Archives For Ministry

At the Global:Church Forum, the pre-conference also hosted a panel discussion with ministry leaders featuring Menchit Wong of Compassion International, Stephan Baumann of World Relief, Sarah Davis of Ravi Zacharias Global Ministries, Jeff Lee of Wycliffe Bible Associates, Ajith Fernando of Youth for Christ, and Oscar Muriu of Nairobi Chapel.

From a ministry leader perspective, what does partnership with donors look like?

Fernando: There are different levels of partnership. Ideally, it is a spiritual fellowship where there is an interplay of each one giving from their riches to another. You may give to the poor, but they may teach you about prayer because they tend to be good at it.

Davis: Alignment is key to good partnership. Ideally a donor gives to something that matches their passions.

Wong: Partnership is a relationship not a transaction. We realized that for it to be genuine, it must be a relationship. If we have a common vision that God has given us, we must stretch ourselves together. A partnership must be mutually respectful.

Baumann: Partnership in its fully iteration is very messy if it is relational. At the same time, some partnerships are meant to be just transactional, and that’s okay. We’ve chosen to get messy with specific donors.

Lee: Transformational partnership is like a marriage. You aren’t always going to like each other. Time equals intimacy. It takes time, builds on core values, educates, and leads to participation. True partnership happens when everyone involved is changed.

Muriu: As a local pastor in the middle of Africa, I would define partnership as against the paradigm of 1 Corinthians 12. (1) Partnership is a relationship where we are one. How do we build trust? Trust becomes the fuel that lets us move forward. (2) Partnership is also an interdependent relationship that brings different types of equity to the table – financial, spiritual, relationally, etc. We must value what each person brings to the table. It will not be healthy if one equity is esteemed higher than another. (3) A partnership must build reciprocity into it. If one partner receives, receives, and receives and never has an opportunity to give, it will lead to co-dependency. It creates entitlement. (4) We must allow the receiver to have some way to give back. A partnership must not be built upon guilt. (5) A partnership must have humility that postures itself to learn before it offers to teach.

What does the West need to learn in building partnership?

Fernando: Funding is easy to find for things that pull at the heart strings, so there is a great fear that what people like to give is what will be given regardless of if it meets the biggest needs. Fighting hunger often trumps spreading the gospel.

Wong: The people in the West have watches, but they don’t have time. People in the West are in a hurry for results, but transformation cannot happen overnight. We destroy the integrity of a person’s life if we demand for change overnight. We would not demand that our own children develop so quickly, but we expect ministries to produce impossible results. Even when the money is gone, the fruits of the work are in the people resources.

Muriu: People in the South want to spend time on relationships and the Northerners want quick results. We need to learn from each other. You don’t do real transformation by tomorrow. Child trafficking is not going to go away overnight. If you want to stop it, it will be a 50 year program. If you want to reach people groups, you are in a 100 year program. So just relax and recognize that it will take time, but also recognize it is about an agenda and not just relationships.

Lee: People from the developing world don’t say, “We don’t have what they have!” They just have fun and make the most of what they have. You have to spend time in culture. In Korea, white American men have the hardest time adapting because they only try to adapt for a short while before going back to their habits. Don’t give up. Keep adapting.

Baumann: When my family learned to create relationships without agenda while living in Africa, I learned to lay down the dominance of my culture (white Westerner) and embrace repentance. I think it is time for the global South to rise to greater heights, but it is not an either/or. It is God’s Kingdom.

What is the one thing you want to tell people who want to work towards better global ministry?

Wong: It is an exciting time for donors to get out of a checkbook mentality and look to get engaged. That’s really where the transformation and epiphany happens. Donors make us more accountable.

Lee: Leave room for the mystery of God to speak to you. Be vulnerable. Vulnerability is attractive. Vulnerability will create grace for our faults.

Fernando: Strategy is a wonderful idea, but define strategy biblically. What is strategy biblically ca seem the opposite to society. Very often when we are thinking of strategic initiatives, it often involves taking people away from their role and placing them in a strategic job. But this doesn’t reflect the Kingdom value of commitment. We need to model commitment.

Muriu: (1) It was hard enough doing mission and partnerships when they were just generous. But now that some want to be strategic, who decides what is strategic? It can lead to power struggles. The one who holds the purse strings decides what is strategic. (2) The most effective transformational movements I know are very small. And one of the dangers of working with Western donors is they want to scale things up. When you scale some ministries up, you destroy them. (3) Fifty years from now what will be left? What will be left standing? I am keen to ask what can we do that will continue to be a blessing to the Kingdom 50 years from today.

Davis: The shift of donors becoming is strategic is exciting as long as it keeps you on track with your vision and your mission.

Baumann: Set the agenda together, but let the local leaders lead that conversation.

 

At the Global:Church Forum, the pre-conference began with a moderated panel discussion on ministry funding featuring David Wills of National Christian Foundation,Glen Hartson of SRG, Lauren Cloete of the Mergon Foundation, and Kn Moy of Masterworks.

With the growth of the global South and more and more ministries developing in the world around us (outside of the USA), how does the role of funders from the West change?

Wills: People are realizing that the West is not the only place to get funds. From a global resource standpoint, God is working from the top down and bottom up. These are environments where funding is indigenously being raised up without needing funding from the West.

Hartson: Through globalization, people are beginning to have a better understanding of where the pockets f the unreached are. Most of the current models are not workable models. The Far East has very significant wealth, but they don’t have the history of the Western Church of using the same model for 100 years. The Far East model currently doesn’t have the hurdles that Western Christians use to filter who gets donations.

Cloete: We are trying to be led by the Holy Spirit and not limiting ourselves to only investing in specific niches. We look for areas that lack resources.

Moy: There is something that the global South and East offer us as different models for doing Church and ministry. With some models, money becomes less important.

What is a good definition of partnership that uses Biblical values?

Cloete: Everyone brings something to the table. We may bring funding, but we can’t do the work in the trenches. It doesn’t make either of us better. Also, there is a sense that you want to have shared values. It is changing from a donor-focused approach to a steward-focused approach. What we are stewarding and allocating isn’t our own. We’ve had to learn hard lessons, and we’ve had to learn we’ve been wrong.

Hartson: There are more funders that are looking at funding as a mosaic. The world is now flat. Westerners do not have the impact that the thought they had. If they want to be successful then (1) it has to be God’s vision, and (2) you have to be vulnerable and leave your ego.

Wills: I wonder how long will it be before the West has the needs that the rest of the world used to have. We are seeing interesting trends like (1)  ministry-to-ministry collaboration like never before and (2) funders collaborating with funders and (3) even funders getting together with ministries to strategize together.

Moy: Collaboration works better than partnership. Partnership tends to get hung up on if we believe the same things. Collaboration pools resources for a goal but doesn’t wrestle with shared beliefs as much. If you want to move quickly, define things loosely as a collaboration.

Let’s talk about power. There is an idea that the funder has the power, but what is the truth?

Wills: Healthy funders level the playing field. If both sides come to learn and listen, things get accomplished.

Hartson: People say it is not personal it is business. But it can be both very personal as well as business. Some donors want to be very involved and invest their skills while others don’t want to be involved at all.

Cloete: Being a donor is an absolute pleasure, but it is also one of the hardest parts because we cannot meet all the requests. We look for long-term relationships. In Africa, there tends to be an entitlement mentality that doesn’t want to go through the process. We want to work with humble people, and they want to have humble donors. Even though I feel compassionate, I can’t go into a group thinking that I have solutions. You can’t solve a need without understanding the culture. In some cases, the donor relationship is viewed as a marriage where the husband gives the wife money to spend money on whatever she wants. This leads to false assumptions that lack accountability. We must take time to create relationships and communicate clearly.

Moy: We are seeing huge seismic changes in how gives give and what they are expecting. The world has transitioned from donors acting like command-and-control to a world of empower-and-engaging. Donors today want to know very clearly where their money is going.

What are some specific examples of an empower-and-engage relationship? And what are some failures that we can learn from?

Wills: There is a group of givers that have partnered with a group of ministries. It is called Every Tribe Every Nation, and they are working together to put Scripture into every language. Peer-to-peer engagement is powerful, and these collaborating ministries are accomplishing powerful things.

Hartson: There are no 2 donors that are the same. Some are juiced up by information-driven executive summaries. Some get juiced up by being in the field. We learned that we must have a structure that allows flexibility to meet to different needs of each donor. But you can still have structure over this to manage it all, but you need to have a one-on-one relationship with donors. Don’t have a one size fits all approach.

Cloete: Don’t let the relationship break down. Sometimes this happens just because you didn’t spend enough time investing in the relationship before you partner. Don’t rush vetting a relationship, or you may be stuck funding a ministry that never grows.

Moy: Yes, you need face-to-face flesh time with each high level donor, but when you have thousands of donors you can’t spend time with each one of them. However, you can make them feel like they have a relationship with the organization. As an organization, don’t treat people like all you care about is their money. God’s way is not to burnout donors.

What is one thing you would like ministry leaders who are seeking funding to know?

Moy: Boomers. That generation control 80% of all wealth and half of all disposable income. Boomers that give to charities are more generous than any other generation. It is an awakening for them. If you have limited resources to focus attention on donors, prioritize Boomers. But realize that engaging donors is different than engaging other generations. Their generation will reinvent how organizations engage donors because what worked for the Silent Generation doesn’t work for them.

Hartson: You have to have respect for others. I think the Boomers haven’t been addressed. Too much attention has gone to the previous generation. Boomers are looking for relevancy and impact, but in many cases what we don’t give them credit for is that they have time and resources other than money that they want to invest. At the same time, we cannot forget about the next generation. The Christian community is way behind the curve of engaging the next generation. Yes, the resources are at the Boomers, but the Boomers can also be the key to engaging the next generation because they are relationally connected.

Cloete: Identify donors that specialize in your area. Don’t create a sense of competition. Focus on working together. If you are looking for funding, don’t harass and don’t expect. Understand that each funding organization has its own personality, so get to know them and build relationships. Please pray for funders. They don’t have it all together. Sometimes they get stuck in their ways. They need to feel like they are part of your process in Kingdom building.

Wills: Don’t go at it alone. Be able to immediately answer who you are collaborating with and how you are doing it. Speak with urgency and momentum.

For those of you with a burden to help victims of trafficking, consider checking out The White Umbrella by Mary Frances Bowley and Moody Publishers.

1 in 4 women have been abused by the time they reach adulthood. The White Umbrella tells stories of survivors as well as those who came alongside to help them to recovery.

At Catalyst Conference 2012, Francis Chan discussed making disciples.

We can’t put an awesome worship band in the same category as how awesome Jesus is. We cannot let Jesus’ name be common. Hallowed by Thy name.

God revealed to me at one point that I was worshiping revival more than I was worshiping Jesus. Jesus doesn’t promise revival. In fact, he promises the opposite – that people will be lovers of self.

Does it break our heart that there isn’t revival? Of course it does. But it is not about the numbers.

Are you walking closely with Jesus? I think we are going to be surprised when we see Jesus. We will be surprised what counts as wood, hay, and stubble.

We probably don’t want everyone in this room making disciples because some of you don’t really act like Jesus. When people look at your life, are they reminded of Jesus? If not, then why would they want more of you.

In 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”

Why make a convert if he will just become twice the son of hell that you are?

Test yourself. Are you becoming more and more like Jesus? Jesus is our Savior. And He is meant to be our role model.

Christ spent His life making disciples. So when we follow Christ’s example, we create disciples. This is what we are supposed to be doing.

Why be disciple makers? Well, it’s commanded.

But I know that in the busyness of life that I forget what a shock it will be when I see Christ’s face. We would never neglect a command from our boss, but we neglect Christ’s command to make disciples.

I think Satan is actually quite pleased with what we do in church. We say we heard a tough message and act like we did something because we walk away sad. That is what the rich young ruler did. Zacchaeus heard and gave away all he had with joy.

1 Corinthians 10:31-33
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

Don’t try to be a people pleaser so that you are loved. Be a people please so that they may be saved.

Don’t change the whole system of the Bible because it is too difficult or takes too much effort. Go and make disciples!

But so often we just make excuses. The congregation tells the preacher, “That’s not really our job. You should do that.” And the preacher tells the congregation, “It is not my job. I’m supposed to equip you.”

Reality is people don’t trust the religious leader. They trust the person working next to them that is living like Christ.

I don’t know how many people we win win for Christ, but I do know we experience Christ all the time. And when someone says they aren’t experiencing Jesus, I ask them, “Are you making disciples?” Jesus said that He would be with us, but it is within the context of us making disciples.

We’ve all heard the stats about how many kids walk away from the Lord when they turn 18. Some say 80%. Some say 60%. So in my life if I play the odds, that means 3 of my 5 kids won’t stay with God. Are those good odds? Or are things not working the way we are doing it?

We must get better at making disciples so that our kids follow our example. Because when we make disciples, we experience Jesus.

Special thanks to Skylark Audio Video for covering my travel expenses so that I can live blog the conference for you.

At Catalyst Conference 2012, Bryan Stevenson of Equal Justice Initiative discussed how to be an advocate of hope and redemption. I think in order to be leaders of justice, we have to think about our identity.

There is power in identity. And when we create the right type of relationship with people around us, we can change the world around us. We have the power to say things to the world around us.

The US has the highest incarceration rate in the world. In 1972, the US prison population was 300,000 people. Today it’s 2.3 million. This includes 3,000 kids serving life sentences.

The biggest problem we have is the profound absence of hope. What can we do to deal with people who are marginalized?

I believe that if we understand what it is to be an agent of hope and redemption, you have to know why you are doing what you are doing.

Why do we want to kill all the broken people?
Why do we want to throw away all the broken people?
Why do we want to hide all the broken people?

We must help the marginalized and the broken because we are broken, too. But brokenness can be mended by grace. Brokenness can be healed by mercy.

If you steal, you are not just a thief. If you kill, you are not just a murderer. We are more than our faults.

The opposite of poverty is not wealth. The opposite of poverty is justice.

If people of faith and communities of faith believe that every valley will be lifted up then surely we must be willing to embrace the broken.

It is difficult to do in a place with so much anger and so much fear. It will make you tired, tired, tired. That is why you must be brave, brave, brave.

Special thanks to Skylark Audio Video for covering my travel expenses so that I can live blog the conference for you.

At Catalyst Conference 2012, Bobby Gruenewald of LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK) discussed 4 mindsets essential for innovative churches.

We are occupying a place and time in the earth’s history that has experienced exponential growth to over 7 billion people. On top of that, mankind is more connected to each globally than ever before.

Look at it not as a huge opportunity for ministry but as a huge responsibility. It is not an option but rather something we have to do.

Broadcast media has changed. Television has changed. How we consume information has been the same way for decades but has recently changed in a very short period of time. Children born today do not understand media consumption that isn’t on-demand.

And now we are also beginning to see changes in how people consume the Bible. Human nature often has trouble admitting that something that has been around for hundreds of years can change.

So what is the next big thing?
It should be what you are working on.

Why can’t it be? It used to be the Church was the epicenter of art and creativity. There was a time when it wasn’t unusual to see the next big thing come out of a church. But times have changed, and today’s Church has outsourced creativity. Hollywood has taken over storytelling. Apple has taken over innovation. The government has taken over care for the poor. And Facebook has replaced human connections.

When it comes to the future, I don’t want to wait for the next big thing. We should be creating the next big thing.

For us to get from waiting to creating, we must have these mindsets:

  • Thinking Inside the Box
    Constraints are a requirement for innovation. When you throw off constraints and pretend like you don’t have any, you will just come up with a bunch of unusable ideas. If you have lots of time, talent, and money, you will probably lack innovation because you simply buy the solution. Sometimes you have to artificially create restraints in order to force innovation. Limited resources + passion = innovation. Ask yourself if you can accomplish the same result with half the time or half the money.
  • A Culture of Change
    Leaders and pastors are often focused on change, but change as a noun. Change should be focused on like a motion, like an action that you are always going through. Don’t change for the sake of change. Change with small incremental changes that make significant progress.
  • Failure is not an option. It is a requirement.
    You have to be willing to move forward. When you fear failure, you stop trying. Failure can happen and will happen if you are going to try to change the world.
  • Where do we grow from here?
    It doesn’t happen if you have been successful, stagnate, or in decline, you need to always posture yourself towards how you will grow in the things that you are doing.
We can create the future rather than waiting for someone else to do it.

Special thanks to Skylark Audio Video for covering my travel expenses so that I can live blog the conference for you.

At Grace Family Bible Church’s (Tulsa, OK) 2012 Discernment Conference, Justin Peters discussed a Christian’s duty of discernment. Justin says,

Discernment is the ability to shift through truth from error and right from wrong. Spiritual discernment doesn’t begin and end with a specific theology. And spiritual discernment should be used for everything including your own life.

Acts 17:10-11
(10)  The brothers[b] immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. (11) Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

The Bereans are described as noble. And they were noble because:

  1. They studied the Law. They were students of God’s Word. We cannot know God apart from knowing His Word. If you truly love Jesus, you will want to become a student of Him.
  2. They received the gospel with ready minds. The Bible says we are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind.
  3. They tested what they heard by the Scriptures (they checked the Messianic promises of the Old Testament).

3 Reasons Why We Need Discernment

  1. So we will not be like little children tossed about by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14). There is a big difference between a childlike faith and a childish faith.
  2. So we will be ready for the unsound doctrine of the last days (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
  3. So we can grow spiritually mature (Hebrews 5:11-14).

7 Common Criticisms of Discernment

  1. Don’t judge.
    Judge not lest you be judged (Matthew 7:1-5). However, we are warned against hypocritical judging. We are warned against judging someone for doing something that we are really doing ourselves. Rather we are called to judge matters of doctrine and theology safely within Biblical parameters. It is our duty. Every single book of the New Testament talks about false teaching.
  2. You shouldn’t name names.
    On several occasions the Apostle Paul publicly called out people by name, so there is a Biblical precedent. Now it should not be done lightly.
  3. You are being divisive.
    However, it is false teaching that divides the Church. In Romans 16:17, Paul warns us to “watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.” Truth does divide, but it divides the sheep from the goats. But within the Body of Christ, truth always unites. What causes division is false doctrine.
  4. We should just follow Gamaliel’s advice.
    Gamaliel was a Pharisee. In Acts 5, Peter and the apostles were preaching the gospel but were then arrested, told not to preach the gospel, miraculously released, and then began preaching the gospel again. The Pharisees didn’t like it, but Gamaliel suggested that the apostles should be left alone because (1) if they aren’t of God, they won’t last, and (2) if they are of God, then we’d be guilty of criticizing God. It sounds like good advice, but it isn’t because false religions abound. Why do we still have Islam? Why do we still have Buddhism?
  5. Touch not God’s anointed!
    That is Scripture out of context. The phrase is in the Bible a few times. In Psalm 105, the “anointed ones” refer to the Patriarchs and their descendants rather than today’s modern preachers. And the word “touch” refers to physical harm rather than speaking what is true. And as a side note, there are 3 New Testament passages that refer to all Christians as the anointed.
  6. You are not being loving.
    The truth is love. If you love someone, you will tell them the truth. If you saw a blind man walking towards a cliff, you wouldn’t say nothing for fear of offending him. But don’t we do that and even far worse when we see someone in spiritual danger, and we know the truth but say nothing? It is not your responsibility how they receive it, but you are responsible to speak it lovingly.
  7. They might be wrong, but aren’t they sincere?
    Sincerity is not the issue. Truth is the issue. The men who flew planes into the World Trade Center were sincere, but they were sincerely wrong.

Jude 3 admonishes us to earnestly contend for the faith because there are people who will creep in and distort Christianity.

Poor communication skills are one of the quickest ways to burn bridges and make people think you don’t care about them. In ministry, how you treat people outside of the pulpit is often more important than what you say when you are in the pulpit. So here they are:

7 Poor Communication Skills to Avoid

  1. Contacting others only when you need something.
  2. Not following up, or closing the loop.
  3. Not returning telephone calls or email messages.
  4. Foregoing basic courtesy.
  5. Not listening.
  6. Telling lies.
  7. Spewing chronic negativity.

This week, purpose to improve your communication skills and how you treat people. Even if you are already a pro, there is always room for improvement.

via Todd Rhoades

This post was originally published in 2008. We’ve updated it for 2012.