escape by going away. Some people have found that they never fully switch off if they are in the same city as their ministry, others the same state as their ministry. Some leaders need to get away to a different culture so that it highlights the environment that they minister in. If this is your need then it is a little more expensive so save those penny’s. Perhaps there may even be someone in your ministry that owns a holiday home, caravan or tent.

Whilst you might tend to spend your holidays doing one of these types of break, we actually need all four types of breaks within our annual calendar. If you balance your time throughout the year across all four types of breaks then you will feel refreshed and prevent burn out.

Michael Hyatt has a podcast and article where he talks in more depth about knowing the purpose of your vacation, which would also be helpful to check out. Michael outlines a few important steps before you leave on a break which I encourage you to look at.

If you have any tips on taking a break please share your ideas with other by leaving a comment in the area below.

markoffaith, mark of faith, Mark of Faith, MarkofFaith

Creating a Big impression at Church

July 10, 2012July 10, 20121 Comment

There are occasions in every Church calendar when the leadership team want to create a big impression. Perhaps it is an outreach event, a new members night, Back to Church Sunday or the first night of an Alpha Course. Whilst we can’t create a big impression all the time, there should be one or two events every year that really create the big impression to visitors. Whilst we all look for shortcuts to creating a big impression, the reality is that a big effort creates a big impression. In a world where everyone is bombarded with excellence, people are still impressed when an organisation makes an effort to impress.

For example this week I have been taking my boys along to our local church holiday program. As we walked to the church on day one, I was expecting the boys to have a good day with other kids from the area. When I arrived at the church the entire foyer was decorated with a jungle theme including hand made vines hanging off the rafters. There was a welcome team that opened the front door for us and showed us how to register. By the time I had dropped my boys off, they were so impressed by the foyer that they were expecting a great day. The foyer experience had created a big impression on me and my boys.

Michael Hyatt suggests that the “Wow Factor” is created when an organisation goes beyond our expectations. In other words to create a big impression an organisation has to go beyond the effort that people are expecting. But there are some guideline to remember when creating a big impression so that you don’t burn out your team:

Cut back – it might seem odd to suggest that you cut back on events in order to create a big impression at Church but you can’t do everything. Your team will have to decide on what they will stop doing in order to create the time and space needed to put in the big effort required to create the big impression. Perhaps instead of doing 10 events that require a lot of effort you could scale back to three or four big impression events. Some churches have cut back from holiday programs every term so they can put the effort into one big annual holiday program.
Beg and Borrow – no ministry has the budget to do everything they want to do, so think about low cost ways to create the big impression. One ministry drove a car into the church foyer to create the wow factor for a father’s day event, another church put a king size bed on stage for an event on Marriage (both items were owned by church members). Think about items that you can get or borrow for free and then use them in interesting ways.
Centre piece – if you do have the budget for decoration, then spend it on the focal point in the room. When people are sitting or standing for the longest part of your event where will they be looking? This focal point is where you can spend your money and biggest effort. You don’t want to spend money on the foyer if the participants will spend 3 or 4 hours looking at a blank wall behind the guest speaker. However if you are after positive first impressions then what will a guest see first?
Recruit Volunteers – having lots of volunteers will make it much easier to set up and pack down. We often forget how much effort it takes to pack up the event at the end, so organise the pack up team before you start. The more volunteers you have to make things before the event the less you will have to spend on items made by someone else. For example Conference bags are a standard item that create a big impression if it is full of useful items rather than just a pen and blank paper yet it can take hours for volunteers to stuff 100 conference bags carefully.
Invite people to the event – if you are going to spend time and money on creating a big impression then you want people not just to see it but experience it. You need to spend as much effort on inviting people to the event as setting up for the event.

It is often said that “Excellence honours God and inspires others” and yet this takes a lot of effort. If you want to create a big impression it is going to take a big effort. After reading this post perhaps you need to lead your team to think through the rest of annual calendar to choose one or two events that are going to get the big effort and which events won’t require as much effort.

You might also like to read about creating excellence at Church

Also please leave a comment about how you have created a big impression at your Church.

markoffaith, Mark of Faith, mark of faith

Sometimes in ministry we need to “Pay it back”

June 22, 2012June 25, 20122 Comments

Have you ever heard the term “pay it forward“? It is a term that often gets used in ministry circles to encourage us to sow the blessings we have received from mentors into the next generation. We receive so much from the mentors who formed us and we pay it forward to those that we mentor. But do we ever pay back those who have mentored us with a thank you? Ministry can be such a thankless task that occasionally we need to thank those who mentored us along the way.

Recently I was working with a great young leader, asking him about his journey of faith. He had a great outlook on ministry so I asked him about his role models and he was able to list four or five men who had mentored him. These were youth group leaders or young pastors in his Church. It happens that I know some of these men and I bet they would love to know the fruit of some their work. More importantly that experience made me reflect on the people who I needed to thank for sowing into me.

St Paul talks about watering seeds that other have planted and to recognise that God does all the work. Sometimes in ministry we seemed to be doing a lot of sowing and watering without much growth. In many cases we never see the fruit of our labour because God plants the person in another ministry or another church. We can go for years without knowing what we have achieved. If you find yourself in this situation here is three things to do:

Create a culture of Gratitude: instead of waiting for someone to thank you for your ministry, start thanking those who serve with you in ministry. Thank the volunteers who serve every week, thank those who pray for the ministry and thank those who financially support your ministry. Don’t forget to thank the people above you, your Senior Minister, Parish Priest, Vestry, Elders board or Parish Council.
Thank your Mentors: think of all the people who have mentored you and sown into your development. Write them a little thank you note, message them on Facebook or email them. Whilst it is nice to send them a card, just thank them any way you can. Often we still look up to our mentors and forget that they are real people who get disheartened just like we do. If you appreciate your mentors by thanking them it will help them stay strong in their ministry too.
Love your Family: often our family are the forgotten heroes of our ministry. Perhaps your parents took you to church as a child, supported your faith or paid for you to go on camp. Maybe your relatives encouraged your development as a teenager. Maybe your wife, husband and kids have allowed you to go to one more ministry event. Love your family first and thank them for the support they give you.

We should take the blessings sown into us and pass it forward to the next generation. But don’t forget to pay back the mentoring, love and attention that you received from others. Learn to pay it forward and pay it back.

markoffaith mark of faith, Mark of Faith

Are there “Flashbacks” in the Bible?

May 25, 2012May 25, 20121 Comment

Sometime when people want to be critical of the bible they point to passages in the bible that they call “errors”. An issue that some critics raise are what they perceive as chronological errors. Some critics look at stories that are out of chronological sequence as a proof that the bible is made up. Yet if we look at modern day film making, we may have a clue to why some passages in the bible seem out of chronological order.

For example in Judges 1:1 we read that Joshua died, yet in Judges 2:6 we read that Joshua is still alive sending out the nations then dies again. Did the author get it wrong? Is this a chronological error? Is this a different Joshua? In Genesis 10 we read that after the flood, people filled the earth yet in Genesis 11 all the people are back in the one place, is this right?

It seems that some people look at these literary tools as “errors” in the bible but when it happens in modern movies we all call these “flashbacks”. Whilst I use this term here I have to be careful because the ancient writers didn’t use the term “flashbacks”. However if you want to explain some literary tools of the bible in terms that young people might understand then you can suggest the parallel to flash backs in modern movies.

For example in the movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy we see one character go into an optometrist to get a new pair of glasses. Whilst the scene is quiet boring and might seem unimportant, the film maker uses the two different set of eyewear to show different periods of time in flashbacks. When the character is wearing the old set of glasses the audience knows it is a flashback without the date having to appear on the screen.

So flashback to the example in Judges, the author is reminding the reader that Joshua sent out the nations to fill Canaan because it explains the problems Israel faced in chapter 1 and the rest of the book. So Judges 2:6-8 is like a mini flashback to remind the reader of an important point for interpreting the future chapters.

Likewise with the earlier reference to Genesis 10 and 11. In Genesis 10 the author is showing what happened after the flood involving Noah and so finishes the narrative with the people filling all the earth, which would have taken some time. In Genesis 11 the author has a flashback account to explain why the people dispersed rather than stay together in the one place. This is not a chronological error in the bible, simply a literary tool that the author uses to tell compelling accounts of God and God’s people.

What other “flashbacks” can you see in the Bible? Leave a comment.